Happy Father's Day Craig!

I know, I'm a week late in my Happy Father's Day wish. Craig got to go on a day-long fishing excursion for Father's Day, so I hope I will get just a teensy bit of slack. :) And actually, by the time I finish and post it, more like a week and a half...bad, bad me!

It goes without saying that Craig possesses all the important ingredients that make a great Dad. He's loving, kind, patient, accountable, and always wants to teach Merrick. He respects Merrick for the person that he is and wants him to always feel comfortable in his own skin.

I absolutely love seeing Craig and Merrick interact, it is best thing in the world! And what makes Craig really stand out as the best Daddy ever are all the little things. While I could go on and on about the little things, below is my top 10 list of little things (in no particular order) that make Craig the best Daddy ever:

1) When Merrick has long been asleep, and right before we go to bed, Craig sneaks into Merrick's room to kiss him. Every single night, without fail.

2) Every night during bath time Craig takes out his guitar and gives Merrick a rock concert...all of Merrick's requested favorites like 'Wheels on the Bus', 'Old McDonald' and 'Down by the Bay'.

3) He takes every Wednesday off work to spend the day with Merrick. We call it 'Daddy Day'.

4) At Merrick's weekly gymnastics class, he is the only Daddy who is going right along with whatever Merrick is doing. Right there with the other kids, Craig is on the balance beam, on the trampoline, the bars, all of it!

5) Craig went to play guitar just for Merrick's class at school...the only kid in school with a rock star for a Daddy! He always wants to be involved in his school.

6) He always takes Merrick on the boogie board in the ocean for 'surfing' lessons.

7) He gets Merrick interested in all the little things too. Just tonight, for example, they spent about a half hour in Merrick's room with the light off while playing with a flashlight. I heard nothing but laughs and giggles coming out of there.

8) Since DAY 1, Craig has shared every single parenting responsibility. From getting up in the middle of the night when he was little, to taking care of him when he's sick, to discipline, to doctor appointments and blood draws.

9) He will stop at nothing to ensure Merrick's safety. Shortly after Merrick began to walk (a little over a year ago now), he was continuously taking spills on our tile floor in the kitchen. Craig, in all seriousness, was about to make ALL tile off limits to our son. For how long? I have no idea. And at the end of the day it wasn't a realistic view, but the fact that this was actually a serious consideration in his head speaks volumes!

10) He allows Merrick to practice his sky diving stunts by letting him jump high off the changing table and into his waiting arms below.

And although I said top 10, just one more for good measure:

11) He teaches him crazy words - at least for a 2 year old - like onomatopoeia, tempo, and a few other words I can't think of at the moment. He just doesn't let the fact that Merrick is 2 hold him back from teaching him anything. And while he may not fully understand all the words now, he will.

So Happy Father's Day Craig, we love you!!

'Nastics (aka Gymnastics)

We've wanted to put Merrick into some type of activity, and for the most part none of the classes take kids as young as 2. But we recently found a gymnastics place that takes 2 year olds as long as the parents participate. So we signed up! We figured this would be a good way to help his coordination --- hopefully the payoff is we have fewer falls and therefore less damage to the noggin!! The class lasted 45 minutes, and initially I wasn't sure he was ready for it because he spent the first 15 minutes of the class obsessing over the fans throughout the gym to keep it cooler. He's got this thing about fans...he's afraid of them for some reason. So he was going on and on about the fans and finally the instructor turned them all off! That's when he decided to get down to business. He had a BLAST. In fact, he started crying when we left, because he wanted "more 'nastics!"

He's Got Mad Skills!

I have to admit, selfishly, that one of the most exciting things for me about Merrick starting school was all the projects he would be bringing home. I had these visions of sticking all his artwork on the refrigerator to admire. That day has arrived my friends! Here are some of his latest masterpieces:

Favorite Blue Galoshes

Summertime = Popsicles and Ice Cream

Please Tell Me This Stops!

Merrick is insistent on inflicting damage to his face on a weekly basis. It seems every single week we bring him to school on Monday with a new bump, cut or scrape. And every week it's a different story. And every week I feel like the teachers are that much closer calling Child Protective Services!! Fortunately, one of his teachers - Ms. Lea - has 4 boys of her own (bless her). She's told me that each of her boys have been to the ER more than one time for stitches, broken bones, etc. AGGGHHHHHH NOOOOOOOO!! He will cause me to have a heart attack, I'm certain of it.

For your viewing 'pleasure', I give you his latest battle scar. He was running in the street in front of our house, tripped, FORTUNATELY caught himself a little with his hand, however it wasn't enough to prevent his head from grazing against the pavement. He cried for about 2 seconds, but when I scooped him up and ran into the house to assess the damage, then he REALLY cried....because he wanted to be back outside playing with his buddy Noah. I had to quickly clean up the abrasions, slap on some Neosporin and get him back outside!