Jersey City Dad: Dash Keeps Me Guessing

By • Sep 2nd, 2010 • Category: Blog, Jersey City Dad

It’s hard to believe that it’s been two years. But then you look at the kid, watch what he does and hear what he says, its so obvious that he’s gone through so much already in our time together. He’s still keeping me guessing on a daily basis and it makes each day an adventure. I can’t imagine what he’ll be like in another two years, but I’m sure the same will still be true. For the sake of detail, I’ll share a few adventures of recent vintage.

Being a music journalist means that I spend a lot of time thinking about and listening to music. In the last two years, a handful of kids shows and videos forced their way into the house’s regular rotation and those songs are damn infectious. Extremely complicated jazz improvisations don’t have a chance against cartoon figures singing three-note melodies. As any parent will tell you, the damn songs stick in your head, and you can’t help to sing them, either along to the recording or not.

So there’s some singing that happens at our crib and I was little unprepared last week when Dash threw a hissyfit every time either Kathy or I would open our mouths to sing or even hum a tune. It was kind of funny at first, and then it got weird. I started wondering what the heck made Dash turn a corner like that, and what was it about his parents making musical sound that could possibly be so bothersome that you’d want to shriek like an ambulance siren. Neither of us are trained singers, but come on. Then just mysteriously as they appeared the freakouts have stopped. 


Instead, this week he won’t fall asleep in his bed; instead choosing a well worn love seat in the corner of his room that we use to sit on when reading books. So the big boy bed was the hot new thing for about two months and then its passé? Apparently.

The problem is that he rolled off the couch during his nap a few days ago and never was able to go back down because he was so traumatized. Kathy had been transferring him to his regular bed and I kind of spaced on this, so when it happened on my watch it was a little surprising. Of course you can’t explain to the kid if he just fell asleep in his bed with the guardrail on the side, he’d be fine. But we’d had a houseguest stay in the room with their daughter a few years ago and the kid, though older, also gravitated to the couch.

I keep coming back to the theme that these mysteries keep coming and going, and I expected that. But Dash just keeps me guessing, which has been hilarious and awesome and strange. These two have been a little strange.

Hilarious was Dash doing a spot on imitation of Yankees announcer Michael Kay calling a home run by Nick Swisher, saying: “See ya!” Hilarious was how he nails the whining sound the subway’s trains make when they leave the station. I don’t know how long he’ll keep doing these, but they are classics. It’s really scary how quickly he retains stuff these days. In fact, we’ve now hit the point where the house and car have become absolute curse free zones.

That’s it for now. As always, more to come.

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Like what you've read here? Please consider making a donation or becoming a sustaining member. As a grassroots news organization, we rely on community support -- as well as paid advertising -- to survive.

is a freelance writer based in Jersey City who has covered music of all genres as well as literature, the arts, food and real estate. His work has appeared in such publications as Elle, the Financial Times, the Star-Ledger, JazzTimes, Amazon.com, Spinner.com, Relix, Time Out New York, the Village Voice and Global Rhythm, where he was also editor-in-chief from 2006-2008.
Email this author | All posts by