parenting

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Dear Jack: Bonding Through Baseball

13 years, 5 months.

Dear Jack,

You continue to take playing baseball so seriously. It is now the norm for you and I to go throw the ball for about 45 minutes each evening that you don’t already have a baseball game or a coaching lesson.

On my end, I can definitely tell that not only your skills have improved, but also your mindset.

I am watching you mature out of boyhood, in a good way.

Baseball is giving you something challenging to focus on.

The way you interact with our family now is more positive, involved, and connected.

It’s like you have an upgraded form of independent confidence now.

 

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Holly: We Visited Your New School

7 years, 11 months.

Dear Holly,

During your Spring Break a few weeks ago in the midst of all the renovations we were working on for our newly purchased home in Alabama, we squeezed in an afternoon to take you to go visit the school you will be transferring to for your 3rd grade year this fall.

We couldn’t help but be thoroughly impressed by not only the building itself, but also all of the teachers and students, as we were given a personal tour by the principal.

I was waiting for any moment, that everyone would break out in song, as if we were in a musical.

As we were getting a tour of the library, a little girl walked up to you and said, “I like your shoes. My name is Isabella.”

Needless to say, you can not wait to transfer to your new school in Alabama.

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Holly: Our Final Daddy Daughter Dance in Tennessee

7 years, 11 months.

Dear Holly,

Last Friday night I took you to the Daddy Daughter Dance for the 3rd and final time at our church here in Tennessee.

I thought about how after we move to Alabama this summer, it is not for certain that we will have access to dances like these, where we are moving.

So I definitely cherished every minute with you at the dance.

As always, we were the first in the door, the last to leave, and the most active out there on the dance floor!

About an hour into it, you told me you needed to take a break. In the gift bags we received, we both got a Hershey’s chocolate bar.

We wolfed those down to use as fuel to keep the party going. People were depending on us out there.

And we didn’t let them down.

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Jack: Your Voice is Noticeably Changing

13 years, 4 months.

Dear Jack,

In the same way I have been discreet with you about how you are now shaving your mustache, I refuse to openly acknowledge with you that you are currently experiencing your voice changing.

There are definitely those “Peter Brady moments”, where your voice squeaks/cracks in the middle of a sentence. I never mention it. I never want you to feel embarrassed as it happens.

Undeniably, you are now transitioning from having a boy’s voice to a young man’s voice.

But that is not a conversation either you nor I feel like having.

Instead, you’d rather just keep advancing your baseball skills.

“Sounds” good to me!

 

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Jack: Your Pink Temporary Face Tattoo

13 years, 3 months.

Dear Jack,

This past weekend our family went to a yoga-themed birthday party for our friend Mohamad and Lena’s daughter Hanna, who turned eight years old.

Though you knew going into it that there would be no one your age, I could tell you were excited to be a part of it.

As soon as we walked into the party, which was at a rec center, you immediately accepted an offer to receive a temporary tattoo. You chose for it to be placed on your face. And it was pink.

Now here we are, nearly a week later, and the pink tattoo is still on your face, in full unfaded glory.

That means that everyone at your school, specifically your 7th grade classmates, have no choice but to A) look at you with a pink face tattoo and B) accept that you are confident enough to go around all week with a pink face tattoo.

Love,

Daddy