So I caught a blog post about 50 Rules for Dads of Daughter that was inspired or written out of this blog. So I took a look around, and saw a couple of posts for Dads of sons, but none that really worked for me. So, I decided to make my own. Here it is.

1. Hold his hand while he still lets you. Notice how small it is in your hand, remember how little he is, cherish this time.

2. Show him how to love his Mother. His Mom, and his future wife will appreciate it.

3. Be silly.

4. Let him push the little cart at the grocery store. He will be the best helper you’ve ever had (just watch your ankles.)

5. Hug him.

6. Give him kisses, there will definitely be a time when that just won’t be cool.

7. Throw him in the air, as high as you can, watch his face light up when you catch him. This will help him to be fearless.

8. Chase him when he asks you to, make monster noises while doing so.

9. Teach him to drive a stick shift.

10. Let him help you clean the house, cross your fingers that it sticks.

11. Sing to him before bed, the songs you sing to him now, will soothe his soul later.

12. Let him fall and hurt himself, he’ll learn faster that way.

13. Encourage him to help make dinner.

14. Check in on him before you go to sleep at night, the memory of it will stay with you always. Remember what you see after he’s just wrecked the family car.

15. Push him on the swings, if he wants to go higher, by all means oblige him.

16. Read to him, anytime he wants.

17. Sing along with him, at the top of your lungs.

18. Listen.

19. Let him nap on you. Know that he can sleep so soundly because he feels safe with you.

20. Teach him to throw a baseball, kick a soccer ball, shoot a free throw, or hit a golf ball. Whatever you are into, share your love of that with him.

21. Let him pick out what clothes he wears, he wants to feel independent.

22. But push for the matching PJ’s.

23. Two words: Pillow Fight.

24.  Know that there is no better place to be then on your shoulders.

25. Teach him to open doors, pull out a chair, and escort a lady by the crook of their arm. Don’t let chivalry die.

26. Be his hero.

27. Try and be patient.

28. Always go back for the extra hug, one day, it will be hard enough to get the first one.

29. Never miss an opportunity to make a funny face.

30. Never stop loving, caring, or laughing. Let his joy in life, infect every aspect of yours

I never used to be like this, I wouldn’t think twice about what the kids in the Chronicles of Narnia were going through when they were shipped off to some place other than home. But now? Not so much, I mean, how could I live with myself if something happened to these two:

I want to give them the world, and I couldn’t live without them.

It’s been a lot of fun over the years, take a walk down memory lane with me will you:

This is 2007, this right here is THE Eli from Eli’s lids. Notice a very pregnant Beautiful Wife.

In 2008 we had a bit of a baby boom around here, this is a classic kid picture, little dude is in the blue, with his eyes covered.

This is one of my favorites, from 2009, little dude, smack dab in the middle, smiling midst the chaos.

Then we have last year, the baby making continues, and now mini dude joins the party, next to little dude, in the middle.

And there you have it, I hope that however you celebrate you have a great, and safe time.

Imagine several thousand people packed together on Main Street USA at Disneyland. Can you see it?

People jostling for the best vantage point amongst the brightly lit and decorated shops. Then the lights dim, the music starts, and the first shooting star crosses the sky, and there is silence from the crowd. The fireworks perfectly times to Silent Night, and other holiday classics. Then after the big finale, as the music slows, people start to look up, and it’s snowing, in Anaheim, Ca. A quick look at people’s faces, all of them, young old, hardened, or not. All of a sudden they are all 10 years old again, staring in wonder. That is Disney Magic. And it still happens today during the Holiday’s, except now? I get to see the magic on my boy’s faces, the wonder, and I get to join them in relieving these magical moments.

Christmastime at Disneyland continues for a couple more weeks. I highly suggest getting there, and be sure to stay for the fireworks.

Here are the 2011 dates and times for the train!

He’s an un-assuming little fella. Kinda cute actually. But he ruddy brilliant. We put him in little dude’s bedroom about a month ago, after trying everything possible to get him to sleep past 6am. Nothing had worked up until that point. But this guy, oh he worked alright, so well in fact that within the week he was sleeping until 6:45, no longer yelling for us to get him at 6am, and just plain waking up happier. Here’s how it works. From bedtime, throughout the night it’s a night light that glows yellow:

But at your pre-determined time, it switches to the all powerful green light:

And Green, green means go. Any three year old understands that simple instruction. Now, here’s the trick. Start at a time, that your kid usually gets up. Tell them that when the light turns green, they don’t need to call, they can just come out and “surprise” Mommy and Daddy. It will take a couple days of discipline to get them on board. Once they do though, every couple of days you can move the clock back by 5 minutes until, boom, everyone’s sleeping late, and that is worth every penny.

Disclaimer: This clock was purchased with real money, out of desperation, but with real money. You can find these on amazon and I saw one at Barnes and Noble of all places the other day too. Get one, you won’t regret it.

Do you know what happens when a one year old and a three year old, lose an hour of sleep every day for several days in a row? I’ll give you a hint; it rhymes with, oh forget what it rhymes with, it means melt down city. A crank-fest, tears, yelling, screaming, and that’s just me. I’ve had it. I’m done. Let’s start a revolution right now, forget Occupy Wall Street, this is where the real battle needs to be fought. Down with Daylight Savings, join me, leave a comment, sign the petition!

This was a pretty good Halloween for us in general. Little dude, really got what was going on this year, and ran from house to house, with what one might call, ummm, wild abandon. He did it quite quickly too, which was just type casting for his costume, see:

But to be honest, his little brother kind of stole the show this year, last year he was too little to get into the festivities, but this year, he got to wear his costume, that he actually picked out himself. And I tell you, from the moment he put it on, you’ve never met a happier kid. His face lit up, and it was go time, I mean, look at him. I know I’m partial but, come on!:

In case you are wondering, his shirt says “Community Nursery School.” Roughly translated? Preschool. Yup, little dude started preschool. I’m way to young to have a preschooler. But here we are. With a little dude who is so ready for preschool that his teacher has already told us “he was born for this.” I mean, I knew he was social, and good in new situations, but did he have to be this good?

Let me give you the play by play of the beginning of his first day of preschool. We take a bunch of pictures of his goofy mug like this one:

Then we walk up, and take a few more pictures, and walk up to the class, my son walks confidently past kids screaming for there parents, opens the door, and he’s gone, no goodbye, nothing. This isn’t one of those things where he was expecting us to stick around, nope, he knew we were leaving, and it didn’t effect him one bit. Now, part of me thinks, hey, doesn’t he care about us, why doesn’t he care that we are leaving him in this strange new land. But the other part, the other part is proud papa, proud that my little man is so independent, that he is ready to take on the world. Because, well, that’s the point of parenting right?