In terms of a Dad update, it’s been a while! I really appreciate all the positive feedback on my prior dad posts, and all the dad-related questions in my Ask Me Anythings. Keep ’em coming! By no means am I an expert, but I’m happy to share my experiences and opinions. To refresh: we use the Moms on Call system. We started the day they were born and still implement their system. It’s a lot of focus on schedules and consistency, which match well with Mrs. RCS’ and my personalities.
Our current status is a good one. Our boys will be 3 (Jack) and 5 (Henry) over the next few months and are VERY active. They are both in daycare/school full time and are thriving. H is in the early pre-K program and doing really well. Mrs. RCS and I are both working in a hybrid environment, where we are both in the office a few days a week, and home a few days a week. All in all, the machine is humming along. We’re in a good groove.
Our boys are extremely active. They fit the description to a T. They are best friends, worst enemies, and learning to push boundaries. They are both developing their own personalities, which is so fun to watch. H is your typical firstborn: smart, intuitive, curious, possessive, and generally speaking the leader of the pack. J is our second born, and basically a Navy SEAL. Fiercely loyal to Mrs. RCS, his big brother, and me, aggressive but sweet, a loverboy, and he’s literally not scared of anything. They are so much fun to be around.
Coming into Spring is seriously good for our house. It’s a disaster keeping our boys cooped up all day in the cold, wet weather. We did the aquarium quite a bit, went and saw friends, lots of neighborhood rides in Bertha, and took advantage of mild days on the playground/cul-de-sac. However, we wore out the playroom. Our house is NOT a ‘Pinterest’ house in that our kids are always clean, smiling, and in a state of wanderlust. Quite the opposite. Most of the time they look like hobos that just got out of a catfight. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. They know the rules and the consequences. Go forth and conquer.
This Spring and Summer, we’re planning a few vacations (with and without kids), we’ve got H signed up for a day camp, and we’ll be pool rats. We’re heading to the beach later this week for a few days with some dear friends and their kids, which I expect to be a blast (post on this tomorrow). Since our boys aren’t in school yet, we aren’t bound by the school calendar…we’re taking full advantage. H has a crew of boys and girls at our club that he loves, so we signed them up for a day camp. It’s basically golf-tennis-crafts-lunch-playtime-pool for five days. He’s going to have a BLAST. It’s nice because we can head up to the pool after he’s done and play out the clock as a family.
On sports, we tried H in soccer last Fall, and it was a mitigated disaster. He didn’t want to wear the uniform, didn’t want to play, and would nuke the whole morning when it was time to go. Ultimately we pulled him. I talked to my dad about it, who coached my brother and me in all sorts of little league sports, and his advice is where we are:
“Don’t force any kid to play any sports. Expose them to it (take them to a practice or a game and let them see it), and let them tell you when they want to play. If you force it, he’ll fight it. Sports should be fun.”
So that’s what we are doing. He hasn’t expressed much interest in anything but golf (smiley face emoji), but we’ll go see some friends’ games this summer and see what he thinks.
On schooling, H has a late-July birthday, so we’ve decided to redshirt on starting kindergarten. We’re going to let him do pre-K for one more year (our school has a 5-year-old option). He’s smart enough to go, but I worry about him being the youngest and the smallest in his class. My folks did that with me, and they both agree it was the right thing to do. It also gives us one more year of vacation freedom…which is fine with me.
The big issues that we are dealing with are pretty minimal. Any advice is welcomed:
- Our kids LOVE to get up “too early” in the morning…we use the Hatch light, and they know they can’t come out of their room (they share) until the light turns green at 6:30. However, they are usually up playing WWF at ~6AM. We put them down around 7:45-8PM, and they go right to sleep…I wish we could stretch the wake-up to about 7…
- Babysitters. We just lost two of ours, and we need to re-stock the roster.
How’s everyone else doing? Let’s hear it…leave a comment below.
