parenting

4 Comments Posted on January 26, 2015 funny, parenting, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: What Is That Animal In Your Drawing Doing?

4 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack,

I am always excited to see what new creative artwork you have for me each day when I pick you up from school.

On Friday, right before we headed over to the circus, one of your drawings particularly caught my attention. You immediately began explaining it to me:

“Daddy, see- he’s got giraffe legs, a cow body, a robot neck, an elephant tale, and a bear head!”

Sure, I was slightly confused by the robot neck, but I had to ask you right away about the one part of picture you failed to describe:

“Jack, what is that animal in your drawing doing?”

Your unapologetic answer was somewhat understated:

“Oh, I did a brown arrow… to point at the poop… because he had a big poop.”

Classic.

Somehow in all your hundreds of pictures you’ve drawn, you’ve never drawn anything with potty humor before.

But that’s the thing; I’m not convinced you were trying to be funny. Your main focus was to point out how you cleverly designed a sort of Frankenstein-style animal.

You really do put so much thought into your artwork. Today you brought home 4 new pictures; one of them featuring a charming snowman. You explained to me the full story:

“Daddy, the sun is mad at the snowman because the snowman said he wanted the moon to come out instead that way the snowman won’t melt, so the sun turned purple because he was mad.”

Wow. Seriously. You are one creative little boy.

I am already imagining just a few years from now how your pictures will be evolving into full stories; where you will do like I did when I was a boy and make my own books; writing all the words and drawing all the pictures for your own homemade books.

That is going to be a lot of fun!

Love,

Daddy

Leave a comment Posted on January 24, 2015 Nostalgia, parenting, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: Your Self-Assigned Lego Homework Project

4 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack,

A week from today will be your last day at your preschool, with the big move into our new house being next weekend.

At night during dinner, all this week, you’ve been working on a special Lego plane. You instructed me to build something too, so I did.

Well, this morning you asked me to find a bag to put your plane in: The time had finally come to reveal your new creation to your friends and teachers at school.

So I found a Kroger bag and placed your plane inside it; keeping it up front with me in the car for the drive.

Once we arrived in your class room, you whispered to me, “Daddy, the plane.”

So I pulled the plane out and handed it to you.

Immediately, your friends ran over, crowding around you. They were sincerely and thoroughly impressed with your work.

“Wow, Jack! Is that Michelangelo in there driving it?” your friend Joshua asked.

Keep in mind, just a few weeks ago, you built that Lego hospital at school that all your friends protected.

I struggled to snap a few pictures of the event today, as it was truly a challenge for me to get a shot of you holding the plane without one of your friends blocking my view.

In the midst of all the I wanna see!’s from your friends, I realized that most them are a year older than you. They are 5; you are 4.

Witnessing this today made me sort of feel like the dad of Doogie Howser or something.

Even now, I’m thinking, “Man, my son diligently worked on a Lego plane that impressed his older friends. He must be a Lego prodigy… That’s pretty cool!”

Ultimately, this is one of those “dad moments” for me. I am proud of you, Son.

Love,

Daddy

Leave a comment Posted on January 21, 2015January 21, 2015 new house, parenting

Dear Jack: Saying Goodbye To KinderCare, Your Preschool Since July 2011

4 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack,

A week from this Friday, Lord willing, we will officially be moving into our new house. And for you, that means you will start going to a just-opened preschool, right around the corner from where we will be living.

Since before Thanksgiving, we have been renting out a bedroom from some friends. It’s a very nice place to stay; but obviously, it’s a bit like living in a “tiny house” since there are three of us living in the same bedroom.

Once we move, Mommy will be able to start working from home once a week.

Plus, she will start going in to work early (meaning I’ll be the one who will be getting you ready for school in the morning, which I am very happy about!) and therefore Mommy picking you up earlier than you’re used to.

I am also really excited about the extra quality time you will be able to spend with Mommy.

That’s why we’re moving you to this new school. KinderCare is great; there’s just not one where we’re moving.

Moving you to this new school near our new home is the best decision for our family, to have more quality time together now that’re moving 35 miles away from Nashville, to the “bedroom community” of Spring Hill.

We’ve had you enrolled at KinderCare since July 2011; since you were only 8 months old. As of today, you are 4 years, 2 months old.

That makes 3 and a half years of your life, more than 80%, in which your daylight hours of weekdays have been spent at KinderCare. That’s a lot of time!

So it’s a big deal that you will no longer be going to school there. Two weeks from today will be your last day there.

You’ll have to officially say goodbye to all the friends you’ve made over the years, along with your teachers.

