My son Bubba turned two years old this month. Just days after his backyard birthday party he began asking the same question over and over: “What color is dat?”
It didn’t matter what the object was. It could be an airplane flying overhead or a tractor working on the roadside. The Wife and I have been accommodating. We figure this is a way for Bubba to learn his colors and perhaps a bit more about the world around him. So, we have obliged.
However, a simple question of color became much more complicated when Bubba began asking “What color dat?” about people.
It started while we were watching a White Sox game. Bubba asked, “What color Joe Crede?”
Hmmm
He followed up his unanswered question with “What color Juan Uribe?”
This is a simple question, but the answer is complex. Bubba clearly isn’t able to participate in an enlightened conversation about race. So what to do?
I have to credit The Wife for coming up with a solution. When Bubba asks “What color is dat?” people are always: “Brown.”
“What color is Joe Crede?”
“Brown.”
“What color is Juan Uribe?”
“Brown”
“What color is Master P?”
“Brown”
It’s a simple solution, but it’s working out so far.
When I first read the e-mailed press release about National Family Month, which is between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, my initial reaction was “oh no, I missed it.”
Away from the inbox on a stay-cation, I was greeted by that e-mail as well as hundreds of others when I returned from some time spent with the family and some of the extended family.
We didn’t go to the movies, we didn’t road trip overnight. We did take a hike, work and play outside together, sit and read, borrow some movies from the library (that’s free) and make a lot of freezer meals.
We went to a cookout and saw a lot of our cousins.
Family Day or month doesn’t mean having to spend tons of money to go to Cedar Point, Ohio. We’ll have to put that one off for yet another year.
We talked about re-introducing the Victory Garden like during the Great Depression, but we have so many fruit plants, bushes and trees to keep up with, we decided to concentrate on tending to those to maintain maximum production.
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One of the stay-at-home dad Web sites I frequent offered a very funny posting from a fellow full-time father. It’s his tribute to Mad Magazine’s Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions - only he pokes fun at some of the common Stupid Questions he gets asked as a stay-at-home dad.
Here’s a taste:
Q. Does it bother you that your wife is the family breadwinner?
A. Of course, it does. I graduated with a degree in journalism specifically because the field offered such lucrative earning potential.
A. Well, it is completely throwing off my plans of living off welfare and food stamps.
A. I have a wife?
I really wish I could take credit for this. In fact, I was thinking of stealing the idea and writing my own questions and answers. However, the original is just too good. I’d never be able to top it.
On Sunday, I celebrated my most favorite Father’s Day ever.
I know that’s not really saying much, since it was only my second one. (Third, if 2006’s “Daddy Day” counts. That’s when my wife was two months pregnant with my daughter Zion, and I was recognized by loved ones for being an expectant father.)
This year’s holiday was extraordinary.
During the 11:30 a.m. service at my new church, New Faith Baptist Church International in Matteson, my wife and I had our two kids christened. Zion looked adorable in her christening outfit — a pretty white dress, ruffle socks and headband. Jayden wore a sharp, little outfit that featured a white tuxedo-style vest with little crosses on it. (Don’t worry, I’ll post the pictures online as soon as possible.)
On stage, before a massive congregation, my wife and I joined four other parents in dedicating our kids back to God. Among those sets of parents was my wife Alicia’s brother and his wife, who like us, promised to raise our children in a Christian home.
It was overwhelming as our parents, kids’ godparents and close relatives came up to the altar to pray for us and stand in agreement with our beliefs for our children. (We parents need extra help in keeping our kids on the right paths these days.)
Following the ceremony, my pastor Rev. Dr. Trunell Felder delivered a powerful sermon targeted toward men — challenging us to be responsible fathers, and honoring those who have been such.
His message was derived from the Bible’s Parable of the Prodigal Son (found in Luke 15:11-32), in which a wealthy father shows unconditional love toward his youngest son who left home and wasted his money while leading a destructive lifestyle, before returning to his dad for forgiveness.
During the candid sermon, Rev. Felder told parents of multiple children not to become riddled with guilt if we teach the same morals to both kids, yet one child grows older and make bad lifestyle choices. But Rev. Felder stressed that we, dads, should do all that we can to prevent destructive living among our kids. This includes helping our kids with their homework, enjoying leisure activities with them and treating their mothers with respect.
Making Father’s Day more special for me, I enjoyed such a wonderful service with my parents and kids’ godparents, who worshipped with us at our new church for the first time.
To top off yesterday’s celebration, my family and I enjoyed dinner at Olive Garden with my parents, Alicia’s parents and Alicia’s brother’s in-laws, who all gathered for the christening.
There are good reasons why neckties are the classic Father’s Day gift.
Most dads aren’t going to buy a tie themselves. Many dads (including myself) don’t know what tie to buy. Are stripes still in style? Did the “Regis-look” with a solid tie and matching shirt fall out of fashion when “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” fell out of prime time? Are skinny ties really making a comeback?
Neckties are also a well-priced gift at around $30. And every dad is eventually going to need a tie whether he wears one to work everyday or only to weddings and funerals.
The problem is nobody really WANTS a new necktie. But there aren’t many other go-to gifts for Dad’s Day.
In my brief experience, I can say that one of the best gifts I ever received was a remote car starter. With a push of a button on my keychain, I could warm my car up in the winter or leave the air on and cool it down in the summer. Awesome.
Another gift suggestion is an updated photo for dad’s desk or wallet. I can’t tell you how many older dads only have baby pictures. That’s cool for nostalgia, but it can be a bit awkward when a co-worker asks to see a photo of your kids and dad breaks out a 16-year-old Polaroid.
“Ohh, what happened?”
I’ve been hearing that a lot this week as friends, family and strangers catch a glimpse of my 23-month-old son. Just 10-days before his second birthday, Bubba fell down on some playground equipment and received a nice shiner.
How exactly it happened, I don’t know. The Wife took Bubba and his six-month-old brother, Peter, to the park in the afternoon. I stayed behind to work on some writing projects. (I really work much better in an empty house.)
About 10 minutes after she marched down the driveway with the double stroller, The Wife returned - this time with a much more deliberate pace. She shoved past the screen door and said, “We have a very serious boo-boo, daddy.”
I picked up Bubba and ran a washcloth under cool water. I then gently cleaned the area. There was little else I could do. This is really bad black eye. Bubba looks like he just took Clubber Lang into the tenth round.
“Should we take him to the hospital?” my concerned spouse asked.
“No,” I said offering the same glance I would have given had she suggested we refinance our house and invest in baseball cards.
The whole ordeal sparked some debate - first around The Wife’s workplace water cooler and then around the dinner table.
Several of her female co-workers reported similar tales. Many of these full-time, professional women rely on their husbands for the bulk of the childcare. They claimed that the parent who spends the most time with the child is less likely to overreact when the child is hurt, sick or attempting a potentially dangerous stunt.
I thought that this laissez-faire attitude was more of a gender difference - moms simply freak out more about bumps, bruises and blood than dads. What do you think? Are moms or dads more likely to overreact when kids fall and scrape their knees? And does it make a difference if the person reacting is the primary caregiver?
Kids need not let boredom kick in this summer if their caregiver is insisting the television and video games not stay on all day.
With a little imagination and some stuff you can find around the house, there can be endless hours of creative play when the rainy days keep you indoors.
Some of the props for prop boxes can even be found at your aunt’s house — you know, the one who only sees the young ones once a year and doesn’t have any toys around. Just be sure to ask permission before “borrowing” it for your prop box.
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