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!

19 Pound Baby - Dad Must Have Sore Arms

I could not believe the headline when I was looking at Yahoo’s homepage.  I saw 19-pound Baby!  I told my wife that she should come and look at this picture.  She could not believe it either.  We thought our baby was big when he was born at almost 10 lbs.  My wife had it easy compared to this baby delivery!  (Don’t tell her I said that.)

Long story short, this baby was born via c-section in the country of Indonesia.  As you can see from the picture, he is 3 times the size of most babies.  He is the size of an average 9 month old!  You may read more at this Associated Content article.

I hope this dad has some arms on him, as he will be doing a lot of heavy lifting in the next few months.

Growing up with a large family I learned a lot from my parents, especially my dad. There were good times and bad times. Bad times because my dad can be stubborn and I had a mouth that liked to talk back when it would have been best to keep it shut. There were a lot more good times. The good times make my dad a hero.

My dad is a hero because….

He brought:

• The importance of religion in my life.
• Me to all my traveling soccer games.
• Me to the doctor when I broke my nose for the fourth time.

He taught me:

• To work hard
• Education is important.
• Respect women.
• How to drive.
• To help people when they need help.

Gave me memories of:

• His nerdy laugh.
• Watching him try to jump when he couldn’t because he had polio twice when he was a child.
• Supporting me in my goals.

Most importantly, he showed me how to a good dad. Dad, you are my number one dad hero. All the rest of the dads I will blog about are great but will never compare to you. My goal is to be a dad hero to my kids like you are to me.

Look forward to future posts about dad heros.  There are a lot of us that good role models and heros to our kids.

It all started about a month ago. Our son Rylan was fascinated with clocks. He liked watching the second hand move. We were trying to teach him the word for clock because when we would say the word clock he would point in its direction. When he finally tries to say the word, what does it come out as, the word, “cock.” He kept on saying the word over and over again even if there was not a clock. We just hoped he would not say that word in church. He still has not yet.

Rylan is picking up a lot of words, but, it is too bad he cannot pick up all the sounds yet. It does give us something to laugh at. Rylan is over at his grandma’s house a lot with his almost 2 year-old cousin. She likes to stand on furniture so she gets told to sit a lot. This past Thursday he picked up the word sit. He cannot make the S sound but he can make the SH sound. Which makes that word S-H-I-T. He has been saying that word over and over and over again. It does make us laugh hard. We just hope he doesn’t say cock or S-H-I-T in public.

My favorite swearing of all time was from a nephew of mine who was four at the time. His older brother is named Nicholas. He could not say the N sound but could say the D sound in its place. So it came out Dicholas. He would run around the house trying to get his older brother’s attention by saying, “Come here Dicholas.” My immature self could not help but laugh.

As a new dad, you are going to hear your kids swear. They may actually pick it up from you or they may replace letters instead. Please do your best not to swear around your kids as swearing in front of any kid does make you less of a role model

Please tell about your favorite kid swearing moment. We know they do not mean it but we all know it can be pretty funny hearing those words come out of their mouths!

As time goes on, you may brush your baby’s teeth with a baby’s toothbrush.  Start this when your baby gets their first teeth.  Our son Rylan loves getting his teeth brush with a baby’s toothbrush.  We tell him that we are going to brush his teeth and he throws his hands up and down in the air with excitement.

When you watch the video of us brushing our baby’s teeth, you can tell Rylan enjoys it. We did things to help with his enjoy of getting his two baby’s teeth brushed.  We brush our teeth around Rylan.  It got him intrigued with us brushing our teeth and he then gets to join in on the fun.  We also have been doing this since he has born starting with the washcloth cleaning his mouth.  He has been exposed to good oral baby hygiene by having good adult oral hygiene.  This new dad likes to have clean teeth and a clean mouth.

Baby in Macy's Bag

Real Dad Blog Version:  Simple toys, better life.  Who would have thought a Macy’s bag could make a baby happy?!?!

We live in a world where high tech toys are intriguing our kids instead of the simple things that many of us grew up with.  Our kids do not need all this high tech stuff because they can have fun being outside on a swing or playing blocks in the house.  They need to be active.  These active toys are usually the cheapest toys to free toys.  You can make anything into a toy just like my wife did.

My wife went shopping with her mom at Macy’s and brought home her things in a Macy’s bag.   We all know Macy’s can be an expensive store.  They carry higher end quality products such as Citizens for Humanity Jeans to Vera Wang giftware.  I am glad that my wife was not coming home with such items.  She came home with some baby things for Rylan for my sister’s wedding.

Who would of thought that Rylan would not care about the clothes at all. All he cared about was playing with the bag with a big star on it, that being a Macy’s bag.  He started taking it and crawling all over the floor.  He loved the Macy’s bag.

Happy Baby in Free Toy - A Macy's Bag

My wife had the brilliant idea of putting our son in the bag.  He kicked and laughed for about 20 minutes even when he fell over in the bag.  Who would have thought such a simple bag would be this much fun.  Even though I do not like my wife going to Macy’s because I am afraid she is going to spend an arm and a lag, she can bring a bag home anytime.

