Joel Young Blog.com

Here are some nuggets from a day with my son.

• “Wow, what’s that?” total = 87. I’m not kidding. He said that 87 times yesterday.
• We went to Best Buy to return something and buy mommy a CD and as we walked the isles the video game demos caught our eye. So, I hesitantly allowed Reed to play a game of Rock Band. He rocked the drums, of course, and I played guitar. The results were phenomenal. Not only did he make it through the entire song without being retired (on easy), but when the song was over there was no meltdown. I just said, “Alright, it’s over.” Reed proceeded to sit down the drum sticks and wave goodbye to the drum set saying, “Ba ta da.” (that’s how he says goodbye). It was a proud moment for me on both parts.
• My son flirts with every waitress at every restaurant we go to. I wonder if he’ll grow out of that?
• It might seem backward, but the times I see myself in Reed the most are the times when he is quietly dozing off to sleep in the back of the car. Good stuff.
• No nap for Reed = one cranky daddy.

All in all it was another great day, but as always we both love it when mommy comes home.

Since our move back to Cincy my wife has re-entered the work force on a part-time basis. This has really helped me to realize in many ways how unequipped I am to do what she does on a daily basis with our son. To say that she is amazing is an understatement. However, it has also allowed me to get to know my boy a lot better which I am grateful for. It seems like I have stories to tell Jenna every time I spend the day with Reed. So, in honor of these things I thought I would share what a Tuesday with Reed is like. I must warn you: if you have to go to the bathroom…go now, some of these are really funny.

We made a Wal-mart run this week. Reed, who recently figured out how to make the “tickle, tickle…” sound, thought it would be funny to try and tickle random people as we walked down the isles. Good thing everyone loves a cute red-headed toddler.

When Reed knows someone is watching him eat his food he will loudly exclaim, “Mmmmmmm,” after EVERY bite.

Reed throws everything he touches, and he’s got a good arm. We’re hoping for a sports scholarship. So, during a mid-afternoon diaper change I should have been alarmed when he picked up the baby powder, but I wasn’t. Seconds later it was flying across the room. When the bottle hit the floor it was like a baby powder grenade had gone off. It was everywhere, and it took me a half an hour to clean it all up. He thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Reed can be eating a bowl of goldfish crackers and will smell or taste a seemingly perfectly good cracker only to reject it. For what reason I am unsure, but it must be warranted. Even if that cracker is mixed back into the bowl or left to sit there for hours when he gets back around to it he will reject it again. I think he has a sixth sense or something.

Sometimes being a father teaches you more about yourself than it does about your kids. As my son grows older it has become increasingly obvious that he is a carbon copy of me. His attitude, his demeanor, his temper, his mannerisms, and even his sense of humor typical Young guy through and through. At breakfast once this week we were enjoying his favorite food, a banana, when he spotted the blue sticker on the peel. He reached for it and I helped him peel it off and he proceeded, completely on his own, to place it on his face. As I went to tell him that’s not where it went I read the caption. “Place on forehead and smile.” Guess he knew what he was doing.

We have also found out that Reed is as much of an aspiring rock star as dear old dad still is. Whenever there’s a guitar around he has to have it, and he is really diggin’ on Rock Band lately. Guess he’ll be getting a mini Les Paul as soon as he can control those digits. What a great kid I have.

If you have kids, have you taken the time to notice their interests lately? What can you do to feed those interests and passions? Don’t have kids…how ’bout the interests of your spouse, girlfriend/boyfriend, or friends?

I just had one of those moments that makes you want to fall to your knees and weep, thanking God for what he has allowed you to become.

My son has had a hard time sleeping lately. Jenna and I think that he’s getting scared by things in his room when the lights go out. He wails like crazy and then once someone is in the room with him he is fine. After making several trips to his room over the last hour I finally went in and decided to talk to him. Even though he can’t talk yet he understands a lot.

So, I sat down in the chair, held him in my arms and told him. “Daddy’s here, and I’m gonna protect you. I would never let anything hurt you.” I kept telling him that over and over and when I finally placed him in bed his eyes were already closed. Not a peep from him after that.

I can’t begin to tell you, nor do I probably have to tell you, how meaningful that was to me. In my lifetime I could become many things to many people, but nothing will ever mean as much to me as being the protector and father that my son needs me to be. Knowing that my protection can calm his fears blows my mind, and causes me to appreciate more the protection my own dad has given me in my lifetime.

Just wanted to share that amazing moment with the world.

This week I have become Mr. Mom. In transition my wife has started a part time job, that requires a month of full time training. So, I’m adjusting my schedule to become Mr. Mom for the family for the next month. It’s actually been great to spend some extended alone time with my son. I mean until now,there have been very few times where we have been alone together without mommy.

