Storytelling

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A Purposely Low Key 3rd Birthday Party

November 17, 2013 at 10:57 pm , by 

3 years old.

Dear Jack,

For your last two birthdays, Mommy and I didn’t keep things simple.

We combined both friends and family to have an official birthday party, each time.

Even though our “family life” is so much more stabilized and easier than it was for the past two years, without giving it much thought, perhaps by default, Mommy and I decided to have a purposesly low key(!) birthday party for you.

So we did things a bit off beat…

First, on Saturday, the morning of your birthday, we had your first and best friend over, with her parents.

As this picture collage that Sophie’s parents made illustrates, you two had plenty of unscripted fun.

My favorite part to witness was when Sophie suggested, “Come on, Jack. Let’s go upstairs!”

So we all trekked up to your boy cave.

I’ve mentioned before, we have the top half of a rockasan in your bedroom that serves as a “boat.” You and Sophie had a great time giving each other rides in it.

And somehow, even though I was only feet away, I missed the moment when Sophie ended up with the toy basket on top of her head.

Of course, after lunch, both of you were in need of a nap, so the celebration came to an end, but not before we all had some of Mommy’s yummy vegan cupcakes!

After Sophie left, we aimed for a nap, which I think ended up turning into us watching part of Monsters, Inc. that Sophie got for you. (You now own your first Disney movie!)

Then later in the afternoon, we had two more of your friends up with their parents, and essentially repeated what happened earlier that day.

It wasn’t until just now, as I put these pictures together, that I realized only girls came to your birthday party.

(Your friend Troy was out of town and couldn’t make it, by the way.)

So it made it that much funnier that in the goody bags we gave to them, each friend received a Hot Wheels pick-up truck.

Yes, and that’s pretty much your 3rd birthday party. Of course, we’re going to spend next weekend with my family to celebrate your birthday with them… and I have a special surprise being shipped in from Atlanta… or I should say, driven in…

You’ll see what I mean in a couple days!

(Plus, I just have a feeling that to be so mellow about your 3rd birthday party, we will end up making up for it with your 4th birthday party.)

 

Love,

Daddy

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Say Nice Things About Detroit

November 10, 2013 at 10:09 pm , by 

2 years, 11 months.

Dear Jack,

As you know, I just got back from my 2nd trip to Detroit yesterday, to visit the OnStar and Buick headquarters.

In addition to your official souvenir (giant toy car) that you received yesterday, I’ve also brought back some more souvenirs… photos from Detroit- most of them being goofy shots of me.

However, this one, a shot of the brick wall as soon as I walked inside the new Whole Foods in Detroit…

It’s more interesting and innovative than anything; at least according to my perception of what I thought was simply a quirky phrase which could be destined to be a bumper sticker.

Thanks to Google, I learned that “Say Nice Things About Detroit” is actually the name of a novel by Scott Lasser.

However, I like to stick with my own original interpretation of the phrase…

I feel that the way Detroit has been perceived in media in recent years (I’ve made it clear before I’m not a fan ofCNN or Fox News because they’re both so ridiculously one-sided, as they cater to their appropriate uncompromising political party) is unfair to the city.

Now that I’ve visited Detroit my 2nd time, including downtown, even at night, I am so grateful to not have taken the sound bites seriously in mainstream media, when they create headlines about the sky of Detroit falling.

What helped keep me open-minded on my trip is that just two days before I took the flight to Detroit, I saw on MSN’s homepage that Detroit is currently America’s top “turnaround town” for real estate:

“Instead of sinking when the city of Detroit had just filed for bankruptcy, its housing markets took on a quiet resurgence. In the second quarter of this year it ranked seventh in the report, and this rapid jump to number one speaks volumes about its pace of acceleration.”

This is a perfect example of why I will always reinforce to you the importance of being open-minded and why I will encourage you to always question the mainstream ideas and look for the answers yourself.

Detroit is a really cool city. I actually look forward to my next trip there.

In fact, in my next letter to you, I will be sharing some more pictures of the city, from the scavenger hunt I partipated in with OnStar and Buick.

(That’s how I got this cool new t-shirt from Pure Detroit, a local culture shop there.)

Everyone I met in Detroit, in every part of it I visited, were all very friendly and optimistic.

It was almost if they were unaware of the same regurgitated “news” that outsiders are being fed.

Without any of the citizens of Detroit saying it, I literally felt it in their presence: They believe in the rebirth of Detroit.

I know I do. And by the time you’re old enough to read this letter and really process it, I’m sure the old stereotypes of Detroit will be outdated.

Now that I have visited that great city (with its really nice downtown) and seen for myself its passion to rise again, I too am passionate about not simply refraining from saying negative things about the city, but instead, about saying nice things about Detroit.

Because they’re true.

 

Love,

Daddy

 

P.S. A special thanks to fellow dad blogger, Fred Goodall, of Mocha Dad, who took the picture of the Whole Foods wall. (He has a smart phone and I don’t.)

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Daddy’s Back From His Trip… Souvenir Time!

November 9, 2013 at 10:17 pm , by 

2 years, 11 months.

Dear Jack,

It is extremely uncommon for me to be away from you overnight. In fact, the last time I remember it happening was two years ago, when GM invited me to Detroit the first time.

My job typically doesn’t require me to travel, so with me being in Detroit for the past three days, it really occured to me how weird it is… to not see you for more than 12 hours at a time.

