Hey folks, Mike here with a new post. Missie wrote about a few
confessions of hers, reflecting on her parenting skills (which are amazing if I say so myself). Here is my crack at it:
1) Carina takes Disney princess gummy "vimamins" every morning...
...and so do I. My vitamins taste the way cat barf smells. The Disney princess gummies taste like gummy bears and have all the same stuff. Win.
2) Every parent out there probably knows a few cartoon theme songs/songs from kids movies. In our case, the songs from Super Why were first. Lately, it's been the theme to Sofia the First, and (thanks to Pandora and a CD my mother gave us) a princess song from The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Princess and the Frog, Aladdin, Tangled, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, or... yeah one of those. Here's the confession part. I'm not complaining about it - I rock out to A Whole New World, and will probably tear up when, at the start of an episode of Sofia, I don't hear a little voice say "Daddydoo gotta sing it, singa Princess Sofia!!" Notes are too high for a guy who sang baritone in high school and college you say? My falsetto pwns yours.
3) I am terrified of Aurelia headbutting me and will be so happy once the occasional baby head flops are gone (the loss of other baby phases is sad, but not this one). Why am I afraid? Because Carina headbutted me when I was a new dad, and her forehead hit my chin. I left a tiny dent in the skin on her head. It was barely noticeable, but I sure as hell could see it. I think it's gone now, but for months, I was reminded that yes, I dented my kid's head. When we fight during her teenage years, maybe this will come in useful, but until then, I'll still look apprehensively when the light hits her little forehead to make sure the evidence is gone.
4) I'm afraid that because of the hours I work, Carina and Aurelia are used to me not being there. As it is, they both giggle when I walk in at the end of the day. Sometimes Aurelia reaches out to me when she's cuddled up to Missie in our bed. But on Saturdays or Sundays when I run into lab, Carina runs after me and says, almost exasperated "Carina go to work with Daddydoo, go see Dinosaurs" or Aurelia lets out a whimper or fuss as I give her back to Missie when I leave. I walk out the door and tear up as I turn the key, and I hope my little ladies will understand that I'm putting in the time to give them opportunities and good life down the road.
5) I want my girls to be better than me. I have high standards for my own behavior and interactions with other people, and to be honest I don't always live up to them - those moments really stick with me and I try to learn from them but mostly I just feel badly, which isn't helpful to anyone. I hope my girls get it right way more than I do because, and this applies to many situations in parenting and my career in academia/education as well, I'm not sure how to teach and discipline certain things when I know I struggle with them too. It's pretty scary and I hope my little ladies one-up their Daddydoo in this one.
Well folks, that's what I've got. Parenting is what I call a "full-life" experience - we run the full gamut of emotions, from being happy and celebratory, to being just a little embarrassed sometimes, to feeling proud, having regrets, being afraid, and being fearless because we have to be. These early years and I think probably every year to come are what remind us of the range of who we are as people. I love every minute of it, even the hard stuff.
This week's Toddle Along Tuesday topic is
Dad Confessions! If you can't convince your man to actually write the post, ask him what some of his confessions would be and transcribe! Or? I bet you have a few things you could write about on his behalf, without him even knowing about it ;) There are no rules here, except that you link up a
relevant post (old or new) rather than your whole blog.
Next week's topic will be
A Day in the Life! It's been
exactly one year since we've done this topic, I thought it would be fun to revisit it.
