Daaaaaaad! Moooooooom!

Cute:  Daaaaad!!! Look!  I sit myself!

Hey there.  MOM!!!  DAD!!!  What parent hasn't heard their kid screaming at the top of their lungs because at that moment in time, they need their mom or dad?  lol  When the kids are under 4 or 5, it's cute.  The other weekend, I was playing basketball with friends and family and I took the kids to the park.  The wife wasn't feeling all that great that morning so when our 2 year old needed a parent, what do you think I heard? DAAAAAAAD!!!  lol  And you know what... he was a cutie pie doing it.  The guys that I was playing basketball with are dads too so they knew the drill.  We all heard dad out in the distance and we stopped and turned around to see where it was coming from and to make sure the young one wasn't hurt.  He wasn't hurt...  he needed help sitting on the bench... or he needed me to get his older sister to NOT tie his hair... or, in his eyes, did something awesome and NEEDED dad to see.  lol  Like I said, under 5 years old, it's cute.

On the other hand, when the older kids (6, 10, & 13) do it, it's not so cute.  Especially when the oldest does it.  I expect them to set an example for the young ones and for the most part, they do, but when I hear, dad, she didn't do this or dad, he didn't do that, it's pretty difficult not to get annoyed.  Dad!  mom!  DAD!  MOM!  DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!  MOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!  UUUUUGH!!!!

Not Cute:  Dad...  She's using the wrong crayon.

Again, especially from the oldest, who is now entering the pre-adolescent age.  *sigh*  He's already started to show some signs of that teenage angst and I'm dreading the time when he goes into full blown teenage rage.  lol  But that's for another day.  Right now, I'm still trying to figure out how to have them deal with their own little problems instead of running to mom and dad with all their sibling issues.  I swear that sometimes it's just looks between them that causes the "mom!" and "dad!"

As my wife would say, why can't they just stay cute forever?  lol  And why the hell couldn't they have come with an instruction manual!!!  Later!