I think that’s why I wrote “It’s Like Talking To An Actual Human Being” the first night I was gone. It was so unnatural for me.

As I unlocked the front door to our house this evening, it was everything I hoped it would be:

Mommy greeted and kissed me right away, and there you were, jumping up and down, so excited I was back.

Of course, that didn’t last long, because then you asked me, “Daddy, you got a car for me?”

I had told you yesterday on the phone that I was working on getting a souvenir for you, which based on the fact I was visiting the OnStar and Buick headquarters, I hinted that I might be bringing you home a toy car.

Needless to say, you were thrilled to watch me open the huge convertible I was able to bring home, thanks to the help of one of my friends, Katie, I had met from my last trip to Detroit.

I told her, “My son is turning 3 a week from now. I would like to bring him home a souvenir/early birthday present. He’s not picky. Any toy car you have just laying around, it will be perfect.”

Katie did not disappoint.

Like with all your new toys, you initiated it by putting it through the Play-Doh torture center, as you did your Camaro recently. The show ended with you taking green Play-Doh and forming action figures of Mommy and yourself, to pop a wheelie in the car, at the edge of your Thomas the Train table.

A father bringing home his son a souvenir from his overnight trip is a given. I mean, I never thought about it until I arrived in Detroit.

In fact, part of my main agenda for the trip was to find and obtain a cool souvenir for you. I knew everything else would work itself out.

I was right. If I’m not mistaken, you’re sleeping with that huge convertible toy car as I write you this.

 

Love,

Daddy

 

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People Who Have More Kids Than You Are Just Plain Crazy

November 9, 2013 at 8:16 am , by 

2 years, 11 months. (7 days from your 3rd birthday!)

Dear Jack,

Good Morning, Son. I’m actually writing you from Detroit today. That’s a bit unusual, huh?

I’ve been up here in Michigan for the past couple of days, as General Motors invited me to be part of their “Connected By OnStar” Immersion program.

Yesterday, while particating in a Twitter chat with other fellow parent bloggers, I learned two things:

1) We missed randomly meeting Jimmy Fallon by less than an hour, as proven by the “19h” and “20h” which explain how long ago the event took place:

The Decision. (American or Lafayette Coney)#Detroit#BOTHhttp://instagram.com/p/gdocXVvZ72/ 

Meanwhile, this is the group Daddy was with:

If there was any doubt @Mochadad proves the American Coney Dog wins!!#puremichigan#tmom @ American… http://instagram.com/p/gdiU3MiTXC/ 

(For what it’s worth, I invited Jimmy Fallon to dinner with us (via Twitter) but I later learned he had already flown to Chicago shortly after lunch. Hey, I tried!)

2) As we were sort of going around the room, telling each other how many kids we all had, and by default, comparing, this nugget of wisdom was born:

“People who have less kids than you don’t know what they’re missing… people who havemore kids than you are just plain crazy.”

As I’ve shared that quote with my Facebook friends and Twitter followers, they seemed to easily agree.

Of course, I was one of the parents in that Twitter chat who only has one child, with no definite plans of having another. So for me to agree with that statement, which I do, is to say that parents with even just two kids are crazier than I am!

And by crazy, I actually might mean… more disciplined and patient, exponentially as compared to me.

Or, maybe they really are just crazy… who knows?

But as for me, I can’t imagine taking two of my own kids to the zoo. I look at these “photo op fails” from our last trip to The Louisville Zoo and think how that was big enough of a challenge for me.

I loved it, don’t get me wrong, but, more than one kid- well, I guess I just don’t know what I’m missing.

 

Love,

Daddy

 

P.S. For more on “photo op fails”… click on this other letter I wrote to you back in the summer:

“Celebrating Photo Op Fails With My Kid”

 

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It’s Like Talking To An Actual Human Being…

November 7, 2013 at 10:49 pm , by 

2 years, 11 months.

Dear Jack,

Tonight was the first time I’ve ever talked to you over the phone.

Mommy picked you up from school instead of me today, so I called you both to check in.

When Mommy handed the phone to you in the back seat, I had an actual conversation with you:

“Hey Jack, what are you and Mommy doing right now?” I asked.

“We’re at Whole Foods. I’m gonna eat pizza for dinner,” you replied.

Prompted by Mommy, you ended the call by telling me that you missed me and loved me. I can tell your words were sincere, though.

I mean this in the best way possible, but that was pretty weird for me. I was actually carrying on a legitimate conversation with you… like I would an actual human being!

Without your visual right there in front of me, I was forced to absorb only the sound of your voice.

I mean, I’m used to talking to you during the whole ride to school and back every day, but it’s a whole other thing without any prompts or crutches.

Wow. You and I can actually talk… over the phone.

I heard your voice. I’ve never paid attention to your voice before. Normally, I’m so focused on the circumstances surrounding the conversation that I hear the words you say, but not your actual voice.

Even though it may seem like I’m making a bigger deal of this than I need to, this for me is a bookmark as your Daddy.

Just days away away from your 3rd birthday now, this is a significant moment as I recognize you as a boy; as a fellow human being. Not a baby.

I can talk to you. And not about just superficial stuff like the “monster trucks” (Toyota Tundras) you see as we’re driving down the highway.

But instead, you can tell me what’s going on in your life… over the phone.

Cool, man.

 

Love,

Daddy