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A Dance With My Daughter

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I wonder if she understands how much it means to me? Does she know that agreeing to dance with me at that birthday party, sent me into a state of bliss that is almost impossible to match?

The smile on her face says that she was equally as excited to be dancing with her Daddy, but would she have been just as excited to have just grabbed anyone at that point? I mean, it was the incredible catchy “Dora The Explorer” theme song.

I like to think that she felt the same way about the 45 second blip in our day, as we stomped our feet and twirled around, our cheeks sore from the growing smiles. I might sound like an overly sappy Dad here, but these are the little moments that make you forget all your troubles and remind you of how great life can be.

Maybe someday, she’ll read this and know how special that brief moment was for her Dad. I hope she does. I hope she reads this and understands that she made a memory for me that day. One that she may not remember, but that I will take with me forever.

It was only 45 seconds, but the memory remains for a lifetime.

Cheers!

A Date With My Daughter

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As a father of 2 blossoming children with busy schedules, a full time shift work job, home day care and multiple other commitments, it’s rare that I get to spend any quality alone time with either child.

Sure, I’ll take my son to the grocery store or my daughter to a doctor’s appointment but I’m talking about “Quality” alone time. You know, the kind that you build long lasting bonds with.

You can only imagine my excitement this week when my wife mentioned that her and her mother would be taking my son out for some Back To School shopping, and that I would be in charge of my 2 year old daughter for an entire afternoon!

I’m pretty sure the adrenaline from the excitement kicked in right away and I got busy planning out our special Daddy/Daughter Date Night! Unfortunately, there were so many thoughts running through my mind that I needed to have a nap, but after that, I got back to planning!

Once the big day arrived, I sailed through my work day, only staring at the clock 7 or 8 or 100 times! We said our goodbye’s and off we went on our date. I should probably take a minute to explain a few things at this point.

1. My daughter has recently given up her afternoon nap, which means that around 4pm she gets very tired and will literally fall asleep anywhere.

2. She has no idea how much this alone time means to her Daddy. To her, at least from my point of view, it’s just another trip in the car.

Back to the date. I had a big night planned and our first stop was to the local Claire’s jewelry store. My little girl is really into jewelry and accessories right now (what little girl isn’t!), so I thought I would take her to pick out some new fashions! We had a blast, both trying on bracelets, rings and hair accesories, until she had found all the items she wanted.

It should be noted that Daddy did not purchase anything for himself, even though I did have my eye on some wonderful Hello Kitty sunglasses!

We then headed off to our dinner reservation at my daughter’s favourite fine dining establishment, Pizza Hut… Seriously, she loves pizza! This is where the story gets inexplicably emotional for me.

My daughter is a Momma’s girl through and through. For the number of times I’ve heard her scream “No, Mommy Do It!!” while trying to help her, my heart should be broken; but it’s not. While laughing and colouring at the table with my daughter, I received a text message from my wife that read “Stop making her laugh!”. At that moment I realized that my wife and I had chosen the exact same restaurant for our dates. I won’t even begin to try and explain what the odds of this were.

We went over to say hi and they asked us if we wanted to join them, to which I answered “No Thanks, we’re on a date!”. This is the part where I get all sappy Dad on you.

My daughter came back over to our table with me and didn’t mention Mommy, Nana or her brother for the rest of the time there. She just laughed, ate and enjoyed Daddy’s company for the entire dinner.

It was one of those moments for me, where time stood still and we genuinely enjoyed each other’s company. I hope someday my daughter will read this and understand how much this gesture meant to me because I’m not sure I can accurately put it down in words.

Cheers!

My First #WordlessWednesday Post! Daddy/Daughter Date

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I’m finally joining the Wordless Wednesday craze this week!

Here are a few shots from my special date night with my Daughter! I’ve definitely learned to make room for more one on one time with my kids. It was a blast!

Cheers!

Not Your Ordinary, Everyday Bunnies

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Just a short post today as I get myself back into the swing of things after a long and very enjoyable vacation! My daughter has recently discovered the joys of music and dancing but there is one song in particular that she can’t stop listening to.

Seriously, she literally will not stop listening to it and if I turn it off, we get an epic meltdown every time!

That song is called Sleeping Bunnies by The Derry Hares and my little one can’t get enough of it. It’s so amazing to watch her dance and sing to the song that it almost makes you forget that you have listened to the song 31 times in a row!

