Nostalgia

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Monster Trucks & Dinosaurs Are The New PB&J

April 30, 2013 at 12:40 pm , by 

2 years, 5 months.

Dear Jack,

Thirty years ago in 1983, when I was your age, my dad and I played an Atari game called Combat, which contained 27 games in one.

There was one battle on there where the 1st player was a plane that continually scrolled to the top right of the screen, while the 2nd player was a boat that continually scrolled to the bottom left.

By pressing the one orange button on the controller, you would try to shoot your opponent as they passed by every 5 seconds.

It was ridiculous, yet I really loved that stupid game.

The reason I thought of this random childhood memory is because of our shared love for monster trucks and dinosaurs.

I admit, the marvelous (and very marketable) combo of monster trucks and dinosaurs entered our family from a funny t-shirt you have, which features a page of a fake comic book.

When I first saw it, I thought, “How appropriate! That’s a perfect match, like peanut butter and jelly.”

As if it were an inevitable Biblical prophecy,I bought you a $4 purple monster truck last week, then a 99 cent T-Rex the next day.

I was naturally led to attach the dinosaur to the front passenger seat of my car, in attempt to annoy/make you laugh on the car ride to school.

To be fair, you not only had your purple monster truck to aid you in the psychological attack, but your Easter Bunny was there to serve as your ally as well.

I could tell you were sort of confused as to why I would buy you two toys for no apparent reason.

The best explanation I can give is this:

It’s a transportable version of horseplay. If I can’t be chasing you around the house, pretending to be a hungry and scary tiger, at least I can pretend that the plastic dinosaur has an appetite for monster trucks.

If nothing else, as much as I mention monster trucks and dinosaurs to you on a weekly basis, I figured we ought to at least have some official mascots for our relationship; given the number of times a mention the two on a weekly basis.

You are a monster truck. I am a dinosaur. 

Man, that sounds like the beginning of a beautiful haiku…

 

Love,

Daddy

 

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Dad Hacks Donkey Kong For Daughter To Play As A Girl

March 12, 2013 at 8:53 pm , by 

2 years, 3 months.

Dear Jack,

The parenting story that has gone viral today is that a dad named Mike Mika hacked the classic Donkey Kongvideo game so his daughter could play as Pauline, the girl who Mario tries to save. So instead of Mario saving Pauline from Donkey Kong, she saves Mario.

Mike’s daughter had been enjoying playing as the Princess in Super Mario Bros. 2, which happens to be my favorite video game of all time, and she was disappointed to learn she couldn’t be the princess in Donkey Kong as well. So her dad took care of it.

I like what Mike says in his article on Wired.com:

“Having kids is incredible. And having a daughter is something special. I get the opportunity to see the world through her eyes. And if this experience has taught me anything, it’s that the world could be just a bit more accommodating. And that if something as innocuous as having Mario be saved by Pauline brings out the crazy, maybe we aren’t as mature in our view of gender roles as we should be.

I didn’t set out to push a feminist agenda, or try to make a statement. I just wanted to keep that little grin lit up on my daughter’s face every time we sit down to play games together.”

Sure, a good number of video games throughout history have featured a male hero who saves a female; that concept caters to a male audience who is wired to solve problems and earn the love and respect of a beautiful female, not to socialize and network with friends like Farmville on Facebook.

The earliest example of an action-based video game where the lead character is a female hero is Metroid; though you wouldn’t  know the character is a female until you beat the game.

That’s one of the many reasons I always loved Super Mario Bros. 2; because it was fun (and weird) to play as a female in an action game. I wasn’t ashamed to play as a character who wore a pink dress. I just wanted to win!

In fact, Super Mario Bros. 2 is still often referred to by those who didn’t own the game growing up like I did as “isn’t that the one where you can play as the Princess?”.

Today, Mike Mika has earned cool points with parents across America for thinking of such a clever idea to help his daughter feel special and loved.

I bet she feels like a princess.

 

Love,

Daddy

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The Generic Muppet Baby Version Of Yourself

February 20, 2013 at 11:32 pm , by 

2 years, 3 months.

Dear Jack,

As I look at this recent picture of you at The Good Cup coffee shop, I see a boy who is serious about his life ambitions.

If nothing else, I see a boy who is trying not to act too happy for the fact his parents are actually letting him consume a whole cup of whipped cream while they enjoy their coffee.

You look like a human being. I know that should technically be an understatement, but hopefully it makes slightly more sense when I show you older pictures of yourself.

The best way I can describe it is that you used to be the generic Muppet Baby version of your current self.

Your personality, your will, and your appearance were all much more basic back then.

And by back then, I’m especially referring to you before you were a year old. For example, I found this picture of our family from July 2011, at Little River Falls in Alabama.

Son, I’ve always adored you. I’ve always seen you as the most beautiful boy in the world.

However, when I see this picture, I think of the episode of The Family Guy where Peter Griffin carelessly uses his final wish from a genie to avoid being punched in the face:

“I wish I had no bones!”

At the time, you seemed as animated and detailed as you are now: You weren’t, though.

