Father's Day 2005

Yesterday was Father's Day. Scottie wanted to get me a present, and he already had it picked out. The only problem was that a six year old normally does not have a means of transportation nor money to buy with. So he asked me to take him to the store to get a present. I gave him a couple of dollars and went wandering around while he purchased my surprise. It was a little heart shaped glass paperweight with a picture of a teddy bear, and it said "I Love You." Later we went to the beach. On the way there Scottie said "Hey Dad, did you know that I smelled something with my ears once?" I tried not to laugh. He went on to say "Yeah, when you smell with your ears, they flap like this," and he put his hands behind his ears and made then flap like little wings.

He really loves the beach. It's so wonderful to see his little face all lit up, with a grin from ear to ear (with his two front teeth still missing and two silver capped "fangs"). He has so much energy! I remember one time when an incoming wave literally knocked him off his feet, rolling him onto the beach. When he stood up he had little pieces of sand scattered in his hair, and little pieces of sea weed all over his body! It's not at all uncommon for me to empty handfuls of sand from his bathing suit pockets at the end of the day.

With all the hectic activities of the day we somehow missed lunch, but we snacked on chips and ice cream on the board walk. After a long day of beach activities we were famished, so we decided to stop at Denny's. Scottie wasn't too impressed by the kid's menu, and when he saw me eyeing the T-bone steak, he jabbed down a finger and said "What the heck is that?" "A steak" I replied. And Scottie proclaimed "That's what I want!" I figured if he wanted to be a "real man" he'd need to start eating steak! So Scottie got his first steak dinner and I ate biscuits and gravy, and it was the best Father's Day meal I ever had. I'll never forget watching that hungry little guy scarf down steak and eggs with his two front teeth missing. While we were waiting for our food we played with a silly little hippo mask and finger puppet the restaurant provided. He looked so cute, so bright eyed and smiley with that goofy mask pushed up on top of his head.

It's about an hour drive from the beach, and with Scottie's big day, he passed out pretty quickly. I carried him up to bed and took his little shoes off. After I was done with my end of day fretting around I crawled into bed with him. He instinctively curled up next to me, using me like an oversized pillow, like has done ever since he was tiny. I'll miss that when he gets bigger and decides he's too old to sleep with Dad, but for now, I'm happy. The best Father's Day presents don't come from a store.