When I was a kid, nothing was more fun on Saturday mornings than hunkering down with a bowl of cereal and my baby sister to watch Saturday morning cartoons. It's a widely known phenom that kids every where partake in. At least, they used to. Back when cartoons consisted of Recess and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, or even Ah, Real Monsters! Now cartoons are just weird. I know because my daughters watch a wide variety. It's nice to know that they enjoy Sabrina the Animated Series, because it is a throw back to my childhood, but it's not so nice to have to enjoy constant repeats of the new version of My Little Pony.
Anyway, enough about cartoons. My children break the mold. They don't watch cartoons on Saturday mornings. Ever. Why? Well see, we can watch cartoons any time. Netflix is an enjoyable program for that reason. But we can't always wake up to Daddy being home, and Saturday mornings are the start of Daddy's days off. We love when Daddy is home, and my girls like to start off the break with their favorite game.
Tackle Daddy.
I must say I've always encourage this. Once upon a time it was very difficult to wake my hubby up from his slumber without irritating him. He works hard, and enjoys to sleep in. Unfortunately, it's not that easy anymore now that our children are older. So when Monster 1 was born we started a game. Wake Up Daddy. It began a little something like this.
"Hey Daddy... Psst, Daddy. There a blonde haired blue eyed babe in your bed, waiting for you to wake up"
At which point Monster would giggle, and drool (she was little when we started this) and proceed to slobber Daddy with kisses. A fun game that has since evolved into "Ok girls! GET DADDY!!!!"
My hubby is one of the best dads I know. He is generally in good graces when his daughters wake him up, and he never ceases to indulge them in their desire to wrestle with him. He's very good at making sure they have a blast without being too rough (although my girls do enjoy that they aren't coddled!). Mommy however, has arrived at the point that I can no longer watch without getting nervous. The three of them rough and tumbling on my bed doing body slams and tickle attacks is hard to watch without constantly saying something like "Daddy watch her head!" as though he is still new to the dad business. So now, I initiate this game and leave the room to clean up or start breakfast. It's a good system that works and inevitably tires out all my loves.
Moments like these are when I realize that my husband and I have truly developed into parents. It's not just changing diapers, or even rocking them to sleep anymore. It is all aspects of parenting. The good and the bad. We have to sit and give them step by step instructions to clean their room! We play hide and seek, and yes, mommy and monsters have been known to hide in the bathtub. We are instilling in them responsibility by making it required that they help clean up. We are eating breakfast together at the table or lounging in our P.J.s on the couch watching Power Rangers. We talk to them about Brother's impending arrival, and we laugh with them when they tell us the jokes that they find funny and we don't understand. I'm not sure how it happened actually. I almost don't recognize myself or my husband sometimes. I know he is the same way when he catches my eye and grins as our children run through the house screaming as Monster Daddy chases them growling.
I gotta say though, it's a beautiful life, this crazy life of ours. I wouldn't change it for anything. Yes, that means even when our children misbehave!
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