funny

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Boo the Pomeranian Reminds Me of My Son

October 25, 2011 at 10:54 pm , by 

Eleven months.

Having a son means that there is always a part of me floating out there in the universe. Whether he’s simply just asleep down the hall or away at day care while I’m at work, part of my brain is constantly thinking about him.

He is in everything I see. He’s in every random thought I have; from Gummy Bears to a Pomeranian with a buzz cut.

A few days ago on Facebook I saw a picture of two Pomeranians posted by one of my former students in Bangkok atGlobal English School. So inevitably, the following conversation followed:

    • 4 people like this.

      • Nick Shell What kind of dog is the one on the right? It’s look unreal!

        October 20 at 12:32am · Like

      • A-ngoon its look unreal because its smile right ?? they both are pomeranian but the right one have a shorter hair ka nick:)

        October 20 at 2:46pm · Like

      • Nick Shell The right one reminds me of my son :)I am probably going to use this picture on my website about him.

        October 20 at 7:09pm · Like

      • A-ngoon
        ‎:)

        October 21 at 11:38am · Like

It turns out that this Pomeranian happens to be famous; his name is Boo and his Facebook page has well over 2 million “likes!”

I can’t look at Boo and not see my son Jack; the way Boo is smiling, the shape of Boo’s face- that is my son as a Pomeranian! 

Granted, a Dadabase post like this one will never show up in the Top 5 Most Popular Posts section on the right side of the screen. It’s so out there, I know. But I just couldn’t keep this enchanting and bizarre photo from the world; simply because I love to talk about my son- even in the form of a yappy little dog.

Maybe it’s just me that somehow sees the abstract resemblance. But I’m sure I’m not the only parent out there who thought their child looked like something just as weird. When you look at the world through my eyes, you see Jack-Man in the strangest of places.

Passing the Mic:

Do you think Jack looks like Boo?

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7 Things This Dad Stopped Caring About

October 24, 2011 at 11:45 pm , by 

Eleven months.

After becoming a dad last year, I quickly learned that certain things in my life which were previously important had become nearly irrelevant. The funny thing is, I’m so used to my new state of normalcy that I actually forgot that at one point these things even mattered at all. So to celebrate my recent maturity as a dad and as a human being, I now share the top seven things I stopped caring about when I became a dad.

1. Drool: Today at work I looked down at my jacket and saw what appeared to be dried slobber. It’s amazing how much I didn’t care. Maybe there’s something about changing so many diapers in those first couple months that caused me to not even think twice about something as harmless as a little bit of baby drool- whether it’s wet on my hand or dried on my clothing.

2. Sleep: At this point, my son sleeps from 7PM until 6:30 AM every day; but I’m so accustomed to those days of so little sleep for my family of three, that six solid hours each night is plenty good for me. You would think I would crash slightly after he does each night, but I guess I have to feel like I have some kind of life outside of being a dad- like staying up until midnight to publish this blog post.

3. Watching movies: Watching TV shows is different because that is so much more of a passive event. Movies require a sense of commitment- averaging from 90 minutes to two hours. Free time matters so much more to me now; movies just don’t hold their value in my new economy of time.

4. What time I eat: Dinner could be at 6PM… or maybe 7:30… 8 o’clock… it’s anybody’s guess. Coordinating my son’s own eating schedule along with putting him to bed for the night then actually cooking the meal for us parents and then sitting down to eat it; well, it’s the kind of thing that just has to be flexible. I eat when I can, not when I’m hungry.

5. Being on time, in general: I can manage to get to work on time each day despite being the one to drop him off at day care. However, making it to church on time is a whole other blog post. We used to be the people who showed up to events on time. Now the motto is “better late than never.” People seem to understand, though: We have the “parent pass.”

6. Weekend plans: Does it really matter what I’m doing this weekend? Will I be getting any more sleep than a weekday? Will it be any more relaxing than being at work all day instead? I think I just answered my own questions.

7. The perception of being in control: I feel like B.C. (before child) I actually believed I had a decent amount of control over my life. Now, controlling my own life essentially revolves around trying to control my son’s life. Ultimately, if I can keep him from chewing on the power cord to the vacuum cleaner today, then I’ll gladly count that as “being in control.”

Passing the Mic:

What would you add to your version of this list?

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My Baby on Wheels Learns to Walk

October 23, 2011 at 11:52 pm , by 

Eleven months.

Yeah, I know; that’s a pretty weird title…

My eleven month old son, Jack, is learning to walk. Up until now, he has simply been a “baby on wheels,” trampling over anything and everyone in his way. I think of how cartoons, like the Road Runner, had legs that essentially transformed into wheels once they got moving.

Jack also reminds me of a toy I had back when I was 5 (in 1986) called The Animal, a toy SUV that had tiger claws than came out of the tires when it needed to climb over a surface.

