When my sister and I were little we called our dad “Daddo”, until my sister Caitlin heard someone say the word daddio, then of course it switched for her. She was always doing things like that, finding funny little things to say. When the show Murphy Brown was on TV, even though we never watched it, she decided that would be a fun thing to call me. I love my sister.
We’ve asked the various grandparents what they want to be called. For the first several months the grandpas were just “Grandpa”, but when we visited my dad this summer the idea of Daddo came up and it kind of stuck. So, now instead of Grandpa, we’ve started calling him Daddo for short.
In any case, he visited over the weekend. It was a great visit, not just for seeing him, but for R to get some good time in with her Daddo, and for us to get a custom baby gate for the top of the stairs. I had sent him measurements awhile back and he built this beautiful gate that sits on hinges and has a clever latch. It has made going up and down the stairs so much easier. We can easily keep R off them when we’re up here and no longer have to completely pick up and move the gate. It has a magnetic catch so that when it’s open it won’t swing closed so we can easily know when it’s open. It’s pretty great.
Dad and I also got some good time in one-on-one. There was a Sounders game on Sunday, a big game deciding whether they made it into the playoffs or not. I had two tickets so he came along. It was his first pro game since the Portland Timbers had their inaugural season in the 70s, so that was pretty cool to share with him. It also had some of the most exciting soccer I’ve seen all season. The LA playoff game Wednesday night rated just as high, so maybe the season is finally picking up. In any case, the game was a blast and it was fun to share with my dad.
Dad was also helpful getting some stuff done around the place. He’s starting an antique business and took a couple pieces away that we didn’t want any more and helped move the chair that’s going into R’s room for us to sit in while we read to her and do bedtime. In all it was a really wonderful visit. He got great time in with the whole family and we got a hand with some stuff we’d been needing to do for a while.