Dear Holly: Our Living Room is Your Personal Gym

5 years, 9 months.

Dear Holly,

I suppose I was distracted by getting dinner prepped. That must explain why I didn’t even notice you bring out a yoga mat and hand weights, while wearing a sweatband around your forehead.

You had been doing sit ups with the weights for a few sets before I even processed what you were doing.

And there was no agenda of yours to bring attention to yourself. No, “Hey everybody, look at me!”

It was completely your idea to entertain yourself- and no one else.

No suggestions whatsoever from Mommy or me. You have turned our living room into your own personal gym and fitness studio.

You have to keep yourself busy and moving.

Most days it’s running across the floor, practicing what you learn at gymnastics.

And every night now before you go to bed, instead of reading you a story like I used to, you require me to throw you, and I mean throw you, into your bed at least five times.

You like to move it, move it.

Love,

Daddy

Dear Jack: You’re in the 97th Percentile for 5th Grade Math at Your School

11 years, 3 months.

Dear Jack,

It’s easy for me to see you as the fun-loving kid that you are. Sometimes I tend to forget you’re actually at school most of the day… you know, learning stuff.

This week you brought us home a report from school, certifying that you tested better than 97% of the 5th grade students at your school.

So yeah, that’s a big deal!

Granted, you’ve been receiving math awards consistently since Kindergarten.

Mommy and I made sure to let you know how proud we are for having a Math Whiz for a son!

I can assure you, I was never, at any point in my life, as good at math as you already are now.

Seriously.

Love,

Daddy

Dear Holly: We Went Snow Tubing at Gaylord Opryland in Nashville

5 years, 8 months.

Dear Holly,

We had already pre-purchased our tickets to go snowtubing at Gaylord Opryland, since they kept selling out every time we planned to go. And then… the blizzard came.

Fortunately, I have a Jeep, so we were able to ironically drive an hour away to through snow where we live in Spring Hill, to Nashville, where it was not snowing.

Then once we arrived in Nashville, we went snow tubing in the manufactured snow.

In theory, we could have just as easily went tubing on any of the hills in our neighborhood. The thing is… we wouldn’t have.

There’s something about organized fun sometimes that truly makes it more fun!

Love,

Daddy

Dear Jack: It’s Hard to Get a Picture of You Not Making a Silly Face

11 years, 3 months.

Dear Jack,

I feel like, in the past 11 years, this isn’t the first time I’ve said this; but it’s more likely that you will make a silly face when I take your picture, as opposed to you genuinely smiling.

Honestly, I can understand how you feel. We take a lot of pictures of you. Because as your parents, we know that you are going to look back on the pictures we took of you when you were young, and you will appreciate it.

But you don’t appreciate it right now.

So this past weekend when we went out to Nashville to go snow tubing, I saw a statue of a snowman and insisted you get your picture taken.

I assured you that I didn’t need you to smile… only to make the same ugly face as the snowman.

And you did.

Love,

Daddy

Dear Holly: You Rode the Tower of Terror at Disney World!

5 years, 8 months.

Dear Holly,

This Christmas was undeniably a big deal for you: We went to Disney World!

Naturally, I had expectations that you would totally be enthralled by getting to meet the Disney princesses. But that wasn’t really your thing.

What I did not expect was for you to be too interested in the rides, other than the ones for little kids.

Yeah, I was wrong.

Because the only ride you didn’t go on, between Disney World, Epcot Center, and Hollywood Studios, was Space Mountain- and that was only because you were certifiably one inch too short!

In theory, you should have been way too terrified to go on the Terror of Terror.

But not only did you go on it, you really weren’t that scared by it.

You made a great riding partner for me the whole time! Now we know you love to go on rides- even ones that are supposed to be scary!

Love,

Daddy