How JibJab Saved My Relationship With My Daughter/21 Comments/in , , /by

There are no books out there that can adequately prepare a father for the joys of having a daughter. And while they can be the beautiful princesses that you’ve always dreamed of; they also develop a nasty side early on, that can be tough to tame. In my eyes at least, I have been a loving father who enjoys spending as much time as possible with my kids. Being that my daughter is only 20 months old and the fact that my wife runs a day care out of our house, I haven’t had to do too many full days alone with my little bundle of joy.

That’s not to say I can’t handle it or even get nervous at the thought of it, but Julia has a classic case of “Mommy’s Girl” syndrome. It affects about 9 out of 10 girls and it can wreak havoc on a Dad’s psyche to know that she’d rather be able to see Mommy at all times; and that if she can’t see Mommy, she’s going to look for her feverishly. Inevitably, when she realizes Mommy is no longer there and looks at you as the only option left, the water works will begin.

We tried having Kristine sneak out of the house, while the kids are playing, like a ninja. We even tried the “hey, look over there” bit, while Mommy slides silently out the front door, but nothing worked. Until I found JibJab.com.

There we were at Christmas time and a relative of mine thoughfully included me on the email of his family’s hilarious Bobble Headed rendition of Jingle Bell Rock. It was funny enough that I thought I would make a video of my family so I could show the kids their dancing faces on the computer andpossibly give them a laugh. What followed was an unhealthy slew of daily requests to watch the JibJab video. It became the response to every question I had, “What do you want for dinner guys?”, “JibJab” my daughter would say as she pointed at the computer screen. “What movie do you guys want for movie night Luke?”, “I wanna watch JibJab daddy” he’d reply. I’d created JibJab monsters and by the end of the first week, I had created about 7 different videos, including one where we were all characters from Star Wars and Luke had hilariously chosen me to play the role of Princess Leia.

It was becoming like groundhog day around the house in that I knew every morning I woke up, the first step, before even getting milks ready, would be to load up the JibJab so the kids could stay occupied. It was getting to be too much, until the day Mommy had to go out for a bit and Julia was on the cusp of meltdown, when Daddy suggested “Want to watch a JibJab?”. Immediately the quivering lip paused as she stared at me, contemplating my request. After looking back at Mommy for a minute (I’m assuming the look was her way of asking Mommy’s permission to let her go without throwing a fit) she happily ran over to me and took up her place at the computer.

I had done it! I had conquered the Mommys and on month later, that little trick is still my way of getting my foot in the door with my daughter. It may not be perfect, but when faced with a sad baby girl, you do what you gotta do to survive!!!

As a special treat, here’s a copy of my daughter’s favorite JibJab video. It stars her Mommy, which I’m assuming is the trade off for letting Mommy go out alone and leaving her with crazy Daddy.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

 

 

 

Sick Little Monkey/7 Comments/in , , /by

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As many of you parents know, there isn’t a much more helpless feeling in the world than when you have a sick child. They are raised to believe that Mom and Dad can fix everything and I’ve even caught myself telling my son that exact line after he’s fallen down and cut himself. That’s why, when they get a cold, flu or other illness, they look to you, with their ever questioning eyes, wondering what magic spell you are going to cast to make it all better. The truth is, Mom and Dad can’t fix everything, but we sure as hell try our hardest.

That brings me to today, my self-designated, first night of blogging. Unfortunately, all I can think about is my poor daughter and how sick she is. With a fever breaking 104 at points throughout the day, she has been anything but herself. Fortunately for my ego, she is a Mommy’s girl, which means that my wife is taking most of the “fix me” stares. Unfortunately, this doesn’t do anything for my heart, which pains with every one of her pains.

My wife and I look at each other as we wrestle with the idea of visiting the children’s hospital or waiting to see our doctor in the morning. There’s no easy answer to that question. It’s most likely a cold or flu, which means a 6 hour wait at the children’s hospital will yield nothing more than a “lots of water and rest” response, along with disapproving looks from the nurses, as if we should have known better than to waste their time with this.

We settle on calling Tele-Health and asking their nurse a few questions. We’ve called a few times and while it seems like a nice service to have, it always returns the same results, “we recommend you see a doctor” and “we’re not allowed to recommend any medications”. Back to square one. In the end, she shows enough spunk to save us (and her) from the brutal wait times the hospitals here have to offer.

There was a positive side to the story though. My 3 year old son is not sick and is in desperate need of attention, with all the concern being showered on his little sister. That means an opportunity for a Father/Son day and I’m more than happy to oblige. We start with some groceries, a task he is always surprisingly excited about. It may have something to do with the bakery giving out cookies to the kids and even the little people shopping carts they provide now. As sad as it may sound, groceries are one of my favourite activities to do with the kids because they genuinely seem to enjoy it and they behave admirably while we are there (I direct you back to the part about free cookies). The other plus is that my wife appreciates me doing the groceries because it’s not one of her favourites, that equals Man Bucks…right? I’ll spend them the next time my buddies want me to watch UFC with them.

After we finish groceries, my boy and I take a trip to Walmart for some diapers, still a necessity with a 1 year old daughter at home. Funny, we used to tease a guy at work about diapers, before any of us had kids. His wife was pregnant and we would bug him about being ready for fatherhood and all the extra costs a baby brings. The one thing we’d always say is “Diapers are expensive man, are you sure you want to do this?” We were just kidding around with him, but the one thing we didn’t realize at the time, is exactly how expensive diapers really were. My son didn’t potty train until he was 3 and a half, so with my 20 month old daughter already potty training, you can imagine my excitement as I am already planning the number of things I will buy with that extra diaper money. We decided to celebrate this new found fortune a little early, with a trip to what my son refers to as “Old McDonald’s”. Yep, that’s right folk’s, I’ve seen the documentary ‘Supersize Me’ at least a dozen times and still have the nerve to take my kid there for a Happy Meal every now and then. It was Hot Wheels toy day too, which brings an extra large smile to my son’s face and in turn, an even bigger one to mine.

The best part of the day comes with a milestone as my son and I head over to our community’s Winter Family Fun Day. The trip starts with sadness at the thought of my wife and sick daughter stuck at home in bed, but quickly changes to elation as I take my son Ice skating for the very first time. I’m a big hockey fan, so it’s important to me that my kids get a chance to be into the same things I am. To my excitement, he loves it and we spend a good part of half an hour skating around the outdoor rink. I feel for my wife because I know she hates to miss milestone moments, but I’ve come to the realization that we can’t be there for all of them, so you may as well enjoy the ones you get to be a part of. They are truly miraculous to watch.

The end of the day brings more good news as my daughter’s fever is down and she is excited to play with us when we get home, as mommy gets dinner ready. It’s such a nice sight to have my baby girl back and we have a great time laughing and playing. She loves her brother so much, the way she looks at him and copies his every move, it gives you one of those pause moments where you realize how important these little creatures are in your life. Admittedly, I’m not a religious man, but I know what love is and there’s not enough words in the English language to describe the love I have for my family.

This is my first blog post, so it was difficult for me to come up with content that I felt would best reflect my thoughts and feelings on where I want this thing to go. I realized very quickly that I don’t need to say everything in one post because it’s a long life and I plan on posting a lot more over the coming months and years. If there’s one thing to take away from this, I guess it’s that, nobody’s perfect. We can’t always fix everything, sometimes we go to McDonald’s because it the easy thing to do, and love tends to rule all. I hope you enjoyed my first entry, there’s lots more to come from me so please stick around for the ride!