September 4, 2013 at 10:04 pm , by Nick Shell

September 3, 2013 at 10:28 pm , by Nick Shell

2 years, 9 months.

Dear Jack,

With all the cool monster trucks and trains I’ve bought you, still you manage to entertain yourself with the most random things sometimes.

For some reason, your favorite toy of Labor Day weekend was the little ladder from your Tonka fire engine truck.

I first noticed you were carrying it around when you and Papa (my dad) got out of the car in the T.J. Maxx parking lot.

It just seemed like a little too much trouble for you to be holding it; especially in the store. But you did.

I’m just glad that none of employees in the store thought you were walking out with merchandise.

The ladder also had other uses throughout the weekend…

Like while I was bent over painting the living room wall as one of our family’s Labor Day home improvement projects, you stuck the ladder up the back of my t-shirt:

“Daddy, look… I give you a tail!”

And there was also the part where you said goodbye to Papa and Nonna for the weekend while wearing nothing but a diaper; and the ladder, which happened to be sticking out the front of your diaper.

Of course, this wasn’t the first time you’ve used a random item as your favorite toy of the day. Not even two months ago, you took a spatula to school without me really even noticing; not until the director mentioned it as we were walking in the front door.

So actually, I guess I should be expecting you to carry around weird items more regularly. It’s like you get a thrill by taking strange objects outside of our house and into the real world… as a way to qualify their true existence.

Or maybe, having a toy ladder or a spatula somehow makes you feel more connected to the big world out there. Maybe it makes you feel more awake and less in a dream world.

Maybe you’re just a curious little boy who makes me laugh on a daily basis because you do stuff I would never think to do.

Don’t be surprised if tomorrow morning as we’re leaving the house, I’m holding the remote control.

 

Love,

Daddy

August 25, 2013 at 10:50 pm , by Nick Shell

2 years, 9 months.

Dear Jack,

We drove away from the Nashville Zoo this afternoon with you asking me, “Daddy, why Giraffe Man? Why he there?”

I attempted to explain to you that he really likes kids and giraffes.

But that just raised even more important questions.

You evidently concluded from my answer that “Giraffe Man” sleeps in the zoo with the other giraffes but has the privilege of walking through the midst of human families at the zoo and having his picture taken with them.

We kept talking about Giraffe Man even after we got home.

I’m pretty sure you want him to join us for dinner in the near future.

At some point, you’re going to ask me if Elmo and Mickey Mouse and Giraffe Man are real.

That will be a sad day for me.

I love it that your imagination leads you to believe that these mutant creatures might actually be part of the real world, instead of people in costumes or controlling a puppet.

As I look at the ridiculous picture of us with Giraffe Man, I sure hope that of all random events you may or may not be remembering for life right now, that you remember this day.

It would be awesome if in a few years from now, you ask me about being at the zoo with me and seeing a giraffe person or something.

Then I can say, “Yeah, that was from when I was training for the half marathon and you and I spent a Sunday afternoon at the zoo together. I ran while pushing you in the stroller throughout the whole zoo and at the end, we had our picture made with a man (or woman) in a giraffe costume.”

I never really know what you’re actually comprehending or remembering at this age. It’s interesting to think about, though.

Love,

Daddy

P.S. To see more pictures of our father/son visit to the Nashville Zoo today, go to The Dadabase Facebook page and find the photo folder called “The Mutant Giraffe And The Hungry Goat.”

August 24, 2013 at 11:26 pm , by Nick Shell

2 years, 9 months.

Dear Jack,

I suppose there’s a good chance that this weekend will be remembered in American pop culture history as when people debated online about how perfector horrible Ben Affleck will be as the new Batman.

As for us, I will remember it as the weekend I felt so proud to buy you a $4 police and ambulance set from T.J. Maxx.

It was the “good little boy in T.J. Maxx” tax that earned you this gift.

Mommy and I needed to buy some appropriate running clothes for our half marathon coming up in April.

Honestly, you behaved very well. I was quite impressed. It was a non-event.

I didn’t have to do any of my recently acquired deep-breathing ad-lib yoga exercises. I didn’t have to find my place of serenity.

You let Mommy and I shop for over an hour, as we spent hardly anything on the few items we needed, in peace.

And just look at your face in the picture as you were getting ready for the car ride home.

I’ve been noticing on the car rides to and from school every day, that it seems you’ve developed a new fascination with ambulances and police cars.

“They’re going to help that crash!” you exclaim every time you hear an emergency vehicle pass nearby.

“Nee-nooh! Nee-nooh!”

I’m actually pretty impressed by your anglicized pronunciation of the sirens.

Once we got home, you forgot all about wanting to watch Mater’s Tall Tales on Netflix, instead choosing to go upstairs with me and try out your new ambulance and police car, with their corresponding action figures.

Though I did go through the trouble to shoot a quick video, what really cracked me up was seeing how you cared for the crash victims, which were in a pink Micro Machine race car from when I was a kid:

Instead of pretending to put the invisible passengers into the back of the ambulance, you decided just to try to put the whole car in.

It didn’t quite fit, but I do appreciate your concept of helping the entire car and all its passengers inside the ambulance.

After all, why not just fix the car at the same hospital that the crash victims are being treated?

And it’s those kinds of memories that make paying the ”good little boy in T.J. Maxx” tax totally worth it.

Love,

Daddy