At 16 years old, moments are harder to come by these days that remind me he was once my little boy. “Did I do okay, Dad?” This was the first thing I heard him say upon coming to from sedation following a six-hour surgery. He was still on oxygen and talking through a mask. He […]
Are we still doing the soap in the mouth thing? I may need to go out and buy a bar of soap. Better yet. Amazon Prime. Soap please. We use liquid soap here. Body wash really. How does that work? Do I loofa his tongue? The six year old said his first bad word the
He’s only four and he already thinks he’s smarter than I am. He’s learned how to give the look that says, “Seriously? I wasn’t born yesterday you know?” I give him the look back that says, “In the grand scheme of things… close enough.” He’s given me that looks twice in his life and they
How different his world is in 2014 than mine was when I was his age in 1978. This is the blessing of the late blooming father. Had I begun the child rearing phase of my life a decade or more ago things would be different. We could enjoy the Hunger Games together, we could both
I fear my son will think I don’t read… or listen to music… or vacuum since that task has been assigned to the robot. It’s been years since I bought a physical book and I can count the number of physical CD’s I’ve purchased in the last decade. I have neither of these things lying
There will certainly be a time in our son’s life where he will think he is cooler than us and rebel against the way we chose to raise him. He will be on his way to becoming a Jedi of his own. In an attempt to limit the damage to his ego and curb his
Years back, when my wife said she wanted chickens, I agreed as long as I could build the coop. Actually, I said no for years and finally caved when I started lurking in the dark corners of the internet and learned about automated chicken coops. I’ve always spent time in the dark corners of the
In Florida, before man made global climate change, we had hurricane drills in grade school. We’d learn where the best place to hide was and how to skin, cook and eat alligator. This was before the internet… and apparently before satellite radar. Didn’t they have advanced warning in the 80’s? Did we learn nothing from
The boy has the aviation bug. He has already begun chasing planes around. I’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember. Specifically, it may have started when I was in single digits, sitting in my father’s office, watching people fly RC airplanes in a field across the street. The obsession culminated during
Yep, go to commercial. For a moment I was a TV dad. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the cool dad or the quirky gay dad or the tough guy. I was the awkward dad hanging on to his youth when I had to confront the college boys next door. Our neighborhood is surrounded by colleges and therefore
When the baby falls asleep in my arms, I recreate this old scene in reverse as I do my best to place him in the crib and extract my arms without him waking up. I learned from Indiana Jones… one swift movement. His eyes are closed, and his body is limp in my arms. I
