Disclaimer – *Nothing in this post is a complaint. I recognize we have a bizarrely self-aware 2–year-old and I cannot imagine life otherwise. My wife and I had no intention of bringing Jamie with us to the fireworks on the 4th of July. The evening unfolded as planned with Jamie going to sleep at his grandma and grandpa’s, while mom and dad walked down for the local fireworks show. What struck me as a little odd is it marked the second weekend in a row that he looked at a parent and said “I go to bed now?” The first instance happened the weekend before at a summer festival just before a band went on stage. We had been there for a few hours and neither his mother nor I were hugely committed to the music. So we looked at each other, and felt it wasn’t wise to argue with a 2-year-old, and we left. He fell asleep in the car. It was the same thing on the 4th. His grandmother and I were reading him a book when he made the announcement. I’m glad he can tell me when he’s tired, this just goes against everything I’ve ever been told about raising a 2-year-old. I expect a reaction pretty much any time we try to transition him out of any activity, because 2-year-olds (and A LOT of adults) thrive at fighting change. Don’t get me wrong. Jamie has nights that are more typical of expectations. There are nights when he’s playing, or reading, or outside and the question of bed arises. On these nights he still goes down kicking and screaming and life seems fairly status quo as the parent of a 2-year-old. If there’s one thing 2-year-old’s do better than fight change however, it is blowing up expectations. They’re pretty much good at throwing you for a loop on a permanent basis. I’m a parenting newcomer, but I’ll guess this is going to last until he’s at least 18 or so. You can adjust your expectations but they’ll just change their behavior.   If you like what you read, please vote for me by clicking the Top Daddy Blog Link below or sharing on social media....

From morning to night, we have a kid who runs non-stop. He’s got us dead-tired. His mood will switch on a dime and he can begin crying about the most nonsensical things. Ah…the terrible twos. Here’s the thing. The terrible twos aren’t so terrible. I said it. I knocked on wood when I wrote it. Sure I may complain from time to time (but NEVER in a public forum such as my blog). But we have a really good kid, and I really do believe this is a great age. Here’s four reasons why the terrible twos aren’t so terrible: The Amazing Sense of Wonder – I feel like I’ve learned as much from Jamie in two years as I’ve taught him. It’s so easy to get caught up in your adult world and tunnel vision and not give a crap about anything but what you need to do next. A 2-year-old is going to get you to stop and enjoy the smaller things in life. No matter what you’ve got going on, that’s not a bad thing. Jamie’s got an excellent sense of wonder. They’re Really, Really Funny – Jamie’s had a standing joke for months now, with a fake sneeze. He thinks the sound of a sneeze is hilarious, so he’ll sit there and imitate it over and over. Now he wants us to imitate it, and he wants us to be wearing a hat that falls off our head when we do. This makes him laugh like crazy, which makes us laugh like crazy. which pretty much makes any bad day better. Plus he’s just starting to enter that stage when the most random, funny things come out of his mouth. And I can’t wait to see what ensues. Any Day That Involves a Running Hug Will Be OK – OK, so Jamie is a little noise machine. He’ll yell and wake up the neighborhood, but hey, he’s 2. Part of that comes with sheer joy and enthusiasm. When he hasn’t seen you for eight hours, he’s liable to “sneak” up on you with a running hug. He’ll run and he’ll shout and he’ll drive right into your legs if you don’t bend down to receive him in anticipation. But one things for sure – the love and the joy are genuine. The Determination is Inspiring – Jamie has a very refined way of telling you to back off. If he wants to be doing what you are doing, he’ll say “No, that’s my do it!” Sometimes we can let him finish what we started. Sometimes for the safety and sanity of all involved mom and dad better finish.     If you like what you read,...

For a kid with a healthy appetite, meals have been a challenge. When Jamie doesn’t like something, he cannot simply work around it. It needs to vacate his plate (and his view) immediately. When he actually intends to eat something, it is usually only a small portion that ends up in his mouth. The rest is spread in various locations. Maybe next meal I’ll keep a shot chart similar to a basketball game to keep track of where the food lands. Until then, this handy infographic can give you an idea of some of the surfaces involved, and what a typical cleanup might look like. There is laundry to do. There are baths. There is a kitchen table to clean. Ah, the joy of toddler meals.   If you like what you read, please vote for me by clicking the Top Daddy Blog Link below or sharing on social media....

