Monday 26 September 2016

Diving Board

As promised, if you haven't seen it, my post about how proud I am that my little boy took a big leap:

Today is the City of Edmonton's Free Admission Day. While the girls went shopping, Parker and I decided to go to the Meadows to swim.
After a while, Parker expressed interest in going on the diving board, but in order to do so, he had to pass a swim test.
I was skeptical that he would be able to pass it, as you have to swim the length of the pool on your stomach without stopping. Parker is comfortable in water, but he's never attempted something to this effect before. After grabbing a life jacket, and talking to the lifeguard, Parker hopped in the pool and began his trek to the other end.
He passed, no problem! In fact, halfway through the test, I think he got bored and decided that waving to people, pretending he was a shark, and blowing bubbles in the water was more interesting. Next came the diving board.
Parker nervously stepped to the edge of the board as I waited in the water below. I promised that I would catch him as he leapt, but maybe it was too much at once. I mean, at four, that height must have seemed stories high to him. He backed off the board, and came to see me at the side of the pool.
"Daddy, maybe I'll jump in from here," he said.
"Sure, buddy!" I said. "Baby steps, right?"
A big splash later, Parker wanted to try the diving board again. I promised that I would go with him and go first so he can see what to do. Off I went, part cannonball, part bellyflop, no style whatsoever, I emerged from the water and waited for Parker's second attempt.
Edging to the board, the fear creeped onto Parker's face.
"Catch me, please!" he shouted.
"I'll be right here," I assured him.
More indecision, more trepidation, more worry. Parker started to back away from the edge again, but realized that all the people in the pool were cheering him on. Bolstered, Parker again stepped to the edge and nervously stared into the water.
"OK, Daddy, 1-2-3!" he shouted, and flew out as far as he could.
The smile on his face as he popped out of the water was from ear to ear. He did the diving board 3 more times after that, and every time he stepped to the edge, he would whisper to himself, "1-2-3 jump" and every time he would jump.
I sometimes worry that Parker needs to work on his confidence. He complains that he doesn't know how to do things, that he's scared, that he doesn't want to get hurt, or try. Well, today, I think that occasionally taking a flying leap into the unknown will work out, and might even be a little bit fun.
Proud daddy here.

Scroll of Resurrection

This past weekend, as per usual, I wrote about my kid. (Now kids, because as of my last post almost a year ago, we added another mouth to the guild.) I had every good intention of maintaining a blog about leveling up in fatherhood with my kids, but sheer laziness overcame motivation, and I dropped off the face of the earth in terms of writing.

After spending twenty minutes or so penning about how proud I was that my son had stepped out of his comfort zone, which I will repost at the bottom of this entry, I realized that writing was something I enjoyed outside of all the other things I enjoy. As such, I am again endeavoring to restart this bad boy.

So, where to begin to updating my limited readership? Those who aren't my facebook friends already, here's the rundown:

- DECEMBER 30th: We welcomed a little girl to the family. Having two kids is definitely an adventure, and is really helping me appreciate families with more kids than we have.

- APRIL 25th: My son turned 4. Already. The passage of time is just too obvious these days. From a small baby to a full fledged hilarious little being. Right now, we're all about Angry Birds, Going to the Park (Still), Preschool, Hot Wheels, and just teaching him about the world. I forget that there are things that He has NEVER seen before, so I get to see these things again through his eyes. It's amazing. Also, he pretends to force-choke me when he's mad, so that's hilarious.

JUNE 17th: I'm now a 36 year old 12 year old. I got my first two tattoos, I am trying to read through as many comics and fantasy novels as I can, trying to raise two kids right, and maintaining my steady job and sanity. All of those are not mutually exclusive.

AUGUST 28th: My wife and I celebrated out 6th anniversary this year. She is definitely the Mario to me being Luigi in our marriage. Without her, I would be a lonely plumber stuck vacuuming ghosts in the haunted mansion of life.

Which kind of brings us to now. I will be taking a two month parental leave in November, which I am really looking forward to. I know the way it's going to go in my head is probably not the way it will go in reality, but we will see.

Finally, I can't promise an update as often as once a week, but I do need a repository for my parenting thoughts. Plus, maybe a dialogue with other parents. A guild, if you will...