father's day 2011

Last year I posted my thoughts about our kids. I like the idea of doing that annually, so here are my thoughts for 2011.

Riley-Boy














Riley is still the sweet, laid back kid that I said he was a year ago. There have been changes over the last year though...

He's become more willful (which proves he's normal) and if given choices is more likely to pick the one he thinks you wouldn't. Like almost every kid his age he's constantly testing the boundaries to see where they are. He also frequently crosses over them... It seemed like the day he turned three he started to push the limits. Interesting though that he almost seems relieved (and happy!) when he finds a hard boundary. As much as I hate discipline, I love my son and I like seeing this response to it.

One of the biggest challenges our boy has faced this year has been having a sister. He does have his jealous or selfish times and doesn't like when Kendall's presence nullifies his plans. This being said he seems to love his sister and is willing at worst to at least tolerate her presence. He also doesn't realize how special Kendall thinks he is. She wants to be part of everything he does. This is generally when we hear, "No Kendall!"

Riley is also far more emotional now than he has been in the past. Tears flow frequently over things like not being part of getting the mail or not being able to be the one who opens the microwave door. It would appear that he's his Daddy's boy in this respect...I've always been very emotional for a male. I'd prefer to have a son who is in touch with his emotions, but I don't know if I'll be saying that when the teen years come. The upside of this is that he's a very affectionate kid who loves to have me sit next to him, loves to come and sit in my lap and still comes up to me and says, "Will you hold me?" It scores a lot of points with his touchy-feely Daddy.

Legos and his new doll house are the most popular toys Riley has. He shows little interest in trucks or trains, but he's always wanting to build things like houses and furniture. And with his dollhouse he usually wants to move everything out of it in his "moving truck" (the car that came with it) and take it all to the "Sultan's Palace." Thanks Backyardagains for hours of playtime ideas. It is interesting to see how his mind works. He is curious about how things work and it makes us wonder if we've got an engineer on our hands.

School has almost always been something Riley has enjoyed. He had a short time after we moved here to Colorado when he didn't want to go, and to be honest we weren't very happy with the preschool that he was enrolled in. We've since switched him to a preshool at a Lutheran church nearby and he loves it. He also loved the vacation bible school they had there and is always wanting to play / sing and dance along with the CD that they gave him. It's really cool to see him loving music and I like the lyrics that he's learning as well. Cool stuff.

He isn't going to the public preschool this summer, which is a testament to how much better he's talking. It means they don't think he'll regress over the summer. It's cool to be able to communicate so much better with my son and I actually love the fact that he talks so very much. It's a blessing. Except at dinner time.

I love the fact that Riley always wants to help me with stuff. He particularly loves to come out to the garage if I'm working on stuff at the workbench. He's actually sat riveted while I rebuilt a mountain bike pedal, which took 90 minutes. He even gave the suggestion of a light to use to see better which probably cut a good 20 minutes off the project. It's fun to have him around during stuff like that and I try to find as many parts of it for him to do as I can. For instance, when putting the pedals back together he screwed the bolts in almost all the way by himself. Hopefully he'll be mechanical like his Dad. It comes in handy.

Riley still loves doing stuff outdoors, loves play and particularly playing with others and still loves reading books. He's an active boy and he loves playgrounds, both the regular kind and at Chik-Fil-A. He's a very social kid, and is learning more about what that means as he becomes better with his words.

One of the things I love most that he does right now is that he stands in his bedroom window and waves to me as I am leaving for work. It's fun seeing him up there every morning.

If I had to sum up my son in one sentence: Riley is my fun boy.

Kendall-Girl














Kendall Baby has gone through a lot of changes as well. There are things that I saw in her last year that have come out even more as the year has gone on though.

Kendall is her Mom's girl in that she is very organized (she's already putting things away where they belong) and she likes things in their place. She's very particular about her sippy cup and where it is supposed to be while she eats (in the cupholder on her tray.)

She also makes what she wants known and isn't redirected as easily as her brother has been. She is showing signs of having the same tenacious attitude her Mom has when she has decided what she wants. That strong willed attitude will likely make things more challenging when she turns three (and I don't even want to think about the teenage years...) I've seen the advantages that personality trait can bring with it as an adult though and I hope my girl will use it well.

Kendall has become a lot more fun as she's become more aware of what's going on around her. She's fun to play with and I love watching her toddle around the house. She's also become A LOT more affectionate. She will go off and play on her own for a while then come back an check in with me, sitting on my lap or laying down on my leg an looking up at me. She also gives big sloppy open mouthed tongue sticking out kisses. She's a sweet girl and although she prefers her Mom in most circumstances (I don't blame her, so do I...) she still loves her Daddy and we have fun together.

Especially fun is our new afternoon routine of coming home, going down to the basment playroom and eating blueberries (Daddy and Riley eat grapes.) Funny, she can't get enough of them nor can she get them quickly enough in the playroom, but she won't eat them anywhere else. They are a "location food."

The one challenge with our girl is eating. She's usually pretty good at breakfast, lunch is hit and miss, but dinner is what we refer to as, "The Ordeal." (This is true for Riley as well, BTW.) Kendall spends more time with her fingers in her mouth than with food in her mouth. It's a battle nearly every night. Crazy.

Kendall is proving to be good with more adventurous stuff. We've taken her out biking in the trailer and kayaking this weekend and she handled them both very well. She seemed to have a great time. This pleases us to no end of course, since being unable to do anything like that over the last year was difficult for us. We got used to how easy it was to do outdoor activities with our boy. It seems our girl likes them as well.

Kendall also has a great love of music. She plays songs over and over and dances along with them. She is riveted if you start to sing. I bet that she'll be singing as soon as she starts talking. Riley always has liked music, but Kendall is transfixed by it. It makes it really fun to sing to her.

Overall Kendall is a happy girl, she loves being tickled and is already showing a love of books. She sleeps well and isn't overly anxious when we leave her with other care providers. In fact, she LOVES Miss Marie who provides day care for her. She seems to be very social and has the boys at day care chasing after her. And interestingly, I think SHE is going to be the athlete in the family. I can't wait to get her on a bike.

If I had to sum up my daughter in one sentence: Kendall is my sweet but strong girl.

Fatherhood is one of the great joys of my life. I am continually amazed at the love that I feel for my children. I've described the initial experience as feeling like I got hit by, "The 20 ton sledgehammer of love." But it doesn't stop there. The feeling, and the actions that go with it, continue to grow. I enjoy my time with them more than almost anything that I can think of. I am so very grateful to God for the opportunity to be called Daddy by these two sweet kids. I know that the childhood years fly past in the blink of an eye. I'm doing my best to be fully engaged. It's good work if you can get it. I'm glad I did.


Jonathan