But over the past couple of weeks, Jack has been experimenting with standing and walking. He can stand on his own for close to ten seconds and can take up to six steps before he falls; not that I’m necessarily in a rush for him to gain more independence.

Of course, his further independence means my further responsibility. When I think of all the milestones of a baby’s progress, the first steps are definitely pretty high on the list. I feel like so many camera commercials capitalize on this event.

I am fascinated by the way he falls- in safe, slow-motion. It’s just funny because I know if I were falling down after walking a few steps, it would be fast and furious, possibly with a Tokyo drift. As for Jack, each time he breaks his walking stride with a fall, he’s as graceful as a cat landing on its feet.

Seeing Jack walk is almost as weird as if an animal were to start talking to me all of the sudden- it’s just thatenchanting and seemingly unnatural. My “baby on wheels” can crawl and use toys to skate around the floor with, but… walk?

Baby steps, baby steps; that is what it will take- for me to finally get used to see my infant walking instead of crawling.

Passing the Mic:

How old was your child when they finally started learning to walk? What new tricks did they start doing that sort of freaked you out?

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Interview with Parents.com’s Daddy Blogger, Nick Shell

October 9, 2011 at 11:56 pm , by 

Ten months.

Do you think it may be perceived as pretentious that you are interviewing yourself, since you yourself are the creator and author of The Dadabase?

“I do, actually. But I also believe that every time I publish a new Dadabase post, I am essentially interviewing myself; only in a different kind of format. See, I’m planning on starting a new blog series here where I interview non-famous people; since I don’t know any famous people who are willing to let me question them for free. To get in some good practice, I just figured interviewing myself is the best place to start.”

What has been your biggest challenge so far as a dad?

“My son Jack can get pretty clingy with my wife, so trying to distract him with something else can sometimes take a lot of energy and creativity. Leaving the room with him often is the best remedy. But part of the challenge for me is psychologically accepting the double standard of how he treats us both, regarding his clingyness.  I can pick him up; he cries. She picks him up; he’s happy. That’s annoying.”

What is the weirdest thing about your parenting style?

“Man, I feel everything I do as a dad is weird. I get it that ‘there is no normal’ when it comes to figuring this thing out. But if anything, maybe the weirdest thing about my parenting style is that I am so normal as a dad. Being a parent is the most normal thing about me!

The paradox is that you end up having to do strange stuff when you become a dad- like make up off-the-wall songs on the spot to pacify your infant’s attention and speak to them in strange Muppet voices. That’s not normal- but in parenting, it is. For once, in this one huge aspect of my life, I’m normal; and that’s pretty weird.”

What is your favorite quirk about your child’s personality so far?

“I just think that in general, he’s a cool baby. It’s not that he wants to be cool or tries to be cool- he just simply is. Like right now, he does this thing where he sticks his fist up in the air when he sees me. So I am trying to teach him to do the “exploding fist bump.” His attempt at making the explosion sound is hilarious! Instead of ‘pa-khooch-shh!’ like I do it, he does ‘rhhrr-ugghh-ahh.’

“The fact that it’s important to him to learn to do the exploding fist pump is just adorably awesome. I really like that kid. I really do.”

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My Son, the Sound Effects Guy

October 3, 2011 at 11:16 pm , by 

Ten months.

A couple of weeks ago I was holding Jack as I was getting myself some water from the fridge. The second I moved the glass from my mouth, I heard “Ahhh!”. Immediately I tried to figure out if I made the sound myself or simply thought it in my head.

I didn’t think about this again until the next day when I was standing across the kitchen holding Jack and he saw Jill take a sip of some water.

“Ahhh!”  We both looked at Jack. He didn’t have a sneaky look on his face; he wasn’t trying to be funny. But when Jill took another drink of water and Jack made the noise again, it was plain to see: Jack feels it’s his duty to make the “Ahhh!” sound anytime he sees a person appearing to take a sip of a refreshing drink.

Though this might be the exact goofy kind of thing I would try to teach Jack, I knew it had nothing to do with me. And I knew that my wife and I didn’t go around regularly making sound effects after taking a drink. So where did he learn this?

A few days later I asked around at KinderCare, where Jack stays while we are at work. His main instructor, Ty, knew right away what I was talking about and laughed as she explained Jack’s new trick to me. In an effort to teach one of the other little boys to drink from his sippy cup, she made the “Ahhh!” sound each time the boy took a sip from it.

Jack was taking it all in, observing that it must be normal in our culture to make sound effects for other people when they drink something.

Needless to say, Jack has not missed one opportunity to go “Ahhh!” I can take three sips of water and Jack will make the sound three times. Again, he’s not doing it to be funny or entertaining; he simply feels it’s his duty. He does it with a straight face.

It really is a cool trick. So it makes me think- if he can learn to do that just from innocent observation, what else can he learn when I’m not even trying to teach him?