One of the greatest things is that while mom’s gone we get to play and wrestle like REAL men. He was even showing off his new found wrestling skills to our group this weekend when he tackled me and started biting my ankle to force me into submission. Because of this he has found a new favorite game, and I like to call it, “Climb over Daddy”. We’ll sit on the floor together and he will time after time climb over my legs, then turn around and do it again. My thought is that he is proud of the fact that he can easily climb over me and is trying to impress me, and I have to admit he does every time.

As we were playing this game this morning I got to thinking. Don’t some of us try to do this same thing? Sometimes we take on more than we can handle, or try to do impossible things alone just to prove to someone that we can. While I can understand why my son loves this game, I don’t understand why we as adults do this. Even though I have done this very thing before I don’t understand it.

We serve a God who is there to help us, and with His help we are able to do a lot more than we can ourselves. So why do we go it alone so many times?

There are few things that give me as much joy as watching my son grow up. Here’s our first family trip to the park to swing. Sorry the video quality is bad, I shot it on my phone.

This past weekend was great! My family and I had the chance to hang out with some of our dearest friends and unexpectedly see many friends that we hadn’t seen in years. We got to see some of our old pals from Grant County, and even some old band mates of mine from back home. It was really a rejuvenating experience for me because one of my favorite things to do is reminisce with old friends.

I’m not sure why, but I get a great deal of satisfaction out of sharing stories and reliving experiences with the people I’m closest to. I think life is great the first time through, but each time you relive it with someone, it gets better. I think this is because when we are able to look back on our lives, we look back on it with a new perspective. In the moment we don’t see or understand all that we understand later looking back on the moment.

So, today I want to encourage you with this thought. The things that you do that seem earth shattering now, might not seem so pivotal in hindsight. Live you life and quit worrying about the petty details. Because if you don’t live your life now, what will you reminisce about later?

PS – My son’s love of fire did not carry over to a love for fireworks. He screamed for nearly two hours at his first fireworks show. Bummer.

This week has been crazier than most in the Young household, and I’m ready for it to be over. My wife and I have been packing in every waking moment that we have and we are both at wits end. Even my son Reed, who is normally very mild mannered, has been stretched to his breaking point. He’s been irritable, moody, and constantly on the edge of a breakdown. He can really sense that we are on edge about something. Then, last night it rained.

Now I’m not talking about a little pitter patter of rain or a huge gusting storm. I’m talking about perfectly rhythmic, quiet and soothing, gently flowing, put-you-to-sleep rain. And that’s exactly what it did. We all slept better than we had all week.

I guess my point is that we all know that there are going to be those weeks when life is going to get the best of us and really stress us out, but if we don’t have something to calm us down and bring us down a notch then we are walking a dangerous line. Search for those things that bring you comfort and joy and hide in them when you are at your wits end.

There are many things I have already learned from being a father, but something happened recently that sticks in my mind. My son is getting old enough that he is starting to do things by himself. He can sit up by himself, hold his head up by himself, and is even using a sippy cup to eat out of which he holds by himself. He seems to be needing our help less and less as parents. Now, while I realize that is a good thing, kids are supposed to grow to become independent, I have had a really hard time with it. I loved holding him and feeding him, but now he wants to do it all himself and he gets upset when you try to help. It’s just been hard for me to let go of those things.

And you know what? I think a lot of us as ministers have the same types of feelings about our church members. We know that they are supposed to learn and grow and eventually get to the point where they don’t really need our help with the spiritual basics, but sometimes we don’t allow them to because we won’t let go. It’s hard for us to hear that someone no longer needs our help to grow in their relationship with Christ, but we need to constantly place challenges in front of the members of our church to challenge them and allow them to reach that point.

I know it’s hard to let go, but if we aren’t building disciples of Christ who can grow their relationship with God without someone holding their hand, then we aren’t doing our job correctly. Building true disciples of Christ should be a top priority for every church leader.

Today I was checking my bank account balances online like I often do and I noticed something quite humorous. The savings account that we had recently set up for my son had earned some interest. To be exact it earned 1 cent of interest. That’s right, one measly penny. I got a good chuckle out of this until I realized, that penny is just the beginning of the growth his account will see in the next 18 years. I mean, we’ll make deposits that sometimes will be large and he will earn small amounts of interest, but in the long run it will hopefully all add up to a pretty significant amount. It’s hard to think that far ahead with such a small start but it’s true.

I think of our spiritual growth in much the same way. I know people often think, “what is reading my Bible for 30 minutes today going to do for me? What is a daily prayer time going to give me? How will that have a true impact on my spiritual life? They seem so small and insignificant!” Well, I can personally tell you as someone who asked those very questions years ago that investing in our spiritual development is like that penny of interest. It may seem like a small step, but in the end your will yield great growth from such diligence.