Warning:  Never give your little kids a plastic bag!!!  This dad will put you on his dad losers’ list!

Child Flag in Remembrance of 9/11

Real Dad Blog Version: Parents lost their lives without cause on September 11th, 2009. Please pray them and their families on this day of remembrance.

On September 11th, 2001, there were many moms and dads who lost their lives in one of the most terrible tragedies in our countries history. Let us remember and pray for those who were lost in these attacks. Let us pray to the children who have to grow up without a dad and or a mom. Let us also pray for all the parents who lost their children. These people were innocent and did not deserve to die. There time was taken from us too soon. There time with their children and other family members were taken away. Some children and parents will grow up without memories that should have been.

God bless these families and let us all remember the people that were taken from us way too soon.

On September 11th, my son Rylan was not even a thought. He has no idea that this happened. When he is old enough to know I will make sure he knows about our countries good times and bad. We study history so that we would learn from past mistakes and make sure these mistakes do not happen again.

A mom blog also remember this day is the Blonde Mom Blog

By SARAH LEMAGIE, Star Tribune
A St. Paul man is charged with a gross misdemeanor after he allegedly ripped a shirt off his four-year-old son and hit the boy for wearing a rival gang’s color.

Kenny T. Jackson, 30, was charged with malicious punishment of a child in Ramsey County District Court, according to a criminal complaint dated Wednesday.

St. Paul police arrested Jackson on Tuesday afternoon after they responded to a 911 call from a home in the 500 block of Sherburne Avenue, the complaint said.

The unnamed caller, who said he was Jackson’s stepfather, reported that Jackson was on drugs and “destroying the house.” The stepfather said he was hiding in a bedroom because Jackson was yelling and throwing things, and he was afraid.

The caller said Jackson was angry because he is reportedly a Bloods gang member, and his son had been wearing a blue shirt, the color of a rival gang.

Jackson was breaking things in the house when police arrived, the complaint said. He fled on foot and tried to hide in the trunk of a car but was apprehended.

Police found the boy shirtless, scratched and crying. A 5-year-old in the house said Jackson had “whooped” the boy and two other children. Another child said the man was angry because the kids were wearing blue clothes, and that they couldn’t eat because they were scared.

When questioned, Jackson denied the allegations and asked for an attorney, the complaint said.

On Thursday, a judge ordered Jackson not to contact the 4-year-old, according to Paul Gustafson, a spokesman for the Ramsey County attorney’s office.

Court records indicate that Jackson was ordered last month to serve time in the county workhouse for a probation violation stemming from a 2003 drug conviction, Gustafson said.

I am going to give you a suggested Mr. Jackson. When you get out of jail, quit being a gang member, move away from all your friends, and quit drugs. Be a role model to your son. You can make up what you did to him. This is the only way you can lose the title as dad loser number two. Become a role model to your son and become one with the real dads.

Mr. Jackson, you are a father. Hearing about what you did to your child makes me sick. You never hit a child. A four year old does not even know what gang colors are. When the woman hearing your child first told you were going to be a dad, you should have stopped being a gang member and quit using drugs. Simple problems do have simple solutions. You are the person that makes solutions complicated by keeping involved with people who are up to no good. All people will accept you if you are kind and work hard. Get out of the gang life and be involved in a community of real dads who want the best for their kids.
See more dad losers as the list grows

Adult Butt Wipes - A recommendation for a dad

Real Dad Blog Version:  Try adult butt wipes.  It will add an extra skip to your step and leave you refreshed after you do your duty in the bathroom.

About four years ago, I was at my older brother’s office in Florida. I had to go number two very badly. I went to reach for the toilet paper and there was nothing. I stood up and looked for toilet paper all around the bathroom, but the toilet paper was nowhere to be found. What to do? What to do? Should I use paper towels? Should I just not clean my butt (ick!) Low and behold, what do I see in front of me? Baby butt wipes!!!! I never used them before but why not? That was an experience in itself; my butt never felt so clean after pooping in a public place.

I later asked my brother why there was no toilet paper. He gave me a similar story about him being home and there being no toilet paper around for him to use. Since they had a little one, he decided to try butt wipes. He got hooked. Butt wipes are all he uses now.

Not being shy, I have shared my butt wipes experiences with other people. I have actually got some people hooked on butt wipes. They use the butt wipes religiously after going number two. One person I know is a former division I national champion football player. He has been using them for years. He has also got a lot of people hooked on butt wipes. Even the toughest of men use butt wipes proudly.

I barely use adult wipes myself unless I am somewhere else. I am very regular. I wake p in the morning, go poop, and I am able to use the shower, which is the best cleaner of the fanny.

What are the benefits of keeping some butt wipes on you? It will help prevent anal itch. Anal itch is horrible! It will give you a cleaner butt. It will also help you not use icky public toilet paper, which actually feels like the tree it came from. As my friend Matt would say after being introduced to butt wipes, “I now have an extra skip in my step.”

Be a man, and give them a try. You use them on your kids!

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.