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Dear Holly: Your Tour of Kindergarten This Week!

4 years, 11 months.

Dear Holly,

As you are now just a few weeks away from your 5th birthday, Mommy and I took you this week for your official tour of Kindergarten!

We were in a group of other upcoming Kindergartners; even one from your current preschool.

Once you begin Kindergarten this fall, it will be the only year that you and your brother will be at the same school at the same time; as he will be in the oldest grade of the school, as a 5th grader.

You are very excited about starting Kindergarten; which happens to be at the biggest elementary school in our county, which happens to be in walking distance of our house.

I am confident you are going to love it!

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Jack: Let Me Just Savor You at This Age for a Moment, Age 7

7 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack,

I am taking a moment to deliberately freeze this moment in time; as if to keep you this age long enough for me to process the concept.

It is clear to me that you are in a transition between two different stages of boyhood.

You’re old enough to recognize that “Sesame Street is for babies”, yet you will happily watch it alongside your sister, while giving critical yet intelligent commentary on the plot line.

You’re old enough to finally stop spending all your birthday and Christmas money on stuffed animals, yet you genuinely celebrate receiving a new one as a gift.

You’re old enough to walk across the street to catch the bus every morning to school, yet you still can’t tie your own shoes.

Speaking of shoes, it’s as if you’ve still got one foot in the world of Young Boyhood but now have the other foot in the land of Middle Boyhood.

I feel like I’m even catching a glimpse of your early teen years, when it will no longer be cool to be seen in public with your dad.

I keep that in mind, even now, knowing there are times when I need to give you space; yet the very next day you may be very needy of my attention.

It’s obvious to me that you have gained a sense of your own identity at a much younger age than I did. I’m sure I’ve said it before, but I feel you’ve already formed the confidence in yourself that I didn’t gain until junior high.

Perhaps I feel that this is one of those fleeting stages in your life, where if I’m not careful, it will already be gone before I had a chance to acknowledge it.

So I’m acknowledging it.

Before too long, you’ll be openly mocking Elmo and tying your own shoes.

Love,

Daddy

 

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Dear Holly: Your Impractical yet Adorable Cowgirl Boots

19 weeks.

Dear Holly: Your Impractical yet Adorable Cowgirl Boots

Dear Holly,

Ever since Mommy finished your nursery months before you were born, I have had my eye on those cowgirl boots she placed in your top drawer.

Just the thought of a cute little baby girl who can’t walk or even crawl yet, but who is wearing cowgirl boots… I love it!

So finally, while we were at Nonna and Papa’s house for Labor Day Weekend, Mommy dressed you up in your cowgirl boots along with a new denim skirt. Your feet had grown enough now so that you fit in them.

It’s funny to me that despite that fact I’m the one who was born and raised in Alabama, it is actually Mommy who identifies more with the country motif and culture; even though she was born and raised in northern California.

She’s been a huge Country Music fan since high school. And she worked for CMT before I met her.

I can already imagine you as a preteen, wearing cowgirl boots with your dresses. When I see you now, I often see the baby version of Mommy. So in a way, it’s like I’m raising a baby cowgirl.

There is no doubt you are one happy little baby. Everyone notices this about you. You just love to smile.

But for me, the combination of your smile and those cowgirl boots is nearly too much!

With your Uncle Jake’s wedding coming up in a few weeks in San Diego, I am hoping your boots still fit by then. I want you to be able to get as much mileage as possible out of things.

Ultimately though, I wouldn’t be too surprised if we just always have a pair of cowgirl boots for you to grow into. I can’t imagine the thought of you not being Daddy’s potentially red-headed cowgirl.

Love,

Daddy

Dear Holly: Your Impractical yet Adorable Cowgirl Boots

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Dear Holly: The Picture Mommy Secretly Took of Us Sleeping

7 weeks.

Dear Holly: The Picture Mommy Secretly Took of Us Sleeping

Dear Holly,

I did a particular household chore over the weekend that I never look forward to doing: the tedious and unforgiving task of uploading the hundreds of photos from both Mommy’s phone as well as mine; then making separate folders for them to upload to our external hard drive.

(It’s not the simple cut and dry process it should be, nor is the transfer as instant as I would like.)

In doing this, I finally saw a picture that Mommy secretly took of us; back from when you were just a few days old.

I had been sitting on the floor, holding you in attempt to help you get to sleep. Then as my back became sore from hunching over, I laid back on the carpet, while keeping you in a nest of blankets, with my legs crossed “Indian style”.

Dear Holly: The Picture Mommy Secretly Took of Us Sleeping

Apparently my method was quite efficient, because we both fell deep asleep. That’s how Mommy easily sneaked over and snapped a picture of us with her phone.

It happened in the midst of first days of having bringing a newborn home from the hospital that as a parent, I don’t really remember too many details surrounding the event. Everything was just a haze at the time.

After I saw the picture this weekend, I informed Mommy that my favorite radio station, WAY-FM, is holding a contest in which moms are sending in photos of their husbands with their kids, for a Father’s Day.

So obviously, this photo has now been sent. I’m sure we won’t win, but it’s worth a shot. (The prize is a $1,000.)

If nothing else, it’s fun to be able to see this picture. Though I really don’t like uploading the pictures from our phones, at least I was able to unearth this gem.

It was totally worth the work for that reason alone, if nothing else.

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Holly: I Never Realized How Badly I Needed a Baby Girl

1 week.

Dear Holly: I Never Realized How Badly I Needed a Baby Girl

Dear Holly,

For years, I was convinced I was perfectly happy having only a little boy. But now that you’ve been in my life for a week, I realize I was wrong. I needed a baby girl in my life.

I love everything about your brother; he’s the perfect little boy. With you here now though, I see that you provide the proper balance to our family.

Dear Holly: I Never Realized How Badly I Needed a Baby Girl

With your brother, I get to be rough and crude and adventurous, as I should be with an all American boy. I get to drive through the mud with him and take him to PG-13 rated super hero movies that some say are inappropriate for him. I love that I get to feel sort of rebellious in parenting your brother.

Dear Holly: I Never Realized How Badly I Needed a Baby Girl

With you, I get to make sweet cooing sounds directly into your face as I stare at you for no less than an hour at a time as I hold you. I am so in love with you.

I have never got to experience this before. Despite being a parent for 5 and a half years, having you here is completely different. You are such a sweet, adorable, and mesmerizing little girl.

You’re so easy to stare at. I love your amazing little smile. I love your uniquely folded ears. I love your tiny little cry.

Had you born a boy, I would have been just as happy; because I couldn’t have known what I was missing. I already knew how much I loved having a son, so I knew things would have been great.

But instead, you were meant to be Holly Joy. I was meant to have a daughter.

I’m not saying there’s no possibility of you never having a younger brother or sister… but I do know that our family has never felt so complete- like the way it does now that you are here.

Love,

Daddy

Dear Holly: I Never Realized How Badly I Needed a Baby Girl