I decided to take a video of her so you can all see just how much she loves it and got an added bonus when my son noticed the camera and decided to join in. He is a spotlight hog just like his Dad!

So without further blogging, here are my kids doing their interpretive dance version of Sleeping Bunnies.

Cheers!

The Smile That Stopped The World

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It’s no secret that as our children get older, they need us less and less. I’ve already begun to see the signs of this with my 4 year old son as he sets out on his path to independence. He recently started his first “no parents allowed” swimming class and it is devastating and exciting all at once.

For some reason, even though I’d been through this with my boy, I thought that my little girl would be, well, my little girl, forever. Every day that passes I see her learning more and gaining the ability to do the little things that Daddy used to help with.

She can do up her own seatbelt in the wagon now, Daddy used to help with that. She doesn’t need Daddy to help her much at the park any more because as she says “No, I Can Do It!”. She doesn’t even need me to help her down the stairs any more, even though I still stand there, hovering over her, sometimes even hoping she’ll slip up a bit so Daddy can catch her.

That sounds harsh and it’s not that I want her to get hurt, it’s just that I want to show her that I am still useful. I want her to need me as much as I need her to need me. I know there’s a next stage of her life, where she’ll need me for a lot of other things, like riding a bike or eating an ice cream cone but I’m just not ready to go there yet.

There’s something about the sincere joy in her eyes when she sees me come in the door from work, that makes my heart ache for the day when I walk in and she just nods and carries on with her day. I dread the day when her excited screams of “Daddy, Daddy!” change to a “What’s Up?” as I enter the room.

She doesn’t know it but she has the ability to stop my world on a dime with a simple unforced cuddle. With a smile, she takes away all my worries and troubles, even if just for a split second, which is long enough.

I’m not sure what brought this on tonight. Whether it was the terrible things happening in the world right now or the realization that kids get older and need us less; or maybe a combination of both.

There is one thing I do know though.

I danced with my little girl this afternoon and as I twirled her around in my arms, in that moment, we were both completely and utterly happy. Most likely for different reasons but happy all the same.

I realized today that it’s okay for my kids to get older and it’s okay for me to be scared about that. What really matters is that I take a moment every now and then to stop and truly appreciate everything I have in them.

There’s no way of knowing what’s in store for them, so all we can do is show them that we are here for them when they need us. To give them all the love that a parent possibly can and hope that someday they are able to share that love with a family of their own.

Kids may grow up and need us less but until that happens I am going to continue to enjoy the moments that bring my world to a stand still.

Cheers!

Today I Thought Twice About Killing A Bug

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I’d never really thought twice about bringing down the Hulk Smash (Yes, I just saw the Avengers and now you get to deal with that) on an unsuspecting bug that had gotten too close to my inner space. In fact, in the world of bugs, I might even be know as a bully!

That was until today.

While playing outside with my kids, I noticed an ant moving dangerously close to my Diet Coke. Just as I was about to bring down the Hammer of Thor (Yep, another one), I noticed that my daughter was infatuated with this tiny little creature.

She screamed with joy, literally, and followed it around everywhere it went. And then she dropped the hammer on me. She looked up at me with her cutie pie eyes and said “Buggy looking for Mommy & Daddy!”

If I wasn’t convinced about letting it live yet, that pretty much sealed the deal. Could you say no to that smile? I certainly can’t.

How could I raise my kids to be kind and love all things, if bugs isn’t included on that list? In this Disney world that my kids live in, that ant is most likely going back fun fairy land village like Pixie Hollow, where Tinkerbell and the Bee Movie guy frolic through fields of Strawberries and stay away from the dreaded humans!

I don’t want to be a dreaded human! And I certainly don’t want my kids to be dreaded humans!! It seems we have no other option than to be friends of the bugs and allow them to roam free on our yard, with no fear of being picked off by one of my shoes, which I throw with the accuracy of one of HawkEye’s arrows!! (Reaching, I know)

Point is, my kids love bugs and they really don’t do any kind of harm to us, other than being gross and creepy and disgusting….well, you get it, right? I guess it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to just observe the bugs while they’re around and then let them move on to their fantasy land, where they can see their Mommies and Daddies.

Who knows, maybe they do go back to Mommies and Daddies. Truth is, I couldn’t care less to look it up, lol. I’ll just pretend they do and let them live from now on!