The well-intentioned advice of family or friends may not cover EVERYTHING about being the parent of a young child. Heck some of the parenting books may not cover all of it. Here are seven things they don’t tell you before you enter the realm of parenthood: There is such thing as projectile poop – They warn you and they warn you about what a little boy is capable of. You pull that diaper and could easily be staring into a fountain with that sudden rush of air. What they don’t tell you is that when you lift those legs you need to be careful. The walls may need to be cleaned shortly after. There is such a thing as an ugly baby – Mine was freaking adorable, and I firmly believe that. But every parent will surely tell you the same thing. Take an extra look at the next few infants you see. They are not all created equal. Every time you leave the house you are moving – The sheer volume of stuff required to make a simple trip to run errands with an infant is astounding. When you leave your child with someone for a few hours it may require five trips to the car. As they start to become toddlers less and less will be needed to make the trip. Cleaning just became impossible – When they are infants it is because of the clutter bomb that just exploded and took over your stuff. When they are toddlers the clutter bomb keeps expanding. The moment you decide you are sick of it and want to clean, they are right behind you to grabbing every book and toy, knocking them to the floor. Cleaning with a toddler present is one of life’s greatest challenges. Toddler brains thrive on repetition – It’s a good thing for development. That’s how they learn things. My 2-year-old son just read his parents one of his books, cover to cover, the other night before bed. He did this on sheer memory. However when you show them a YouTube video or play them Let it Go for the MILLIONTH time and the first thing they say is “Again?” I promise it will get old. You’re a parent, but you are also human. The cleanup involved with meals is astounding – The most difficult lesson for a toddler to learn is that food cannot be digested through osmosis, but it’s not for lack of trying. The messier the food the more creative places your toddler will put it. Laundry will need to be done. Your home will need to be cleaned. Baths will need to be taken. It all makes for a fun Friday...

Whoever invented the phrase “pitter patter of little feet” never met my son. He’s more of the “bull in a china shop” persuasion. As I’m writing this post Jamie is running around upstairs, fresh off the vacation to Door County, Wisconsin we just returned home from. Each passing step sounds more like a thunderous “THUMP!” from the room underneath. In addition to the loud feet my son is talking more and more. While on vacation he developed several new favorite phrases… When we asked him if he was tired, his response was “No, I’m a big boy.” This is probably because he slept in a toddler bed while we were away from home. “I want to go on ‘cation,” and “I want to go on a ‘venture,” were Jamie-speak for “Get me out of this house!” There was one other phrase he picked up that remains of grave concern. He didn’t repeat a bad word. He didn’t even give any attitude. No. Instead he uttered a phrase that leaves me outnumbered in the ranks of my own family. Anytime the car stopped the whole vacation he uttered… “I WANNA GO IN THE STORE!!!!!!” I have no idea where he picked this up. It certainly wasn’t something I’ve ever been on record as saying, especially that emphatically. So I let it go the first few times, hoping it would go away. In fact, the moment captured in the accompanying picture was outside a grocery store while Meg shopped. The phrase pestered on. It didn’t matter where we were or the purpose for the stop. He wanted in. Probably because of the long car ride, but I didn’t think shopping ranked so high on a 2-year-old’s priority list. There are breakables in any store up there because of the tourism industry. I finally brought Jamie in with me to grab a coffee one morning. It was the type of store that required walking past wind chimes, pottery and other knick-knacks to purchase my black coffee. I let go of one hand for a split second, and needed to unwrap Jamie’s 2-year-old fingers from around one of the breakable wind chimes. This of course prompted me to issue the stern “Don’t touch anything!” warning, instantly making me feel old. With this new development, I’m now looking at the layout of retail stores in a whole new way. For example, we walked into another gift shop and I immediately noticed pottery bowls placed among children’s toys at about the 2-foot level. I’m wondering what childless person came out with the plan for that layout? A toddler’s hands need to touch everything along any stretch that they walk. Maybe his mother will take Jamie...

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there! In honor of the occasion, below is a list of ways that becoming a dad changed me. Feel free to comment and let me know how being a dad has changed you. The silence of others is no longer an opportunity for rest or relaxation. It is definitive sign that someone is plotting. I don’t work in the medical industry, yet I have a strong vested interest in someone else’s bowel movements. Bathroom privacy is a foreign concept. Others talk about it, but I’m convinced it’s a thing of fiction. Some days, the balance of my television viewing is heavily tilted towards the animated. I’ll even accidently leave a cartoon on after Jamie goes to bed, if the television was just on for background noise. I’ll frequently be offered the end of someone else’s meal…No wait, that started happening while dating. I’ve learned that little people can give some of the biggest hugs. On a related note… I’ve never been so on guard about having my feet stepped on, or being inadvertently punched where it counts in my life. There might be days where Let it Go from Frozen, and Hot Dog from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse are the only songs I hear. If your day starts with “Wuuuuv you daddy!” right before you leave the house, there’s pretty much no way it can go bad. If you like what you read, please vote for me by clicking the Top Daddy Blog Link below or sharing on social media....