Summer Love

Me: "Hey little man, do you know who's going to be at the party today?"

Sippy Cup: "Who?"

M.O.M. & Me (in sing-song unison): "Your girlfriend!"

Sippy Cup: "Stop calling her that!"

M.O.M.: "Are you going to dance with her?"

Sippy Cup: "No! I'm just going to sit there!"

- 10 second pause -

Sippy Cup: "And then, if I feel like it, I'm going to show her my cool moves."

A Letter to Future Sippy Cup (15)

Hey kid,

Last night, we lay on the couch together and watched television until we both got sleepy.

These days, you have the perpetual sticky sweet smell of all 5 year-olds whose days are spent running around in the summer sun.  In spite of this, last night, curled up next to me, with your head resting comfortably in the bend of my left arm, you smelled exactly the way you did when you were first born.

In the past year, my time has been preoccupied with work and the challenges of raising a daughter.

And words cannot express just how much I have missed you.

No matter what tomorrow brings, no matter where in the world you are when you read this, please know that your father loves you.

Love,

Dad

Episode 376

"Mr. Cufflink and Sippy Cup Dress Up, Play Nice and Go to A Wedding"

Careless Whispers

Jean Paul Richter once wrote

"The words a father speaks to his children in the privacy of the home are not overheard at the time, but, as in whispering galleries, they will be clearly heard at the end and by posterity."  

This quote always unnerved me.  And this past weekend, at my cousin's wedding, I discovered why.

Wedding M.C. : "And now, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to play a quick game!"

Sippy Cup: "Oooh! They play games here?!"

Wedding M.C. : "I'm going to call out different parts of the tri-state area and we'll see which neighborhood is the loudest!"

Sippy Cup: "Yay!"

Wedding M.C. : "Is Jersey here?"

Sippy Cup: "Who's that?"

Wedding M.C. : "Anyone from Manhattan here?!"

Sippy Cup: "Daddy, you work in Manhattan!"

Wedding M.C. : "Is Queens in the house?!"

Sippy Cup (pumping his right arm emphatically) : "YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAH MOTHERFU-"

- The crowd goes wild -

Sippy Cup: "-CKER!"

Me (sighing): "Mommy should probably start watching her language around you."

M.O.M. : "I think we should start a 'Swear Jar' for me."

Sippy Cup: "Queens!  Queens!  Queens!"

Patriotic Cup

Howard Zinn once wrote "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."

If this statement is true then Sippy Cup is the most patriotic person I have ever met.

Happy Independence Day everyone!

The More Things Change...

Sippy Cup (quietly playing on the iPad)

Me: "You know what little dude?"

Sippy Cup: "What?"

Me: "Eventually Daddy is going to need a new and improved one of those."

M.O.M. (without looking up from her book): "No he won't."

Me (ignoring the M.O.M.) : "And, when that time comes, you'll be able to keep that one for yourself!  How awesome is that?!"

Sippy Cup (quietly thinking)

Me: "You don't think that's awesome?"

Sippy Cup (smiling broadly): "How about I get the new one instead?"

Me (sighing): "Some things will never change, huh?"

Sippy Cup (shaking his head and going back to the iPad): "Probably not."