Tag Archives: growing up

That Time I Realized She’s Growing Up…..Fast!

When did you first realize your kid was growing up? As first time parents, Going Mom and I never knew what to expect when the realization that our little girl was truly growing up hit us. But now, as she approaches her third year of life, it’s hitting us like Joe Frazier’s left hook to Muhammad Ali in “The Fight of the Century”.

She went from a needy blob of cuteness, to fully functional tot in what seems like the blink of an eye. It felt like forever back then, but now here we are, trying to keep up with her full sentences (including plenty of back talk), constant questioning, and inability to sit still for even a second. No kidding, watching her eat at the dinner table has us stressed out and she falls off her chair several times each night.

This sudden “left hook” has made me rethink what I do each day. I always enjoyed blogging, but it was much easier when our little human couldn’t talk or move that much. Now she’s more mobile than most adults and full of requests to play with her.

Always choose play!
Always choose play!

Before, blogging time was easy to find, but now, between cooking every day, cleaning, working out, and playing with her, there’s not a lot of time left to blog.

When I do find time, I notice that I have lost much of the passion I used to have. I feel guilty knowing I could be doing something else for/with the family or simply reading a book. I miss reading books. Our daughter growing up has helped me to come to a simple conclusion, something’s gotta give. Another stay-at-home dad who blogs as the Sunshine Dad speaks a lot on the same thing in his post, I Was Wrong. Five Kids Is Tough. While I would like to correct “Is” to “Are”, sorry Mike :), and I only have one kid, I share his feelings.

Social media has always interested me, and I plan on sharing plenty of our life experiences on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but full on blog posts will be drastically reduced. I’m always up for sharing a healthy recipe or reviewing healthy food/products, but will not seek them out as much as before. Again, look for all of my favorites on my other social media pages.

Yes, I too feel as if I have some growing up to do, and this precious time with my beautiful wife and daughter means way more to me than blogging. I know I’ve spent too long trying to think of that next good topic to write about or how to spin a story, but for what? Nothing is as important as spending time with loved ones, so that’s what I’m doing.

#mysundayphoto, sunday, parenting, toddlers, cute, kids, dad, family

 

 

You might wonder why, then, I took the time to write this post to the few followers I have. Blogging has always helped me express my feelings, and letting it out there helps tremendously. I feel better after just writing the words above and will leave it at that. This is not the end, just a notice that I’m redirecting my focus on other things/people. Any posts will be short and geared more towards sharing things I’ve ready in the health and fitness world or just a funny pun.

As a side note, I’d like to spend more time designing fun shirts with puns and pictures in my store on Skreened; appropriately named Going Dad. And I’ll leave you with a picture of my little girl and her Daddy (that’s me) rocking my first creation I spent a while designing. If you like it, please feel free to order one for yourself and little ones too!

avery-and-daddy-with-see-you-later-excavator-shirts

Jumping With Friends at Altitude Trampoline Park

When the local Altitude Trampoline Park offers a discount for toddlers, you jump on it! Last week, our friends/neighbors asked several of us parents if we’d like to get the kids together for a little jumping action (aka increased naptime success), and there was no way I would say no to this cutie.

altitude trampoline park, toddler, parenting, jumping, kids

It’s not a major concern to Going Mom and me right now, but sometimes we wonder if Avery gets enough social interaction with peers. With me staying at home, we obviously avoid daycare and/or nannies. We love our situation and wouldn’t change it for the world, but know she needs her time with others. Luckily, she has plenty of peers in our neighborhood and they all get along pretty well.

altitude trampoline park, toddler, parenting, jumping, kids, friends

When together, they seem to keep to themselves and interact every now and then. I expect this is normal for 2 and 3 year olds and will change as they get older. At the trampoline park, they showed more interaction than I’ve seen with Avery in a while and I loved watching them play.

altitude trampoline park, toddler, parenting, jumping, kids

These balls of energy scoured the whole facility but kept gravitating to this trampoline ramp (tramp ramp? No?) to use as a slide. Belly sliding was the thing that day.

Trampoline Belly Slides

Once down, they would scamper right back up to go down again. Yes, that’s it, use that energy!

Climbing Trampoline

I always try to interact with these kids when we see them in the neighborhood, but they usually just hide behind a parent while shooting unwelcoming facial expressions my way. Natalie, who just had a birthday at Altitude Trampoline Park, simply dropped to the ground and curled into a ball as I smiled at her. I got the hint.

The other girl, Emma, started off shy but we ended up playing a lot after she warmed up. By play, I mean she pushed me off the edge of things and jumped on my back to attack me. It was fun though. One of the boys, Tanner, was constantly running laps around the area, but he gave some great high fives. Something about the boys at this age, most of them just are not as shy.

Without a doubt, the best playmate is and always will be my precious little girl.

Daddy and Avery Sticking Tongues Out at Altitude Trampoline Park

She played a lot with the other kids, but made sure to save a little playtime with Daddy too. I appreciate the time with her and know this time won’t last long, so making the most of it is vital. I think she enjoys our time too, at least that smile says so.

Looking Up from Trampoline

Once she finds out what dating is, her feeling might change. But lets not talk about that now…..or for a loooongggg time.

Heading to Altitude Trampoline Park is fun whether it’s just us or with friends, but hopefully we’ll get a group together again soon!

Flying Her Spaceship: #MySundayPhoto

The small playground in our neighborhood has a little wooden playset for kids to climb and slide on. Using our imagination, we pretend it’s our spaceship and make frequent trips to the moon and sometimes a random planet from Star Wars.

It’s not a sturdy structure, so I can easily shake our vessel during takeoff as we experience turbulence (from comet fields, obviously). Luckily, the cutest pilot I know keeps it under control and gets us through every time.

spaceship, playground, kids, #MySundayPhoto, toddler, pretend, imagination

Don’t worry, I caught this shot on my phone before takeoff. She promised to wait for me to climb aboard, but only for a minute. We had places to go and things to see, so there’s no time for messing around with pictures!

I’m just happy I got this pic before the 105+ degree heat made my phone shut down. Probably for good reason, I need to focus on living in the moment more anyway. No matter how hot it gets, it always feels cool to play with our beautiful girl.

Thanks to Darren and his #MySundayPhoto linkup. Check out his blog full of beautiful pics and join in on the #MySundayPhoto action!

Photalife