A Dad’s Perspective

With Cortney out of town this weekend at the Hearts at Home conference, it’s time for Dad to step up and contribute! There are an infinite number of topics I could write about and this past week has been a pretty big one in our household with Carter’s first steps and a good breakthrough on the potty-training front with Evan. But I thought I would post a few of my favorite things that I share with my boys – from a Dad’s perspective. These are the “little” things that I hold dear – those things I’ll remember years from now say, “Those were good days, why did they go by so fast?”

Breakfast
This is one of my favorite times of the day. While Cortney gets tries to get a few last minutes of much deserved sleep, I get the boys out of bed and we start our day at the breakfast table. We laugh, we joke, we talk about the day before and what’s going on that day. Every now and then, after we laugh, all three of us exchange glances and simultaneously start laughing again. I can’t explain the feeling, but it’s incredible. After we’re done eating, usually Carter says, “Choo, choooooo,” in a soft, little voice and points at the basement door. It’s train table time – the latest and greatest craze!

The Departure
We have this ritual when I leave for work. I know Cortney has written about it before, but Evan insists I give him “beep-beeps” before I drive off to work. He sits on our living room chair and looks out the window and waves as I leave. Now, you must understand that this is serious business, and most recently this ritual has become more complicated. Evan now specifies how many “beep-beeps” he’d like to hear. I have had to put a cap (5) on the max number possible. On a few occasions Cortney has called me after I leave and informed me that either I gave none or the wrong number of “beep-beeps”. What a crushing blow to a 2 year old, and a drive by “beep-beep” is then required. I’ve always wondered what our neighbors think about this… Carter has become a participant in this activity as seen below.

Brothers
It’s a joy to see these two boys progress and begin to communicate and play together. Of course, it’s not always innocent. They are perfecting skills needed to get under each other’s skin. While I certainly don’t condone this action, it’s sometimes pretty hard not to chuckle. Evan does his share of bullying, but Carter dishes it out as well. He’s begun picking on Evan by either putting his face right in Evan’s then pulling away, or flat out smacking him in the face with his open hand. Usually the swing doesn’t have enough velocity to hurt too bad, but the smack is impressive, reminding me of one of those bad kung-fu movies. Retaliation usually consists of a shove from Evan or if he’s feeling charitable, “Carter! No hit!” Just a sign of things to come I’m sure…

There’s so many more little things, but I’ll save them for another post. I’d love to hear some of the little things that you enjoy with your kids. Better yet – any Dad’s out there feel like sharing?

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