Date with Katie

New idea for the King Street Elementary school this year, a Father-Daughter dance. Family dances have been regular events (Back to School, Halloween) but this was the first limited to fathers and daughters. Simple and kind of brilliant. When I first told Kate about it (and to be fair, this is what happens the first time we tell her about a lot of new things), she said, "No!!!" But when I said, well, OK, I'll just go alone and dance with a bunch of other daughters, she said "No!!!" even louder, so we made our plans. Got her a lovely new outfit, found a tie for myself, and we were off.

I decided I'd make it as much like a date as possible, holding her door and carefully helping her into the car. We parked and I tried to hold her hand as we walked in. She said her hands were cold and she wanted them in her pockets, "but you can hold my arm." So I did that.

Inside, we got a little wrist corsage for her and a boutonniere for me. She loved the corsage but didn't much care for wearing it, repeatedly giving it to me to hold, then taking it back, then giving it back. Eventually, naturally, it broke, so we had to get another one. "But I want to keep the broken one, too," she said.

After putting our coats down I asked if she wanted to dance, but she was immediately hungry. So we stood in line and got macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets. Kate, after getting a big plate of food, said, "I don't like this macaroni and cheese Daddy." I know, Kate. She basically only likes the macaroni and cheese we make at home, because there's always some small difference with what we get in the outside world.

After eating, we sat for a formal picture, then went out onto the dance floor. It was sort of a jumping, arm-swinging kind of dance style, which is typical for me and her preferred choice as well. She had little interest in doing any sort of waltz, until I convinced her to stand on my feet. Then we did that a little bit while she laughed.

She was lukewarm on a lot of the music, but Gangnam Style came on. For the uninitiated (that's you, Mom and Dad), it was a popular song, video, and dance I guess a couple of years ago now. The basic routine involves moves that suggest riding a galloping horse, sidestepping with hands on hips, and swinging a lariat. It's pretty hilarious seeing a bunch of people do it, equally hilarious seeing a bunch of kids do it, and seeing a bunch of little girls and their Dads doing it? Well you can't put a price on that. Uh, I'm pretty sure a bunch of Dad were out there doing it, too, because otherwise I might have looked pretty foolish. Whew, no WAY was it just me and a bunch of little girls. Kate had a huge grin on her face as she did all the various moves and I tried to keep up. The highlight of the night.

That was followed by another of our favorite songs, so we danced to that too. Then she climbed up on my feet again and we shuffled around to something else. And she took the wrist corsage off.

At some point we checked out the dessert table. I must have looked away for a minute because we ended up with a plate of about a dozen cupcakes and cookies and brownies. For the two of us. Can't let that go to waste. Plus, red velvet cupcakes!

All the Dads were dressed up, and although there was plenty of standing around talking (at times the girls just wanted to line up and dance together, as they did for the Macarana, another choreographed dance routine to a popular song from a few years back), mostly it was Dads dancing with their daughters. Waltzes, twists, and holding and tossing little girls up in the air. Lots of happy faces.

Perhaps there will be a mother-son dance in the future? No doubt it was/will be considered, but as previous dances have proved, it can be a little harder to keep a herd of 6 to 11-year-old boys in the gym at dances. They invariably end up running around the hallways together, searching for a football to throw around or a wall to climb. Happens all the time. As one Dad said to me during the dance, This is a lot quieter than the ones with all the boys here. In a good way.

The dance ended, and we bundled back into our clothes and got back in the car. Remarkably, we heard Rihanna's "love in a Hopeless Place," on the radio, which was the first song I can remember having a Kate memory of. When it was popular a few years back, it would come on the car radio, or the kitchen radio, and she would pump her fists to it, and we'd laugh. In the kitchen, we'd dance.

Back in our driveway, we got out of the car. As I was closing the door, Kate said, a little quietly, "I love you, Daddy." I love you too, Kate. We say it plenty. But the ones that come at random, unexpected times are the best.

Birthday sleepover

Hosted a sleepover for seven of Jack's friends to celebrate his 10th birthday. Now, I don't know a lot of other kids of this age, just his friends really, so maybe we're just lucky. And I realize that some of them will go on to be sullen teens and whatnot. But for now, today, what a happy, nice, generally respectful group of kids. Yeah some call me Andy and some forget things like Thank You -- but most are really good about it. Maybe it's great parents, maybe it's the positive influence of youth sports, maybe it's a combination of that and their teachers and a generally comfortable lifestyle. We're probably just lucky, and I know stuff can and will change. But Jack's pretty lucky to have these friends.

They all showed up in the evening and immediately started playing Madden '15 on the XBox. And they went outside and played football in freezing cold temperatures. In the dark. I said, 5 minutes, I bet. But they were out there for more like 20, which was impressive. Then they came in and played Madden. And talked and argued and laughed and talked and snacked. And didn't eat enough of the pizza and chips and soda we bought. And ran through the house playing some sort of War game, throwing paper Ninja stars at each other (Jack makes them, he's really into Origami), and played a little table tennis, and went back to Madden. Finally, around the time we'd normally go to bed, and long after they'd normally go to bed, they popped in the Guardians of the Galaxy DVD and were up late laughing, and giggling, and talking, and watching that. And a couple of kids were snoring, but the rest were up past 1 a.m.

They tried sleeping in the living room, then moved to Jack's room (the ones that weren't already snoring). As the talking continued, I went in, once or twice, and said, OK, time to sleep. Jack, one of two kids who chattered away endlessly, said, "We're trying." I said, Well, it will be easier if you Stop Talking. And that worked, and they all slept.

In the morning, or 5-6 hours later, there was more giggling, more Madden, more playing football outside in the freezing cold. And then they opened presents and laughed some more, and Jack got a couple of great handmade cards with nice things said. And then parents arrived, kids filtered out, and soon it was Jack and one friend left playing a game trying to bounce a ping pong ball down the stairs into a plastic cup.

And I said to myself, So in some respects, things shouldn't change that much until after they graduate from college.

Christmas wrap

I wish I could say I remember everything from the Christmas season, but I forget things.

I always remember Christmas Eve. We go to church, and the highlight for the kids is holding the lit candles for Silent Night. We go home, they get into their pajamas, then come back downstairs and leave a plate of cookies and notes for Santa.

Kate made a picture of Donner, our Elf on the Shelf, so that Santa and Donner would have it. She also drew a picture of Santa. In her note, she asked Santa to hug Mrs. Claus for her.

Jack drew a picture of Santa and Rudolph, and wished Santa luck on the rest of his trip.

I sat down with them and read them 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, as we do every year. They were still pretty wound up afterward, excited about Christmas. Jack did push-ups. Kate yelled or sang or something.

Emily and I watched the end of It's a Wonderful Life, I got something in my eye, and we went to bed.