Last Saturday, was a rainy and cold day in Minnesota.  We had a soccer game.   It is not the best of weather for a coach.  OK, it is miserable.  Before the soccer game started, I was kicking extra game balls to both goals to speed up the soccer game for when the ball goes out of bounds.  When I kicked the first ball, I fell right on my butt.  Never wear tennis shoes on wet grass and kick a soccer ball!  Whoops!  It happened in front of all my soccer players.  The weird thing is, I was the only one that was laughing at first.  After they saw me laugh, they began to laugh.

I was thinking, after I fell on my butt and laughed at myself, why do some people laugh in those situations, others get mad, and others get embarrassed?  A couple of days later, my son answered the question for me.  He was eating dinner and doing tricks with his sippy cup.  Watch the video and find out how he is having fun with the sippy cup and how he is  laughing at his fun.

He was laughing at himself because he created a new trick.  Instead of us laughing at him, we were laughing with him.  He was having fun.  I could have been mad or embarrassed about me falling on my butt because it was slippery outside.  I am glad I didn’t because if Rylan ever sees me do something silly, I can show him it is OK to laugh at yourself.

As parents, we teach our kids certain reactions.  They are innocent when they are born.  They learn a lot from us.  Teach your kids how to react in situations even if means laughing at yourself for doing something silly.  You are their role model.

My wife is gone this weekend at an out of town bachelorette party.  One would think it could have been a daddy and son weekend.   Unfortunately, there are important things in life that just get in the way of having another daddy and son day.   There were important events today such as having to coach soccer and to go to an outdoor wedding reception of one of my good high school friends.  There is no way Rylan would have lasted outside at either of the events.  It was rainy and cold.

Lucky enough, my in-laws were able to watch him all day long.  His day was filled with excitement as his grandpa and grandma kept him busy.  He was on my mind all day hoping he was a good boy and that he is feeling well since he was sick this past week.  Of course the report from them was he was a little gentleman.

My festivities of the day were over at 9:00 PM.  I did have a great day without the little one and my wife.  We won our soccer game and I had a great time visiting with friends I have not seen for awhile.  Even though I had a great day, nothing compares to the hug I got when I took my son out of the crib at grandma and grandpa’s house.  It made me feel even happier being a dad because the hug was filled with love.  It was like a dad, I missed you so much hug.

I am looking forward to the hug I get when he wakes up tomorrow morning after tonights hug.   I am also looking forward to sprawling out in bed tonight since my wife is not home.  I better go take advantage of that now.

Dada I'm One

Real Dad Blog Version: When a child does something new, it makes this dad talk about it like a women. The feeling behind it is incredible.

My son is approaching the age of one. Each day it seems he learns something new. What I have heard from other dads and moms is it is going to be this way for the next few years. Every day there is new happiness when I see or hear Rylan do something new. It can be a word or an action.

Today he learned what an owl says. We tell him, “What does an Owl say?” He then goes “Ooo ooo.”

Rylan has learned a lot in the last couple of weeks that have became my favorite things to talk about with people. I guess you can call me a woman in that aspect. He claps and claps and claps and then claps again. It can be from hearing someone clap in the background to him getting buckled into his car seat. When he wants his hair brushed, he will brush his hair with his hand. He can throw a ball a couple of inches. He tries to throw it to me, his mom or the dog. He also likes to share what he has. The list can go on and on.

When you hear your son do something new, it actually does melt a dads heart. It is a rare experience. It is like the day he was born and marrying my wife. It feels that good. It puts a huge smile on my face.

My little boy is turning one. Guess what he has learned? Yep, he can do the one with his pointer finger.  Being a new dad is the best job in the world!

Baby Peeing

Real Dad Blog Version:  New dads do not be surprised that your baby’s favorite toy might be their pee-pee.  Don’t worry, you can correct it.

Yes ladies, a man’s fascination with their penis starts at a young age, actually when they are babies. If you are a mother, you already know about this. If you are a dad, this is just second nature. Your baby, probably at 4 months of age, starts exploring everything that is around them, even their privates. This happens more so in boys since they have a package to grab and marbles to roll.

As months go on, your son will be grabbing their balls and penis more than Al Bundy on the TV show Married With Children. My son Rylan sure has. It will happen any time the diaper is off. Once I get that diaper off, it is a fight with him.  He is like, let me play with my balls!   The worst is when he has a poopy diaper. He tries to grab it and I have to do best to keep his hands off the poop. I swear that the private area is more fascinating to him than the toys in the bathtub. The bathtub is when he plays with it the most.

Baby boys are discovering things and the penis is one of those “thingies.” As times goes on, they will play with it more and in some unfortunate cases it does not stop even to adulthood. It is our jobs as dads and moms to tell our boys what is appropriate. As our babies get older, we can talk about what is socially appropriate. It would be something like, “No, it is not OK to take your penis out at the restaurant. You only can take it out in the bathroom to go potty. etc etc etc” You are both reprimanding the behavior and correcting the behavior.

One way to correct too much playing with the pee-pee when your baby boy is young is to distract them with toys. It is redirecting them to something different. You can do this when your baby boy is in the bathtub or when changing diapers. Is it going to prevent them from totally stopping? No! Boys will be boys! It is healthy for them to discover their parts. Someday they will be standing up and peeing. Again, it is our job as moms and dads (not the schools… and that is coming from a teacher) to teach our children what privates are and what is socially appropriate as your child ages.

The talk is going to come sooner than later by teaching your kids what is socially appropriate. You will have many talks about the privates as kids age. With boys the talk starts after they discover their pee-pee.

Cute Baby Picture

Real Dad Blog Version: If you are a dad and you enter your kids into a cutest baby contest, I am sorry, but you are not a real dad.

