A Hero in the Making

No, it's not me. It's that handsome devil sitting next to me.

He will without a shadow of a doubt be the hero for two little monkeys I know.

According to said monkeys, he kinda already is.

Before Clint and I were married, he was a little unsure about having children. Let me rephrase that -- he was a little unsure of being a father . . . because he wanted to make sure he could do it right. He knew already the great responsibility that comes with being a dad, and it's not something one should take lightly. But he was the one who came to me first and asked if we wanted to think about starting a family -- two years before we had originally planned. Then along came Mimi. Wowzers. And our life completely flipped upside down . . . thank goodness we love flipping :).

We were both so unsure of what we were doing, but we knew we loved this little wild thing. Clint asks me often, "Am I doing okay as a dad? Do you think she loves me?" I wish I could take a photo of Mimi's reaction every day when Clint arrives home from work just so he could be reminded throughout the day of how happy she is to see him.

But I'm not surprised at all that Mimi is smitten with her father, and I am absolutely in love with the way that Clint is taken with her. As I've written about many times, Mimi has quite a bit of energy. She runs away from us and makes us wrestle her into her shoes . . . she sings to the top of her lungs in restaurants and even told Clint he was a "doo doo head" a few days ago while jumping on the couch and belting it out in a song. Yet Clint tells me often, "She is exactly the way I want her to be." He truly thinks she is the most beautiful and smartest little girl in the world -- sorry if you think your kid is cuter because Clint will be ready to argue. She is totally his partner in crime. After Mack has gone to bed the two of them sit on the couch together and he teaches her really useful things to say such as, "What's that noise? Is that a frog in my pants?" if she happens to accidentally do you know what. Sigh. Potty humor is their fave. So I guess I can get him back with this beautiful photo . . .

I promise that's my hat and not his, but we can pretend he wore it all day just for fun.

I was at a park recently with the kiddos (the story of my life right now), and two boys were in the corner practicing their golf swings. As soon as Mimi spotted them she said, "Oh, Mommy! Let's go play golf balls!!" and she raced across the grass and almost ran into them. Thank goodness they were such sweeties, and they spent at least 30 minutes teaching Mimi how to put the tee in the ground and even let her swing their clubs and practice. Before she left they gave Mimi her own ball and tee, and before she even had them in her hand she yelled, "I can't wait to show these to Daddy!"

And then came our sweet little baby boy.

Sweet, sweet, sweet little thing, and he is crazy about his silly Daddy. Honestly, he's a bit of a
"Momma's Boy," but I can't put a smile on his face as quickly as Clint can. He knows when Daddy's around that he'll get thrown up in the air and on the pillows and tickled until he giggles so hard that he can barely catch his breath.

Clint has a different relationship with Mack already. He tells me that I "baby" him a bit too much -- he needs to be tough. Well, anyone can see how tough the little guy is when his sister pounces on him and he doesn't bat an eye. But Clint feels a special responsibility with his son. Recently Clint commented on how handsome Mack will be (Well, duh. Cutest little boy ever), and because of this he must teach Mack to be really nice to girls.

To be kind and good and smart. Just like his daddy. It's a little late, but Happy Father's Day, Clint.