dad unmasked

About a month ago, my oldest daughter, S, and I were watching a show on skydiving. I told her that I wanted to skydive one day and she quickly said that she did too. Well, I am pretty sure there are laws against throwing 9 year olds out of planes so I researched indoor skydiving. I found a place in town and told my daughter about it. She was very excited and told me that’s what she wanted to do for her birthday. So we did.

From the time we got to the facility, until the time we left, my daughter could not stop smiling.  After a brief training demo, we suited up and lined up in the flight tube for our first flight. When S was next in line, I asked her if she wanted me to go first. She looked up at me, smiled brightly and shook her head “no.”  At that moment, I felt that I was doing something right. This kid was fearless. She flew like the superhero that I always wanted to be. That day, she was MY superhero with no strings attached.

9 years ago today, my first baby girl was born. It was a day I will never forget. My special message to her is this:

Sweetie,

Not only are you beautiful, intelligent and gifted, you are MY daughter. You mean so much to me and I am so proud that you are here with me.

Happy Birthday and I love you,

Daddy

Teaching my 5 year old to ride without training wheels. She’s almost there.

I find it fascinating to see the various similarities between my kids yet there are clearly many differences. I decided to ask them 5 questions just to see how truly different they were. Each of my daughter’s went to a “sound proof” booth as to not influence each other’s answers.

Q: What’s your favorite color and why?
S (7 years old): Purple. Because it’s kind of close to pink which used to be my favorite color.
N (4 years old): My favorite color is orange because I like oranges.

Q: If you were a superhero what would your powers be?
S: I could fly and see through walls and stuff.
N : Like Storm and I could fly and be pretty.

Q: If Santa were to bring you just one gift this Christmas, what would you want it to be?
S: A laptop! Duh!
N: It would be a baby doll that could eat and could drink and poop and pee and talk to me.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up and why?
S: A teacher because it’s fun and you get to teach kids and decorate your classroom.
N: A doctor because I want to give people shots and check their hearts and that’s all.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about Daddy?
S: When you take us on fun trips and buy us cool stuff and say funny things.
N: I love him and he gives me lots of hugs and kisses when he goes to work.

Bonus Question: Who just farted?
S: Ewwwww Daddy! Was that you or Buddha (the dog)?
N: I think it was my bed because I was just jumping on it.

Happy Holidays!

Last Sunday was such a beautiful day here in the road rage capital of the world. There was no way I was going to keep my girls, S and N cooped up in the house on a day like this. So, on the agenda for the day was kite flying, bike riding, pumpkin decorating and an impromptu hunt for Bigfoot.

So here’s how the hunt went.

Me: Hey girls, let’s go for a hike in the woods behind the soccer field.

N: Yes! Let’s go!

S: OK, but I don’t want to go far!

Me: It’ll be fun. Let’s look for tracks!

S: What kind of tracks Daddy?

Me: We can look for deer and raccoon tracks.

N: Are there bears here Daddy?

Me: Quite possibly. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find some Bigfoot tracks!

S: Huh?? No Daddy, I’m scared! (freezing in her tracks)

Me: Don’t worry sweetie, if we see a Bigfoot, we’ll just run back to the soccer field. But, not before I take a picture.

N: Yeah! We can take a picture of Bigfoot and then I’m gonna tell Barack Obama!

Me: Why do we need to tell Obama?

N: Cause he’s the President and he’s looking for Bigfoot too.

Me: (Trying not to laugh) No sweetie, he’s looking for Bin Laden not Bigfoot.

N: Oh.

Priceless!