In the news lately, I have been hearing about those darn baby contests. They are online contests for who think they have the cutest baby or even kid. Gerber has three cute babies you can vote on. The cutest baby gets $25,000. You can check it out at The Cute Kid. I have to admit those are some cute kids. Their smiles will make you smile.

Your local newspaper may sponsor a cutest baby/child contest and you may have already entered your baby into a contest. OK, you better not have. It better have been your wife that entered your baby or child. It is OK for your wife to do this!

As a dad, how should you feel about entering your kids into a cutest baby contest? First, you should feel that your baby is the cutest in the world no matter what, contest or not. Even if your baby is ugly in everyone else’s eyes, you are going to think your baby is the cutest. Second, you shouldn’t even enter your kids into these contests. It is not worth your time. Your wife can do that and have high hopes. If you are going to enter these contest you are going to break a dad rule / man rule. You should feel these contests are wrong, especially for boys. Third and finally, you have better things to do like getting them ready for their future sports scholarship.

Cutest Baby - Dad's Little Boy

All I have to say to these cute baby contests and cute kid contests, is my baby is the cutest. Any dad would say this about their kids.

So Rylan, you are the cutest and more importantly the coolest. Wait!!! Saying that, did I write $25,000 earlier this dad blog post? I might just have to do enter my son into a cutest baby contest.

Note: This dad blog post is sarcastic and makes fun of dads who enter their kids into these contests. I do not blame you for seeing dollar signs in your future. How likely is that though? Dads can have dreams too.

Real Dad Blog Version:  Rylan is not crawling but has already started training for the Army Rangers.
New Dad Note: My wife already said no

Mom and Dad Teamwork

Melissa had a happy hour tonight with some of her former coworkers.  The company she worked for went under about a year ago and they get together every once in a while.  We were supposed to go together tonight with Rylan, but, of course, I didn’t really want to.  (I would have been the only husband/wife there).   She was still supposed to take Rylan to go see her former coworkers.  It was 5:00 and Rylan was still taking a nap (he had a baby shot today).

“David, should I wake Rylan up it is almost 5:00.”

“Won’t it be a pain in the butt to feed him with all those people there?”

“Yes it would be a pain in the butt.  I can still bring him”

“Babe, you can leave him here and I’ll feed him dinner and everything else.  It will be fun for you to go and Rylan does need his sleep.”

“You need to do your essay and I told you that I would take him.” (I am taking some continuing education classes)

“I have to do like 27 pages of essays, one can wait. You go and I can take care of Rylan.  Again, it will be a pain in the butt to feed him and he does need his sleep.”

“Are you sure?  I am taking Rylan so you can work on your essay questions.”

“Babe, I can watch him.  You had this planned for a while before I planned on even doing those classes.  Go have fun.”

“OK.  I owe you.”

“That sounds good to me.  I will think of something good.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Kiss

We had some great communication on that one.  Melissa got to have a mommy break and go meet some former coworkers.  I got to play with my son for two hours instead of work on my essay questions.  That sounds like a very good tradeoff to me.  I knew exactly what I was doing when we had that teamwork of who was going to take of Rylan.  “Happy wife, happy life.”

Real Dad Blog Version:   Wife wanted to go to happy hour.  We had some teamwork to make it work.

Odds and ends:  I saw the movie Revolutionary Road.  It was a very slow movie.  I do not recommend it

Baby sleeping in a pose

We all have our own styles of sleeping.  Some of us sleep on our backs, some of us on our sides and some of us on our bellies.   There are also different types of back, sides and belly positions.   There are others who sleep in all different types of positions at night.  I sleep usually on my left side but the again I sometimes sleep on my right side.  If I sleep on my back, I get pushed over because snore logs.

I get the biggest kick out of people sleeping while sitting.  They either head bob while avoiding whiplash or their head goes straight back and the mouth opens wide.  This dad is a little immature when watching others sleep because he thinks it is mighty funny what people can do in their sleep.  I grew up watching my brothers take naps on the couch.  My two older brothers would yell and swear in their sleep.  They even could have conversations.

The coolest sleepers are babies and toddlers.  They end up in all different types of positions.  Rylan sometimes sleeps with his hands over his head while on his back or sometimes his stomach.  Thinking about it, every time I go into his bedroom, while he is sleeping, he is in a different position.

Rylan Sleeping in A Pose

If you have a baby or toddler take some pictures of them sleeping.  The pictures can be precious memories.   You may find your baby in a famous baby sleeping pose.   I love going into Rylan’s bedroom to just look at him.  It gives me a feeling of true enjoyment and how lucky I am to be a new dad.

Dad Blog Man Version:  Watching people sleep is hilarious.  If you snore, expect to be hit by your wife.  It is fun to see the different positions your kids sleep in.

Rylan's Funny Baby Face

The best pictures though are pictures of funny faces our kids make. Rylan has his 2 bottom teeth in. Ever since he has had his two bottom teeth in he has been making a funny face just to feel his bottom teeth with his upper lip. Here are the funny face pictures of our big baby boy.

Just make sure that dads also takes pictures when they can.  Pictures will always give you memories. You can also teach your kids to make funny faces in the mirror.  My 10th grade health teacher always said that people who made faces in the mirrors every morning are happier people and live longer.  My wife gets a kick out of the faces I make.  So will your kids.

Rylan looking funny

Update****  We have been redirecting Rylan  from making this face.  It was pretty easy by putting a toy in his hand when ever he made the face or distracting him by making his baby laugh.  He was getting a chapped upper lip.  Too bad we cannot redirect him from getting a diaper rash!

You can see other funny pictures here at the Humor Blog it is a cute set of 9 pictures.  Of course, I think my kids face is the funniest but I am being a normal dad.

The cute baby picture to make up for the funny baby pictures