It's a Dad Thing...

It’s amazing to me that there was a time not too many years ago that I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal if I never became a parent. In the days leading up to Nova being born, with the anticipation of bringing Juneau home within sight on the horizon, I knew that becoming a dad would be great. It turns out I was completely underselling the experience. It seems like every day I marvel at how great it is…definitely the greatest blessing of my entire life.

I hate to sound too cliché about it but time after time, the things I find myself loving most about being a dad are the stereotypical “dad” things…the stuff that, to me, just seems like time-honored “dad” traditions.

Here are my top 8 “Dad Things”:

8. Taking the extra trip:

In a typical scenario, we’re over at a friend’s house and it’s time to go. I start loading up the van and after a couple trips, we’re down to just the girls and we’re ready to say goodbye and each carry one out. Not that this is something I totally love, but at the same time, I like making the extra trip out to the car, into the house, etc. to unload baby stuff, get that last thing we forgot in order to be ready to make the trip, or whatever. Growing up, this was definitely a “dad thing.”

7. Buying them Star Wars clothes:

Okay, so this wasn’t necessarily a “Dad Thing” when I was growing up but what dad my age doesn’t revel in dressing their kid up in Star Wars clothes…especially this vintage looking t-shirt we found at the mall. Also, Juneau loves to show off her “standing” skills these days.

6. Throwing giggling babies up in the air and wrestling on the floor in the evenings before bedtime:

Up until recently, Nova has not been keen on the throwing into the air but I think she realized I wasn’t going to stop doing it so she might as well enjoy it. So, now she actually laughs in response. As everyone knows by now, Juneau loves to play rough and the higher I throw her into the air, the harder she giggles (or at least as close to giggling as Juneau allows herself to come). She also loves jump on me and wrestle and we also recently started doing this cool thing where she does a high speed “head over feet” flip in the air that I think actually panicked Emilie the first time we showed her. Juneau on the other hand just keeps making the “more” sign after each time we do it.

5. Shoulder Rides:

This is a no-brainer of a dad thing. Within the last 2 weeks, Juneau has figured out how to effectively ride without needing support to stay upright so now she rides on my shoulders constantly. She also loves to reach down and “hug” my head and go “ahhhh” while she’s up there. Too cute and sweet.

4. Not stop my child from doing daring (even dangerous) things because I’m actually so proud of her, instead I take pictures:

Juneau has become a total climber…combine that with the fact that she’s totally fearless and we’ve got our hands full. She loves to climb out the arm of the couch, reach across the 1 foot gap and vault herself up onto her highchair. Just tonight, we turned around just in time to see her complete that trick, stand up on her tray and fall to the floor. She cried for just a second but by the time I picked her up to check her out, she was ready to move on to the next thing…like completely climbing up on top of her busy beads table.

3. Making sure their love for the Buckeyes runs deep:

I remember getting in the tractor cab with my dad on Saturday afternoons in the fall and the radio was invariably tuned to the Ohio State football game. I had no choice but to be a life-long die-hard Buckeye so why should my kids get a choice J. Already, every time the fight song comes on, Juneau already knows to put her arm in the air and pump her fist in beat to: “Fight the team across the field show them Ohio’s here…” and we’re working hard on “O-H” although it will probably be awhile until Nova is able to learn “I-O”.

(I know we already posted this first picture but I love it so here it is again - My girls in their Buckeye jerseys. For those keeping track at home, Nova wears Troy Smith, Juneau wears Tedd Ginn, Jr. and on that day I was going old-school and pulled out the double-heisman winner, Archie Griffin)

2. Sunday afternoon naps on the couch:

This is definitely a HUGE “Dad Thing” from my childhood and is one of my favorite things in the world. Members of the Stickley family may say I am violating couch napping protocol by snoozing in a horizontal position since it seems to be a requirement that couch naps are undertaken in a seated position. I’m sure I will eventually develop this part of my genetic make-up so that I can pull this off but not yet. On a side note, Emilie took these pictures and they crack us up because they weren’t staged but actually some quality synchronized sleeping.

And the #1 “Dad Thing”…

1. Carrying sleeping baby girls up to bed:

On a serious note, the absolute best part of my day comes every evening when it’s time for Emilie and I to turn in. Nova has fallen asleep in her swing in the living room and I pick her up, give her a small “shhhh” to keep her from waking up and carry her up to her crib all snuggled into my arms. Other variations of this include being able to combine this one with #8 when we come home late and the girls are asleep in their carseats…I carry one sleeping girl up to her crib and then get to do it again with the other one. To me, carrying a sleeping baby from the car or the couch up to her bed is the absolute epitome of a “Dad Thing” and is my favorite by a lot.

All of these things make being a dad so much fun…so much fun that I can’t wait until the day I can do the ultimate dad thing and race into the living room and ask:

“Did someone change the thermostat?”