Maybe that’s something I’ve officially learned here recently; that in present tense, whatever age you happen to be, I will think you more progressed than you are.

In other words, a year from now when you’re 3 years old, I will look back at the picture of you above, at the coffee shop, and think, “What a Muppet Baby you were!”

Sure, alive is alive. But you come to life even more each day. You become more human.

It’s almost even freaky now that you and I have mostly legitimate conversations every day. You definitelyknow your first and last name now. You’re becoming a human citizen.

You really do have life ambitions. You shared one of them with me today:

“I drive an orange Jeep. I go to the parking lot. I wear my seat belt. I eat my crackers.”

As hilarious as it is for me to picture the 2 year-old version of you safely driving an orange Jeep to a parking lot to eat crackers, years from now that could be a reality.

I have to remember though, you’re technically the Muppet Baby version of your 16 year-old self.

 

Love,

Daddy

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My Parents Seemed So Much Older When I Was A Kid

January 13, 2013 at 11:50 pm , by 

2 years, 1 month.

Dear Jack,

Sometimes I feel like I’m a little too young to be your dad; yet I’m 31.

When I was a kid, I always thought my parents were old; not in a bad way, just that they seemed like they really had a lot of life experience.

The funny thing is, when I was your age in 1983, my dad was 26 and my mom was 25.

Your Mommy and I didn’t even get married until I was 27 and she was 26!

An even stranger thought for me is that when my dad was 31, like I am now, I was 6 and my sister was 3.

Needless to say, it’s a definite challenge for me to imagine having two kids right now… ages 6 and 3. Again, you’re only 2 year right now.

I get it that there are plenty of parents out there my age with two kids, ages 6 and 3. But for me personally, I just can’t see myself in that position right now.

Of course, this goes back to the struggle Mommy and I have been talking about a lot for the past several months: Will we even have a another kid?

What this shows me is that I’m not ready for you to have a brother or sister right now. I’m just not.

Whether it means I’m selfish or not mature enough or whatever it needs to mean… it’s just where I’m at right now.

Maybe part of this is that I’m a Generation Y parent.

I look at my own parents, who didn’t need college degrees to get real jobs. They actually built their first house when they were in their very early 20′s; whereas Mommy and I live in a townhouse.

In general, my parents just never seemed to worry about the future the way I often do. They managed and survived and it never seemed like a struggle for them.

Well, I suppose you will think that Mommy and I are “old” too. We’re not, though. We’re only 29 years older than you.

While to you we may seem like we’re really in control of things, the truth is we’re just now figuring things out.

But with nearly 3 decades of life experience more than you, I can see how we make it look like we actually know what what we’re doing.

I have a feeling it was the same way for my own parents, even if it didn’t seem that way growing up.

 

Love,

Daddy

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Those “Hey, You Just Grew Up!” Moments

January 1, 2013 at 11:14 pm , by 

2 years, 1 month.

Dear Jack,

Watching you grow up is like watching the minute hand move on a clock.

It’s not until I look away for a little while, then look back again, that I can see a change.

There were a few pictures that Mommy must have recently taken while getting you ready for school that I found on our camera.

When I saw them, I thought, “Hey, that’s Jack… I don’t remember him looking… like that… so grown up!”

I mean, it wasn’t that long ago were my “baked potato,” and before you were even a year-old yet, you were my cool necktie-wearing gummy bear.

Weeks of everyday life go by with all their routine and their seeming lack of uniqueness, but it’s in those doldrums that you’re growing up; even if I can’t see it as it’s happening.

A couple months ago one of the ongoing themes I focused on was how you didn’t really look that much like me or Mommy.

Well, now, I can clearly see you’ve graduated from  that phase where babies all sort of like the same to where now you are truly starting to look like a mix of your parents.

If this were a 1990 laugh track-infused sitcom, I would find it much more believable that you could be the son of Mommy and me.

But, I admit, it would sort of be like the 2nd season after the baby is born, where they suddenly replace the baby with a talking-toddler.

Like Nicky and Alex on Full House. Or Andy Keaton on Family Ties. Or Chrissy Seaver on Growing Pains. Or Lilly Lambert on Step By Step.

You and I have both become less generic and more mature people, since April 13, 2010, when I first started this blog.

Back then, you were a 3 month-old fetus who I best understood through a black-and-white sonogram. You’ve come a long way, kid.

But so have I. I learned how to become a dad.

Like Elvis Costello in 1983, everyday I write the book. We figure this out together, in real time.

Along the way, there have been things I’ve said on The Dadabase, that looking back now, I wouldn’t say; nor are they still accurate depictions of how I see things.

There were times I was so zealous about representing myself as a confident dad with a consistent parenting plan, that it probably came across as bravado, not confidence.

And I do regret my former tone in regards to controversial topics like abortion, circumcision, the cry-it-out method, and even politics in general. I see now how I was only adding to the noise of two extremely polarized camps preaching to their own choirs.

That’s not me anymore. Everyday, I’m becoming more like Jack Johnson. And everyday, you’re becoming more like Jack the boy… not the baby.

 

Love,

Daddy