Happy (belated) Father's day (and June Recap)

Hi there!

Sorry for the loooong silence. The end of May was busy, and June had a broken laptop, but now I have a number of posts on the work that will be all posted on July. I will make up for my June absence, I promise.

So, happy father's day, dear daddies. We often praise (yet not enough!) the hard work of mommies, but hardly ever talk about the amazing job that daddies are doing around the globe.  I'm not talking about working and bringing the money to the house... that's like praising a mom for cooking and feeding the kids. No, I congratulate the ones that go the extra mile. 

One thing (of the many) that I admire about the American culture is how involved are dads in the raising of kids. When I came to the U.S. for first time, I was quite shocked to see that many men here loved making the family meals, and gardening, and taking the kids to their extracurricular activities. I married one of them, which is great considering that I kill all plants and if it was left to me, my kids would only eat Mexican food (my menu is not that long either.) So if we invite you to dinner one day, and you think our garden is beautiful and we have shepherds pie and delicious home made bread pudding, you will have to thank my husband for it.

But going back to children-dads relationship, about everywhere we go with the kids, there are dads with their kids. Unless is during the day, during the week (when dads are usually working) children's places are filled with dads. It's not rare that we will take Patrick to the soft room at the RECenter, and there will be more dads than moms. It was not a coincidence that Patrick's first swimming class had more dads than moms. The pediatrician office is often outnumbered by dads. When we go to museums or playgrounds, I notice that moms usually step back to take care of the babies, while the dads are hands on, running around and playing with the older kids. Having a family where both mom and dad are involved in their children's development and education, is the best we can do for society.

Patrick's first swimming class

So let's talk about the dad of my children. Have I said that I'm overjoyed to have a son that loves me more than anything? Robbie loves me more than anything on this world. That's right, Patrick loves his daddy more than he loves me*. But, thinking about it, how couldn't he? Daddy is in the backyard working which means Patrick gets to run around in the yard; Daddy is fixing something in the house, which means Patrick gets access to a whole world of super cool tools that mommy has no idea how to use; Daddy likes to play Rock Band, which means Patrick gets to play Rock Band (please don't tell him his guitar is not on) and most importantly, Daddy is not home all day long. This is important, because when is nap time, daddy isn't there to fight the battle, when is crazy throwing things time, daddy isn't there to fight the battle, and when is hitting the baby bro time, daddy isn't there to fight the battle neither. 

So Patrick loves his dad more than he does mommy. But, Daddy made this possible, too, by being a great dad. I do have to harass him every now and then about spending some quality time with the kids, but I believe this is quite common. The important thing is that he does respond to that harassment, and doesn't complain one bit. I take it as if he just has to be reminded that sometimes we have to put work aside to enjoy the kids. He loves his children as much as I do, and that is all I want for my kids. He is a great example to them and I know Patrick wants to be just like him, because he imitates him on EVERYTHING he does, and I'm not even exaggerating (good thing he quit smoking awhile ago!)

Tim has been on board in all the things I have tried (from therapies to vitamins, to toys and family outings) to help Patrick in his developmental delays. He has even suggested to try a few new things to help Patrick, which have been a great asset and which I will talk more about in a future post. That support is the one that makes this journey easier, and for that, we thank you! 

Oh, and nothing much happened in June to write about, other than Patrick's new gig as a Rock Star. He has this new desire to play the guitar (and every now and then, the drums) and sing songs for us. 

He isn't shy to play the instruments in front of other people

He got a beautiful singer to join the band

It's absolutely cute, and this is one more thing he is imitating daddy on (no, Tim is not an actual Rock Star, unless he is playing Rock Band) so here is a video we made for him on Father's Day.

*UPDATE: After reading this post, Tim said that Patrick doesn't love him more than he loves me. I do have to admit that when Patrick gets scared, is sick or gets a boo boo, I'm the only person that can bring him comfort. So I guess that counts for something. But the other 80% of the time, he prefers his daddy.