I've been waiting for a while to write this post, I've thought about it many times. I made a list of things that the Tornado and I did over the 4 and a half years we spent at home together. I'm sure there are many other things we did that I can't remember, but this is a pretty good list. It makes me sad thinking about all the things we did together, many of which I now do by myself throughout the day.
I often feel like I didn't do enough, take you enough places in our time at home together. I am sorry for that. My time at home with you gave me so many smiles, so many laughs, so many good feelings of being loved that I can't really explain it. I am also glad to see you having fun with your friends at school, learning so many new things. You are a smart, funny, and loving boy, so much more than just a Tornado anymore. I am blessed to have you as my son!
First, some of the places we went over the years.
The beach, Sanibel, Captiva, Bowditch Point, and Times Square. We ALWAYS have fun at the beach! Playing ball, punching waves, building castles, playing water football. Remember the river we built one day that went from half way up the beach all the way to the gulf??!! This was always our favorite place to go together.
Lakes Park - we climbed on the playgrounds, and played in the water fountains.
The pool - gosh, we spent many days at the pool. You always loved throwing the toy tornadoes underwater, and shooting baskets on the poolside rim.
The Imaginarium - always a good time. You like just exploring, playing with the toys, seeing the exhibits.
The grocery store - this might sound weird, but we always had fun here. When you were little, all the older ladies would come up and look at how cute you were. As you got older, you would ask questions, like what this was for, or how I was going to make dinner that night. I liked this because it never seemed like there were a lot of distractions, it was just you and me.
Costco - of course you liked going here, particularly at lunch time, because they always have lots of food to sample :)
Home Depot - another place we went almost every week. Sometimes you liked going, sometimes not, depending on what we were buying.
Ace Hardware, dry cleaning, the bank, best buy - other places we would run errands to. I always liked riding in the car with you. You are such an easy passenger. You like looking at the window at the world, and pointing out things you notice, which is a lot. You are so observant! You also liked to rock out to music in the car, our two man band had many jam sessions in there!!
Toys R US - who doesn't like going to this place?
The book stores - we went to the book stores quite a bit, you love to read and be read to. And I love reading to you - I love when you get a subtle joke in a book, how you look up at me and the wry smile you get, like, that was pretty funny.
The outlets - we didn't go down there a lot, but it was always nice to go walk around and let you run around the fountains. I hope all the wishes you made come true!
The Edison Mall - again, we only did this once in a while - but with so many people and so many stores, it was fun watching you watch everyone else. We were here a couple of weeks ago as we let the girls go explore on their own. We got some candy and sat on the bench and waited for them. We waited about 45 minutes, and just talked, and watched people go by. Very peaceful believe it or not.
The Bagel Factory - sometimes we would have errands to run in the morning, so we would stop off for a chocolate milk and a bagel. We would sit and eat, talk about what we were going to do that day, maybe read the newspaper together.
Chick Fil A - pretty much every run to Costco was accompanied by a trip here. You liked playing on the little playground, and I liked watching you. Again, sitting and sharing lunch with my buddy was always a good time.
Smoothie Central - we went here often when they first opened, then I started making my own at home. But the ladies that worked here always got a big smile when they saw you walk in the door.
Rita's - a nice cool treat on hot days, maybe after the beach or the pool. We had one of our first "man to man" talks here too - early on in your school career.
Bennett's - we would ride our bike, you on the back, down here in the mornings. We would get a couple donuts, and ride one by Mommy's work to surprise her. You loved seeing her, and I know she loved seeing you. Then we would ride home, get some milk, and eat our donuts at the counter as a reward for our exercise.
I'm sure there are many others, but those are the one's that stand out. Now, for shows we watched together.
Peep and Chirp - easily my favorite. Every day, right before lunch, this show would come on. We would sing the theme song together. "There's no place I'd rather be" is a line from the song, and that's how I felt everyday. They talked about math and science, and being friends, and it was really a great show.
Pinky Dinky Do - is this why you know so many words?
Yo Gabba Gabba - strange but fun
Hip Hop Harry - they danced a lot on this show and that's why you liked it
Phineas and Ferb - another show about imagination and adventure. It's very funny, and we always laughed a lot watching it together.
Super Why - another show about reading - which you are GREAT at doing!
Sid the Science Kid - they did neat experiments on this show, many of which we would try on our own - like freezing the Disney Princes in ice!
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - You sleep with Pluto every night, he's your buddy. On the show when Mickey needed help, he would call for 'Toodles', which was a piece of equipment that would help him out. When you would see he needed help, you would call out "Oh Toodles", just like Mickey. Loved that.
Handy Manny - he liked to build things, and you liked doing that too. Blocks, marbles, you name it.
Blues Clues - you enjoyed helping figure out the clues, your curious nature.
Little Einsteins - they liked to travel, and learn about new places. You absolutely loved seeing the new places and the adventures they would have in each place. They would talk about art a lot too - which you enjoy making. I always thought it was neat, that even when you were two or three, you would recognize a painting that we might have in a book in our house or something.
The Wonder Pets - another adventure show, but this was a lot about helping. It was a pretty funny show too, and I loved hearing you laugh when watching it.
We played lots of games at home, lots of sports, and did lots of work together. One of my favorite things that we stopped doing when you were about 3 and a half was running together. I would push you in the stroller, and we would go 3 miles some days, up to 5 miles other days. Some days it didn't look like we were going to run because of what I was wearing, so you would ask if we were going running. Anytime I put my sneakers on, you would ask "We going running Dad?" You were such a great motivator!! You never liked to wear pants, so you would usually have just a shirt and a diaper own, with a sippy cup of milk, and would kick back and relax. I remember all the smiles on people's faces that were running in the opposite direction. How could they look at you and not smile, you were having so much fun!
We went for bike rides several times a week, we played horseshoes, basketball, baseball, golf, tennis, badminton, soccer, boxing and football. We blew bubbles, had picnics, blew up balloons, had water balloon fights, raced each other on foot, or with our race cars.
We cut the grass, we planted flowers, we planted vegetables. It made me so happy about a month ago when you asked if you could help me cut the grass. It's always more fun when my buddy is there to help me.
We played games like Rock Band, tic tac toe, chess, checkers, jenga, gnip gnop, and the Wii. We did puzzles together, tons and tons of puzzles! You love doing puzzles! We read so many books together, I never would have read so many books without you. We built a new train track almost every day in the family room. We built awesome marble towers, and cool things with lego blocks.
You painted, you made drawings, and we loved playing play doh together. When you were almost 4, you wanted to start doing homework, like the girls. So we got a couple workbooks and you would do the work in it. It was crazy, you would sit there and do like 30 pages without stopping! I'd have to get us outside to do something else to take your mind off of it for a while.
We made smoothies together, we made lunch together everyday. I miss not having lunch with you. We'd watch Peep and Chirp while making lunch, sometimes we would do a "movie lunch". Sometimes we went out back and had a picnic on the playground or on the porch.
When you were real little, I would feed you lunch on the sofa or the chair, with your bottle. As you finished the bottle you would give me a smile, a hug and a kiss, then fall off to sleep. As you got a little older, after lunch, you would go over to the couch. You would either say "hold you me", or "cuddle you", and we would lay down together until you fell asleep. Needless to say, I miss those days and moments tremendously.
We've had many great times already and we have so many great times ahead! I'll always be there to "hold you me" or "cuddle you" if you need it :)
What a wonderful post Scott. In the years to come when the "Tornado" has kids of his own, I hope he looks back on this blog and sees the essence of what a wonderful father does. It gave me goose bumps to read this!! :) way to go "dad"
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