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Dear Jack: Your Final Halloween as a “Kid”

12 years, 11 months.

Dear Jack,

In two weeks, you will be turning 13 years old. For Halloween this year, I have been very mindful that, for what it’s worth, this is your final Halloween as a “kid”.

Despite your proximity to being a cool teenager, you were definitely were not too cool for the Halloween activities our family participated in this week.

You truly enjoyed picking out your monkey costume and wearing it to Mommy’s work party and for trick-or-treating.

It was probably the coldest Halloween this year.

After Mommy and your sister turned around and walked back home because of the cold, you decided you wanted to keep on going.

I walked with you another 45 minutes or so.

It was so cold, my throat is still sore from it.

But it was worth it.

 

 

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Holly: Playing Bongos at Uncle Tom’s Bob Marley Party

7 and a half years old.

Dear Holly,

I am so glad that Uncle Tom and Aunt Jen were able to plan their Bob Marley party around your week of Fall Break.

You kept making your rounds to the bongo drums, getting as much practice as you could; even when no one else was around to see it.

It was a chilly week back home in Tennessee, but in Naples where we were, it was definitely warm enough that you and your brother had plenty of time to swim in the pool.

And that includes when we arrived from the airport around midnight!

What a perfect way to spend Fall Break.

 

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Holly: You in Your Bedroom When No One Else is Around

7 years, 5 months.

Dear Holly,

Right now as I type this from the bonus room, I am catching glimpses of you and hearing your sweet voice as you are apparently babysitting your dolls in your bedroom.

Now that you are growing up and becoming much more indepenent, you seem to enjoy having time to yourself; when the rest of us all have our own projects.

You set up the tablet for the dolls to watch videos on YouTube, while you provide snacks and wardrobe changes for them.

The whole time, I hear you speaking; though I can never make out what you are telling them.

I just love this!

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Holly: Are You Going to Lose Your First Tooth This Week?

7 years, 5 months.

Dear Holly,

As Mommy and I sent you off to school this morning, it was with an open expectation that you are quite likely to lose your first tooth today.

You have been saying how you are the only kid in your 2nd grade class who still hasn’t lost one.

Right now, one of your bottom teeth is so wiggly; especially due to the fact that the permanent tooth is pushing through.

Well, if you don’t lose your tooth today at school, you surely will this weekend.

And then, finally, you can have your first interaction with the Tooth Fairy!

 

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Jack: Our New Family Ritual

12 years, 10 months.

Dear Jack,

It’s funny how just a little change in our family dynamics can go such a long way. We’re now a few weeks into your sister fully taking care of her own bedtime routine:

She does her own bath, brushes her teeth by herself, brushes her hair, and reads her own bedtime stories to me instead of me reading to her.

That means we have more available quality time together as a family, due to less work that Mommy and I have to do each night, after having worked a full day.

While “watching TV” might not seem like a good way to spend quality time together as a family, it is for us. We watch one episode before bed.

We’ve made it through both seasons of Is It Cake? Now we’ve moved on to Cesar Millan: Better Human Better Dog.

I think we are moving in a really good direction.

 

Love,

Daddy