In closing, Bugs of the World, you have safe passage through my yard for the time being. I can’t promise that you won’t get accidentally squashed by a runaway PlasmaCar or a size 2 rain boot but I will not purposefully crush you if you don’t get in my face!

Oh yeah, There’s one more thing. This entire post does not apply to one particular species of bug and you know who you are. Even if my kids fall madly in love with you, I will hunt you while you sleep. I believe Liam Neeson described it best:

“I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.”

I’ve got my eye on you wasp. And it’s as sharp as Fury’s one good eye (Yes!) Don’t push me!

Cheers!

PS – Ironman, Captain America, Black Widow! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, that’s better!!!

A Letter To My Daughter On Her 2nd Birthday

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Hi Honey, it’s Daddy. I imagine by the time you are able to read this, you’ll be wondering why, to this point, most of the posts have featured stories about your brother.

I don’t have a clever answer for that other than to say that he is able to talk and joke a lot more than you can and that he is able to do a lot more activities than you are able to at your age.

It definitely has nothing to do with loving one of you more than the other because you are equally loved.

On this, your 2nd birthday, I wanted you to have this letter I wrote for you. I know you won’t be able to read it now but maybe someday you’ll look at it and understand how loved you really are.

Did you know that you were the first girl in our family tree in quite some time. Over 70 years if I’m not mistaken.

From the minute you were born, I was proud to be your Daddy.

I was then and still am petrified at times. I have no idea how to raise a girl and I certainly don’t want to mess it up!

You’re growing up so fast, I feel like I’m missing the whole thing, even though I’m right here the whole time.

Just yesterday, you were learning to stand up in your crib; now you jump from your big girl bed and into my arms.

I’m sorry that I sometimes still cut your food up way too small because I forget that you are not a baby anymore.

I sneak into your room at night sometimes too, while everyone is asleep, just to get a peak at you while you are peacefully at rest. These are some of my favorite moments.

When you run to the door screaming “Daddy, Daddy” when I get home from work, my heart literally melts. I don’t know how much longer you are going to do that for so I am going to savor every minute of it until you stop.

I love that you are charismatic and outgoing, just like your Dad. It took me 20 years to break out of my shell and I’m so glad that you seem to have already smashed through yours.

If you want to wear a Tinkerbell costume to the mall, I’m cool with that.

I even love the fact that you are a bit of a Diva. Not so much when you are yelling at me, but when you copy your Mommy’s disciplinary lines, I can’t help but giggle, even though it gets me in trouble.

I’m so proud of everything you’ve achieved up to this point. You are such a smart girl and I’m not just saying that because I’m your Dad. Okay, maybe I am but that’s just how I feel about that.

I don’t even care that you still want a soother sometimes, even though the doctor disagrees. What does she know, right?

I fear for the day you bring a boy home for the first time. I’m going to hate him. I’m sorry.

I’m going to hate the next guy too. And probably the one after that forever. Again, I’m sorry.

Boys only want one thing, trust me, I am one.

However, I promise to always be there for you though when or if one of those boys breaks your heart. That’s what Daddies do.

I also promise that I am going to go out of my way, at times, to embarrass you. Sometimes I’ll be doing it by accident. That’s what you get when your Dad is a goofball. I realize you don’t get to have a say in your Dad’s personality. Sometimes life isn’t fair (Write that one down).

I honestly believe that you can do anything you want to do in your life. I promise to do all I can to help you become everything you aspire to be.

You can’t be the President of the United States, it’s literally not legal. I’m not sorry about this because being Canadian is pretty awesome too. We’re pretty good at hockey you know.

I don’t want you to do drugs or smoke or drink because those things are bad for you. But I tried them once so I’ll be reasonable about it because I don’t want to be a hypocrite. Consider this your first warning young lady. Sometimes life isn’t fair. Remember when I told you to write that down?

I could write to you all day but I think I’ve made my point.

You bring a new aspect to my life that I never dreamed could be so amazing.

You make me smile when I’m in the worst of moods.

Just the thought of you growing up and moving on brings a tear to my eye (like right now). That’s right, Daddies cry. It’s something you should know about now because it may fall into the embarrassing category when you graduate from high school.

On this, your 2nd Birthday, I want you to know that your Daddy Loves You with all his heart and nothing will ever, EVER happen to change that.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!!!