It’s even a little bit sad for me as well, because I’ll no longer taking you on the hour and a half or more daily round trip commute to school and work with you.

Instead, I’ll drive you about 5 minutes to school each day. Then, Mommy will pick you up (earlier than you’re used to) and drive you back home the other 5 minutes.

Imagine that: Just 10 minutes in the car each day as compared to at least an hour and a half!

That’s good. Despite the quality time I’ll miss with you in the car each day, you won’t have to be in the car as much, plus you’ll be in school less than you’re used to, and you’ll get to spend more quality time with Mommy; which you definitely need more of.

It’s a bittersweet symphony, but I believe it’s definitely for the best. I’m looking forward to our family’s future.

Love,

Daddy

Leave a comment Posted on January 18, 2015 new house, parenting, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: Our New Home’s Fence, Trees, And Shrubbery

4 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack,

In theory, two weeks from now we should already be sleeping in our new home; as the closing date is January 29th.

So obviously, our family is very excited about our upcoming move…

However, at the same time, I’m equally nervous about it. Because I’m not kidding myself on the potential logistical problems that can and may easily occur before or on our closing date.

Mommy and I are both taking off from work the day after our closing date to facilitate the move; for me, one of my assignments is to be there for the guy to install our Internet and also for another guy to move in the refrigerator.

And I’m anxious about the “final walk-through,” worried it won’t happen this week as it’s supposed to, and worried that for the things we do find that need to be fixed, that they won’t be fixed in time to move in on time.

From there, I fear that we will have to choose sacrificing moving in the day we are supposed to… over having some small issues taken care of, like some of the doors not closing as smoothly and the front porch light already having a crack in it.

Well, I guess we’ll find out pretty soon how that part of the story works out.

As for now, I’ll spotlight some of the finishing touches we noticed on our visit yesterday, after seeing Paddington.

They put in grass, shrubbery, and trees for our yard; they finished the construction of our fence, and they stained our shutters for us.

It’s pretty cool to be able to look out the windows of the back of the house and see ourbackyard.

Our backyard. We’re going to have a backyard. That is definitely a new concept; as constrasted to the townhouse we’ve lived in all these years.

We’re almost there. I’m really looking forward to us already being moved in though.

That’s why this whole thing doesn’t end once we do move; there will surely be much more to the story.

Love,

Daddy

1 Comment Posted on January 6, 2015 parenting, reviews, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: Monster Jam 2015 in Nashville- Family Friendly Review

4 years, 1 month.

Dear Jack,

Last January, our family drove to Huntsville, Alabama to see Monster Jam 2014 because the Nashville arena only had show dates at night, which would have kept you up way past your bed time.

However, this year, with you being 4, Mommy and I can get away with letting you cheat your bedtime every once in a while like we did a few weeks ago for Marvel Universe Live.

Well, turns out that this year in Nashville for Monster Jam 2015, there was a Sunday afternoon show date. So we went!

Yes, that is an anteater in your arms. That was one of the specific things you asked for your birthday in November.

You named her “Annie.” And she apparently loved the monster truck show as much as you did!

One of your favorite monster trucks was there: Grave Digger.

Not to mention, Son-uva Digger showed up too.

Something I have learned after seeing two Monster Jams is that the location of the venue determines which trucks will show up, because I supposed that’s based on which drivers live closest to the arena it’s being held. (We were at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN.)

As you can see from the shots of the crowd, it was a packed stadium! Nashville shows up for monster trucks, that’s for sure.

I think your favorite part was seeing both Grave Digger and Captain’s Curse flip over and have to be rescued by the machine.

They also had some ATV racers there as well. Which, speaking of, I hate it that we’ll miss the Arenacross event at the end of this month. However, that’s the weekend we move into our new house!

We sat next to the winners of the ticket giveaway I did on the Facebook page for Family Friendly Daddy Blog. They had a blast as well.

Granted, I should define “had a blast” when referring to 3 and 4 year-old little boys like the two of you.

You weren’t necessarily screaming and cheering the entire time… That’s because typically when something overwhelmingly entertains you like that, you just sit there and soak it all in.

From there, you will go on to tell all your friends and teachers about it at school for the following weeks. Going to the show also feeds your ongoing interest in playing with your growing collection of toy monster trucks.

It was no surprise that as soon as you got home, you began racing your Monster Jam trucks on the bedroom floor: “Vvvvvvvrrrrroooo! Eeeeeeccckk! Jch-jch-jch!”

You are a kid who loves Monster Jam. And your anteater, too… at the same time!

Love,

Daddy

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