When Kate was in first grade she was really, really sick with strep throat. Poor kid was on all sorts of medication, vitamins, fluids, etc. Mike came home from work and said, “Katie-bug, I brought you some medicine.”
Kate looked at him with obvious disgust. She was clearly tired of medicine.
Mike walked over with a bag filled with gummy bears and lifesavers. Kate beamed.
A few months later she was down with it again. By this time she had learned to use her fingers as “quotes” although, most of the time, she used them entirely incorrectly. Mike popped in for lunch to check on her and with her feverish little eyes she looked up at him and said, “Daddy, I want some of your *fingerquote* medicine */fingerquote*”
Daddy came in that night with more gummy bears and lifesavers.
Mike has always been the kind of dad that looks at the big and tiny things. He kept “penny” candy in his work truck so that he could pop a couple of pieces into his shirt pocket. It never failed that a tiny, red headed, little girl would come running as fast as she could to meet him at the door, barely giving him enough time to set down his lunch pail. She would launch herself into his arms and immediately jam her hand down his shirt pocket.
Later in the evening, after her bath, she would run full speed into the family room and leap into his lap to curl up and watch television with him before going to bed.
For Ethan’s birthday, a long time ago, Mike spent the weekend building a tree fort with my dad. I strung it with lights and Ethan nearly cried when he saw it.
When Ethan was 8, he got to go fishing with “the guys” and his dad. That day he caught the biggest fish out of the group. A rainbow trout weighing in at nearly 15lbs. And, it put up a fight. Not a fish story there. I’ve got pictures! We even kept the head in the freezer for years so Ethan could pull it out and show it off.
(Wow, that sounded REALLY bad, didn’t it?)
Anyway - there was no prouder dad out there than Mike. If he hadn’t been so proud he might have actually choked up a little. I think he probably did.
When I was pregnant with Maggie, Michael played “The Rainsong” by Led Zeppelin acoustically over and over again because I loved it and it made Maggie squirm, kick, and move like nothing else! From the womb, Mike could soothe her with his voice or his guitar. When she was born the nurses put her in the incubator and started to clean her up, she screamed and howled. Then Mike walked over and began to talk to her and she quieted down instantly and the nurses were amazed.
One time, we were at a Mexican restaurant with Maggs and there was a Mariachi band playing. Mike tipped them to stay at our table and sing and extra song because Maggie (at 5 months) was completely enamored with the sound and animation of the musicians. From then on his special nickname for her was, Margarita Mariachi.
Last year when Maggie had her accident and we waited for the doctor to come in and suture her up Mike and I kept her happy by singing “Old MacDonald Had A Farm” over and over again. Her favorite part was when we used a rooster because she loved Mike making his rooster/chicken noises.
Needless to say she had a few hangups from her accident. She didn’t like people near her eye and she was always worried that the slightest bump or bruise would mean another trip to the doctor. She had also gained her very own super hero, Bad Chicken.
Whenever she is in a “jam” (ie. big brother chasing her, her sister being “mean” or mommy tickling her too much) she yells for “Bad Chicken!!!” “Bad Chicken HELP ME!!!” and Mike immediately launches into “Bad Chicken” mode complete with crowing and “pecking” of the offending party. Maggie always giggles madly when Mike plays “Bad Chicken.”
I’ve never seen such creative versions of discipline. Mike has always put a lot of thought into consequences. Ethan loves to play his guitar in the garage. We’ve spent quite a bit on his equipment from his guitars to his amps. The condition of such always being that he takes care of his equipment. Unfortunately, Ethan fell into the habit of leaving his guitar cord in the floor of the garage, unplugged, just laying there waiting to collect dust or for someone to step on it or ride a bicycle over it. Mike reminded him a few times and then decided to do something about it. The next time he found the cord in the floor he took several minutes tying it into several knots. It probably took Ethan 15 minutes to untangle it. Mike only had to do that twice before Ethan got the message. I thought that was brilliant.
Kate is supposed to empty the dishwasher and put the any clean dishes next to the sink away - daily. For some strange reason she always forgets to put those dishes on the side of the sink away. Mike started out teasing her, “Buggie, do you need a special invitation to put those dishes away?” or “Do these dishes have cooties that I need to know about? Is there something wrong with them that you can’t put them away?” and finally, Kate came home to find a post-it note on the large stock pot next to the sink:
We are soooo lonely. We don’t know why that red-haired girl won’t put us away with the rest of our friends and we are just soooo sad!”
I think Kate has only had to be reminded a couple of times since then.
And then there is Maggie… well, Maggie discipline is my problem, mainly. Mike just finds her too amusing. I’m hoping that wears off in the next few years. Looking back… yeah, he sucked at disciplining Kate at that age too. He’s a softie.
Still, we’ve never had a problem with monsters under the beds or in the closets. The one time Kate had that concern Mike just looked at her and said, “Baby, your daddy is a bigger monster than any monster could ever be. They are too scared of me to come around here.” He accentuated it with his meanest glare. She looked a bit dubious for just a second and then she just sort of nodded her head as if she realized that this was probably true.
It would be easy to end this with a simple “thank you” to the man who has been the best father my children could possibly have, but I don’t think it would do him justice. Marriage is not easy, parenting is not easy, but Mike makes it look very easy. In making it look so easy he has inspired me to be a better parent, he has inspired me to take a moment and put myself in their shoes and to make the effort to have a little more patience, even with Maggie.
Happy Father’s Day, Mike.
With tons of love, affection, and admiration,
Amy, Ethan, Kate, and Maggie
