Phillies Dad Makes Us Proud

Did everyone see it last month? It was played repeatedly on ESPN, as well as the local and national news. It was even discussed on many radio and TV talk shows. It was the hit of YouTube for several days. Phillies fan, Steve Monforto, taught us all a lesson on how to handle unexpected situations with our kids.

Steve is a die-hard Phillies fan and has been going to games his whole life. He wanted to share his passion for his home team with his 3 year old daughter, as any Dad would, so he brought her to a recent game at Citizens Bank Park.

As has been Steve’s lifelong dream, a foul ball off the bat of Jayson Werth, was hit right in his direction. Steve caught the ball with his bare hands, then promptly fist-pumped all the guys around him. What was his next move? He presented the trophy ball to his smiling little girl. This act alone exemplified him as a quality, caring Dad.

What did his daughter do next? What any 3-year old kid would do when you hand them a baseball: She threw it. (It was a pretty good throw, too).

In that very moment,Steve probably went through a rush of emotions. This was his first time ever grabbing a ball at a Phillies game after a lifetime of attending home games. I’m sure his first reaction was complete dismay at the loss of his just-acquired prize possession. But almost instantaneously, his Dad instincts kicked in, and he seemingly realized that not only had his cute little daughter done nothing wrong, she had actually done what he had been most likely teaching her since before she could crawl: how to throw a ball.

Steve’s next move was priceless. Instead of getting mad or showing the slightest bit of anger, he threw his arms up in the air in realization of what had happened, and then quickly gave his little girl a hug. A hug, as it turns out, that the whole nation saw and approved of.

Steve, we at Dad World, want to welcome you to the Dad Hall Of Fame for showing outstanding and exemplary behavior towards your child in a potentially difficult and unexpected situation. Well done.

Check out the YouTube clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm3gE76BEgU

Swimming with "None Bubble"

Joshua recently surprised us in a very big way. We were at a pool party, splashing around, having a good time, and Joshua, as usual, was clinging to me very tightly, the way a baby chimpanzee clings to its mother as she swings from tree limb to tree limb. Things were pretty normal ....until he says to me, "Daddy, let go of me. I can swim with none bubble." ("Bubbles" are the flotation devices they use at his summer camp)

I was too busy talking with the adult members of my family, and didn't even pay attention to his bold statement. But then he repeated it a few more times, with increasing volume, until he finally got my attention. "You want me to let go of you???" I asked incredulously. So I did....

And then, lo and behold, Joshua swam away from me and made his way to the ladder, about 7 or 8 feet away. I was in shock. I yelled for Jen to come look, and asked Joshua to do it again. He did. Now we were both in shock.

Neither of us had any idea he knew how to swim....well, "swim" is being generous. He does a strong doggy paddle, and actually looks like a frog making its way from one lilly pad to another. But the point is, Joshua apparently learned to swim in his new summer camp, and Jen and I did not even know. We thought he still had a long way to go before he'd be able to keep himself afloat, but boy were we wrong.

We are both so proud of Joshua as he grows and learns, and continues to surprise us.

My two Dad goals for this year were to make sure Rebecca learns to ride a bicycle, and Joshua learns to swim. Both goals have been achieved, and it's only mid-August. Can I take the rest of the year off now?

Riding A Bicycle

Well, it's official...Rebecca can now ride a two-wheeler. Since we took off the training wheels a couple of months ago, Rebecca has been practicing on our sidewalk. I've been using a method where I take one of my old, ugly ties, and wrap one end around Rebecca and hold onto the other end, so I can gently re-direct her if she loses balance (Thanks for the tip Portnay family).

At first, I was constantly yanking on the tie, pulling Rebecca to one side or the other so she wouldn't fall off the bicycle. But lately, I found myself keeping the tie slack - basically doing nothing as she rode for some pretty good distances. The main problem was that she was riding on the sidewalk, which is not very wide, and most of the houses on the block have stone walls coming up against the sidewalk. Being that Rebecca was still very wobbly on the bike, she kept crashing into these walls.

