Dad’s Workbench: A Dad Blog

1 month down, 1 month to go.

It has been a month since I broke my leg and I have one more month with my cast on. The worst part of it all is that it is so hard to do anything or go anywhere.

Before I just wanted to sit around the house on my days off. After a full week of work it was nice to just sit and not go anywhere. And now that I am almost glued to my couch I now want to get out. My plan is to go for a hike somewhere and take about 100 photos once the cast is off. Any photo from a view point other than my couch would be nice.

I have to say the one thing I miss most is being able to chase after my daughter and play with her. Chasing her with the crutches is not exactly fun to her.

From the couch, however, I did manage to get a good shot of my daughter. She loves crayons. She doesn’t color with them. She just takes them out then puts them back in…. or walks around with them…. or dumps them out then puts them back in again. She is obsessed with picking things up and putting them a way. I hope it stays that way.

I love my daughter and even a little thing like breaking your leg makes you much more thankful for the fact that it is only a temporary discomfort. There are people I know who will never walk yet have learned to enjoy life.

I want to be more thank for everything. I want my daughter to see  an example of an attitude of thankfulness, excitement  and just enjoying life no matter what circumstances may come. Life is more that these little things that appear to set us back or slow us down. I want to be the cheerful bright red crayon.

Follow The Leader

The Path

Summer is going so fast. It has been a great one. One that I won’t forget.

My daughter has gone from crawling and riding in the stroller to walking with us. Probably one of the must fun things to watch is how she is learning to play.

She is no longer just batting and grabing at things but it is talking, dancing and figuring out how things work. Riding and watching is no longer good enough. She wants to walk with us. She grabs our hands and puts them on toys to say play with it.

It reminds me of something I heard about leadership. Real leadership reproduces leadership and not just followers. The relationship starts at being a leader with followers but becomes a leader walking with leaders along the journey.

The followers (under successful leadership) become leaders and rather than just following the leader that walk with the leader.

Our little girl has stumbled and fallen many times. She has watched us and even other children walk. Now she herself can walk.

I hope we as parents can just as successfully teach her everything else she needs to know!

Dad, Check This Thing Out

Dad, Check This Thing Out!

What is the first thing a little child does in a new house? Go exploring of course. Our little girl found her way into our bedroom and then into our en suite. A nice new roll of toilet paper caught her eye and my camera caught her. Now if she would just learn how to use it that would be just fine with me.

One thing she has just learned to do is shake her head when we say no. She even goes one step further and is starting to shake her head when she does agree with something. Usually it is when we take something bad away from her.

One nice thing is that now if she is uncertain if she should be doing something she will look at us for approval. Before we never had to say yes to anything. She would just go head and do whatever she felt like doing. It is like she is slowly learning some self-control.

When she is uncertain of someone or of doing something we repeat “yes” to her and slowly she feels comfortable. At times I wondered about saying “no” to her so much but now I am glad we did. I think it has taught her that she shouldn’t do things just because she wants to. I also think it will teach her to be able to say no to things more easily in the future. Not only say no to bad things but also say no to things that are not as profitable as other things.

I am the kind of person that quickly says yes. I say yes to too many things. Not that all those things are bad but things that I don’t need to do or get involved in.

In the end I hope my daughter can just as easily say yes or no. I hope that her choices are based not on feelings that change with circumstances and moods but that she is guided by morals and by thinking things through. The odd tug and unraveling of a toilet paper roll is okay and harmless as long as it stays dry.