Can Mr. Gav come out and play?
Anyone who knows my husband, knows he’s a bit quirky. He’s also, usually, the funniest, most personable, most social guy in the room.
He’s the one at parties surrounded by a crowd of people. The one who makes people feel welcome and appreciated. He has a snappy, good-natured retort to just about everything. Sometimes his comments are a bit odd, but you can’t help but smile at them.
He has a natural gift with people – I’ve always said that you could drop him in a room with 100 people who don’t speak a word of English and within an hour, he’d have made a host of new friends (who he’d stay in touch with long after the event ended).
Well, it seems his gift extends to the thigh-high set as well. Yes, obviously, the girls adore him and all the silly things he does to help keep their lives interesting.
But, it goes beyond that.
Mark has acquired quite a fan club at the girls’ preschool. The school has a large common room where everyone congregates in the morning. On the days he drops them off, he often runs around that room barking like a dog with a throng of at least a dozen squealing kids running after him.
One day last month when I was bringing the girls to school, they entered the common room before me. Upon seeing them, a small group of boys got very excited and ran over to the door, anticipating Mark’s entrance and five minutes of insanity before classes start. When they saw me, they clearly could not have been more disappointed. Their little faces dropped like a stone thrown off a tower.
Oh, it’s you, one of them lamented, walking way dejectedly.
Last week after school, Mark spent an hour running around the common room with our girls and two other children who were signed up for Extended Day. The next day, one of them told me it was the “most funnest Extended Day ever.”
But the cream on the cookie came on Friday, when one of Peanut’s friends asked her mom – in complete seriousness — if Peanut “and her dad” could come over to her house this week for a play date because “her dad is so fun.”
Can you just picture it? Mark and Peanut arriving at this woman’s house, ringing the doorbell and then the two of them spending the day there playing? I can just imagine him chasing them up and down the stairs and all around the house.
The mom was even (sort of) in favor of it, thinking she’d go out and get some shopping done.
Someday in the future, Mark’s quirks are probably going to embarrass the hell out of our daughters. He’ll say something and they’ll give him the old Tween Girl Eyeroll and a “Daaaad.”
But for now, they get the honor of having the coolest, most entertaining Dad in town. So entertaining that, at the request of the school’s director, he’s playing the role of Santa at the school’s Christmas pageants next week.
Ho! Ho! Ho!
He’s the one at parties surrounded by a crowd of people. The one who makes people feel welcome and appreciated. He has a snappy, good-natured retort to just about everything. Sometimes his comments are a bit odd, but you can’t help but smile at them.
He has a natural gift with people – I’ve always said that you could drop him in a room with 100 people who don’t speak a word of English and within an hour, he’d have made a host of new friends (who he’d stay in touch with long after the event ended).
Well, it seems his gift extends to the thigh-high set as well. Yes, obviously, the girls adore him and all the silly things he does to help keep their lives interesting.
But, it goes beyond that.
Mark has acquired quite a fan club at the girls’ preschool. The school has a large common room where everyone congregates in the morning. On the days he drops them off, he often runs around that room barking like a dog with a throng of at least a dozen squealing kids running after him.
One day last month when I was bringing the girls to school, they entered the common room before me. Upon seeing them, a small group of boys got very excited and ran over to the door, anticipating Mark’s entrance and five minutes of insanity before classes start. When they saw me, they clearly could not have been more disappointed. Their little faces dropped like a stone thrown off a tower.
Oh, it’s you, one of them lamented, walking way dejectedly.
Last week after school, Mark spent an hour running around the common room with our girls and two other children who were signed up for Extended Day. The next day, one of them told me it was the “most funnest Extended Day ever.”
But the cream on the cookie came on Friday, when one of Peanut’s friends asked her mom – in complete seriousness — if Peanut “and her dad” could come over to her house this week for a play date because “her dad is so fun.”
Can you just picture it? Mark and Peanut arriving at this woman’s house, ringing the doorbell and then the two of them spending the day there playing? I can just imagine him chasing them up and down the stairs and all around the house.
The mom was even (sort of) in favor of it, thinking she’d go out and get some shopping done.
Someday in the future, Mark’s quirks are probably going to embarrass the hell out of our daughters. He’ll say something and they’ll give him the old Tween Girl Eyeroll and a “Daaaad.”
But for now, they get the honor of having the coolest, most entertaining Dad in town. So entertaining that, at the request of the school’s director, he’s playing the role of Santa at the school’s Christmas pageants next week.
Ho! Ho! Ho!
Labels: Adventures in Parenting, Family, Pictures
posted by Kimberly at
10:36 PM
7 Comments:
That is so cool! Mark sounds like such a great dad. And you never know, he may be the cool dad in high school too. All of Scott's and my friends thought our parents were the best.
That's cute!
It's so sweet to hear these
types of stories!!
LOL! I can totally see Mark playing with the kids and even going on a playdate. That is so cute that the little girl asked for him to come, too!!
There is one dad that plays with all the kids at Brent's daycare. They run in the gym and chase him. When I come to pick him up I can always tell he is there because it sounds like a herd of buffalo running around!
I will second your comments on Mark's personality. He's always been so fun and personable, and sometimes quirky LOL. I can totally see him running around with the kids. Too cute!!
I have a feeling that Scott will be much like that with our child and it's friends. FYI, we had our 20 week ultrasound today and all looks great!! yay! XO
You're right - Mark adds A LOT to gettogethers in Kelsey's and Caelin's eyes.
...not just for the kids but for the grownups as well! I will never forget how he just rolled along with cousins and aunties in NYC! :-)
I liked Mark from the first time I met him. He always makes me laugh whenever I talk with him.
As I recall, I met Mark for the first time the same time you met Neal. It was at Jim's wedding back in June of 1990. I was 30 and you had just turned 21. I can just picture him running around barking for an hour. Too funny!
---- Aunt Kath
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