The Father Metaphor

I'm reading Anthony Keidis' memoir (Red Hot Chili Peppers) Scar Tissue and I've been totally absorbed in the book. He discusses his childhood growing up in California, detailing how his father was this drug-dealing super cool dude whom Anthony completely looked up to. His father exposed him to this crazy life at a really young age and Keidis seemed to love it...at least in the memoir he hasn't had the hard times with drugs yet. Anyway, the power Dads have to influence the lives of our kids is awesome and amazing...part of the reason why I felt it so important to stay home this year with Logan.

But all of that is sort of a side blurb. What I really want to blog about is God. You see, God is often thought of in our culture as The Father. I know it sounds like a "duh" thing to say, but many view God as the Father because God is supposed to stand up for us, provide for us, protect us, etc...and I suppose there is the whole relationship with Jesus. In the past, I found this metaphor useful in thinking about God, but it wasn't the only way I envisioned the Higher Power. I thought of God as a She sometimes...I thought of God as (and in) Nature...I thought of God as an all-seeing transparent eyeball like Emerson relates...I thought of God as this impersonal holy presence that saturates everything in the universe and resides within my soul...I thought of God as Science and Reason and Love.

But now that I am a father, I'm returning to the Father metaphor. I'm finding that thinking about God as a Father is really comforting and fruitful. Because a really good father is everything that I want in my God. The metaphor really works...I want someone to protect me, listen to me, care for me, watch out for me, be there for me, teach me, sing to me, love me, and do all the things that I want to do for Logan. The metaphor really has some legs, I think. For example, no matter what Logan does, I will love him. If he's crying all night long for a week straight, I'll still love the kid. If he turns into this homicidal maniac, I'll still love him. Sure, I won't be very proud of him, but he'll always be my boy and I'll always love him. No matter how many times he screws up or how many wrong turns he takes, he'll always be a part of me and I'll always be there to pick him up.

Maybe I'm fooling myself, and maybe I'm giving humanity too much credit, but I'm willing to believe that most fathers feel this way about their offspring. And if they don't, well, I think on some level they do. But regardless, thinking about God as this personal Big Daddy of mine is really cool. It also gives me some guidance as to how raise my boy. What is it that Big Daddy wants? As his son, am I going to listen to him, rebel, listen to him when convenient? Anyway, Big Poppa is up there and around here and I know he loves me and all of us as a good father loves his children. But hey, I'm not a kid anymore...I'm a big boy. Nah...Logan will always be my child and I'll always be my father's son and so on and so on. And all the while God is mostly proud of his children, wishing them the best and amazed at what they'll do next.

Mommy Won't Be Home Tomorrow

Daddy has been spoiled the past few weeks because Mommy has been around during the day. Tomorrow, full-time daddy-hood begins again. I love having Carly around and so does Logan. I know he's going to miss her tomorrow, and I know Carly will miss Logan like crazy. I guess we're lucky that we have all this "off-time" in the first place. Teaching does have its perks.

I've been preoccupied with Facebook for the past few days and this idiotic game called Mob Wars. Why I am playing it I don't know, but I can't stop! I have a problem!!!

Logan just halfway woke up because Carly is making noise in the kitchen...hope he doesn't get into the fit he did last night.

Comic Relief

Logan provided a moment of pure comedy moments ago. We bought a pair of hollow square ottomans from Target to store Logan's toys in. We were watching Legend of the Seeker, and Logan was reaching into said ottoman. He was standing up and bending over at the waist to reach a block in the bottom. Sure enough, he fell head over heals and landed face first into the ottoman, all the while his little legs were moving in the air as if he was a cartoon character. It was classic and very funny. Carly picked him out immediately and Logan seemed to see the humor in the situation too because he was laughing and smiling instead of crying. A very funny happening in the hill household that is definitely blog-worthy.

Homemade X-Mas

For a special Christmas present, I made Logan a set of alphabet blocks out of cedar; I had meant to post a picture of them, so here they finally are. It was tough making them and they aren't exactly professional, but I learned a lot in making them and will do a better job next time. It's the thought that counts right? Logan likes 'em, though.

Mouse Update

We caught a mouse in the live trap on New Year's morn and I drove him 5 miles away and let him out near an abandoned barn...did this solve our mouse problem...I don't think so. We believe he has friends.

And so, we're going to buy ourselves some death traps and place both the live and death trap out at the same time. Which one will the mice choose?

You Can't Always Get What You Want

Logan has a fairly new habit...shrieking loudly when he doesn't get what he wants. It's a not-so-subtle clue as to how he is feeling. We notice this habit most when we're eating. Logan very much enjoys trying all the food we eat. Carly made some guacamole today and Logan worked himself up into a tizzy because we weren't giving him any. It's sort of a Catch-22 situation. We don't want to encourage this shrieking, but then again, we don't want to hear it so we sometimes cave and give him what he wants, thereby reinforcing the shriek as a way for him to communicate his wishes to us.

I'm not complaining about this, really. Just noting that he does it and wondering how he got the idea in his little mind that it would work. Because it does in fact work a lot. Not always...I was looking in the fridge and Logan crawled up, wanting to explore. I wouldn't let him and he shrieked. I said, "poor Logan...tough for you," and redirected him to some toys. It didn't stop his crying or shrieking, but Mommy is putting him down for a nap now, so I think that will do it.

We Rocked You 2008!

We had a great time last night at the New Year extravaganza. All of the boys were well-behaved and they were kind enough to give their parents some adult social time by going to sleep around 9:30. We played some Wii, rocked out with Rock Band, had some drinks, and took many a photograph. I'll let the pictures do most of my talking. Although, take notice of a few things: the intensity of Nita as she dodges imaginary balls, Logan's grabby hands, and the drinky look in a few of our eyes in our group shot.

Before the pictures, just a few quick Logan updates. Have I mentioned he loves to drink water? He does. Also, today he was being really cute as he looked under the t.v. stand, wishing that he could get to the electrical power strip..."not for Logan."
We got to sleep in today until 11:00...sweet! We also have a babysitter this evening...we're going to see Benjamin Button.