For babysitting, look into the Wyndy app. It was invented by a Samford grad, so you know they’re good people. It’s sort of like Tinder for babysitters. You make a “listing” for your job: date, time, how many kids, how long it will be, what will need to be done, etc. You set what hourly rate you’re willing to pay. Babysitters in the area will see the job and respond if they’re willing to do it. Then you can view their profiles and see what/how many ratings they’ve gotten from other jobs before you select one. The babysitters are background checked and, I believe, are required to be enrolled in some sort of higher education. If you end up really liking a person you use, you can always get their number and hire them outside of the app to save on the fee. We’ve used it once and had a good experience. We have a pretty good line-up of other babysitters so we haven’t used it again, but would not qualms about doing so if none of our girls were available.
Little C tried Soccer twice. First time was ok bc his best friend was there also. We tried Soccer again this past fall at it was awful. Everything was during the week after Daycare/School at it was a mess. He did the drills but did not care about the scrimmage. This Spring we went with Rookie TBall. They only do 2 innings and every kid bats and runs to Third. Its still a mess but he is enjoying it alot more the Soccer. Even has a few coach pitch hits. Will likely sigh up for Rookie Ball 1 more time bc he isn’t ready for real innings and outs.
Pre-K starts in the Fall and we had a big choice to make. He got into the GA Pre-K at this current school and his Elementary School. We went back and fourth trying to decide to move him or stay in place. We finally decided that he should get a head start at the Elementary School and enrolled him there for the fall.
No advice on the sleeping in. He will sleep in when we have things to do but feels like if we have a morning off he is up right at 6:30-7. He slept in till 9 a few weeks ago and it was amazing. Need more of that.
3 here. 2 boys same ages as yours and baby sister at 9 months. Brothers bounce between best friends and biggest enemies about 37 times a day, but they both love their little sister with every ounce they have and it’s the best thing to see. We are trying all the things right now with the boys… tee ball, soccer, swim, and ninja zone. Makes the evenings/weekends crazy, but so far they love it and it’s a blast to watch. I am “coaching” teeball with a good friend and his kiddo so its a great excuse for after practice/game dinner for the kiddos and beers for the moms and dads. It’s finally warming up here in Indiana so spending as much time outside as possible for play and dinner. Life is chaotic, the house is always a mess, I am consistently tired, and things always take a little longer to get done, but it is the absolute best.
Timely post. Our daughter begins kindergarten in the fall and we have another girl due the week school begins. This is definitely going to be a reset summer for us, as we transition from a family of three to a family of four. Hopefully, my wife and I have learned from previous missteps with our first child, namely not being consistent with schedules and not allowing ourselves a break from the kid(s). Even though my wife is a stay at home mom, we have realized how important consistency is for our family and how it important it is for both of us to maintain adult relationships and our individual hobbies.
Now that we have a child going into school, we are going to miss being able to take a week off and hit the beach outside of peak season!
Had our first baby girl 16 days ago. Been a blast transitioning into a new phase of life. I read through this and get excited for what’s to come. Great memories for you and your family. God Bless.
When H is old enough (he can go when he’s 6), totally recommend Camp Sea Gull for sleep away summer camp in North Carolina. Your Instagram friend J.E.P’s sons both went there and worked there. All boys environment, tons of boating and water activities, no tech or screens whatsoever. You can start him in the 5 day program, 2 week, or 4 week program.
Wife and I are expecting our first in a few weeks! This post got me fired up to be a dad. Thanks for sharing. (Also we are using the Moms on Call book so we will see if our first little one — and her parents — do with it). Cheers!
Love the dad content.
I have a 4-year-old boy, a 2.5-year-old girl, and a 1-year-old girl. It’s a bit of a shitshow, but I feel so fortunate and grateful to have three healthy, active, full-of-life kids.
Our 4-year-old boy turns 5 in August. We’re also redshirting him. I was a late birthday in my class and it had its challenges socially and athletically.
Someone is always awake in our house around 6:00 AM. I’m all ears if someone has a hack for this.
We moved to a smaller town in West Texas during the pandemic. Overall, it’s been a good fit for the family. I’m trying to convince my wife it’s time to join the country club, but she thinks the kids are still too young for us to get much use out of it.
RCS – I know you find a way to get out on the course, but I’ve found it damn near impossible to golf!
Thanks again for the content.
Solid names. I have 5 year old twins named Henry and Jack.