So it made sense that we should take her to a big empty parking lot where there is nothing to crash into. This way, she could ride as wobbly as she wants without crashing into anything...And I think this did the trick.... About 10 minutes into it, Rebecca said "Dad, let go of the tie now"

Wow...what a big moment on so many levels....Rebecca telling me to let go of the tie so she can be independent. Well, this was the moment we had been working toward for a long time. And off she went - riding her bike through the parking lot, with reckless abandon. It was great. Jen and I are so proud of Rebecca, and more importantly Rebecca is proud of herself. Now we have to work on stopping...but one thing at a time.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there. Make sure to take full advantage of this day...I know I am.

And check out this page posted by the White House to honor Dads all across the country: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Responsible-Fatherhood/

No Training Wheels

For the first time ever, we took the training wheels off of Rebecca's bicycle today. It was rough going as she tried to get a sense of balance and coordination, but she seemed to have a good attitude and didn't get too flustered. I tried to motivate her by telling her all her friends are able to ride a two-wheeler, and she better keep up or she might find herself in an embarrassing situation if they invite her bike riding one day and she can't keep up. I don't know if this a good tactic, but I'm thinking peer pressure can sometimes be a good thing, right?

So my goal is to keep it at, and have her riding on her own by the end of the summer. It's my job as a Dad to teach her these things, and if I don't do it, nobody will. This is a big rite of passage, not just for Rebecca, but for me as well.

Walking and Chewing Gum

We recently got back from a trip to Florida - our annual vacation to the warmer climates of the country. Not to my suprise, Joshua's favorite part about the entire week was flying on JetBlue (followed by the shuttle bus from the airport to the car rental agency).

On the way home, Joshua's ears started hurting him as we descended into the Metro NY area. Jen and I decided to give him a piece of gum, but we had to give him clear directions on how to chew it, since the last time he tried gum he almost ended up swallowing it, just like the famous Plum Pit.

"Chew the gum, but don't swallow it. It's ok to swallow your saliva, but not the gum. Ok, Buddy? Got it?"

He nodded yes, but then started practicing his chewing. He looked very serious as he warmed up his jaws and got ready for the gum. Watching him practice his chewing was probably one of the cutest, and funniest, things I've ever seen him do. What we think of as very basic and rudimentary is not so to a 4 year old. There is so much for them to learn.

Joshua ended doing a great job with the gum, and was able to avoid major pain in his ears. Now we know he can handle the gum for next year's flight.

7th Birthday

I was just sitting at my computer, thinking about updating my blog, but not sure what to write about. So I asked Rebecca, and she said to write about her recent birthday. So here we go...

Rebecca recently celebrated her 7th birthday. We had a lovely party at a nearby gymnastics facility. Rebecca had all of her friends there. There were 21 girls in all, and everyone had a great time.

Rebecca went out of her way to make sure all the girls were having fun, and even introduced some of her friends to other friends they may not have known. We are so incredibly proud of our baby girl. She is growing up to be an amazing, happy, kind, curious, and fun-loving person.

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea! We love you a lot.

Inauguration

I was very pleased that both Joshua and Rebecca were able to watch President Obama's inauguration live this past week at their respective schools. It's very important to me that my kids are aware of key national and world events. We had been talking about the presidential election for the past year, and both kids knew who the players were. There was a time this past Fall when Joshua told his grandmother that he wanted John McCain to win, just to make her mad (he succeeded). And the rumor is, Joshua was the only one in his class who could name the new president.

Rebecca knew the names of the all the top administration officials under Bush, so now we are learning all the new names under Obama. I'm trying to get a handle on all the new names and faces myself.

This inauguration was such an historic event for so many reasons, that I'm really happy it wasn't just an ordinary day in school for both kids. I keep telling them it was a day they will remember for the rest of their lives, but for now they have both moved on to bigger and better things, like playing in the snow and feeding our new goldfish.