Being a parent is great.  It’s also tough stuff.  But, ultimately, it’s a journey that you go on with your child wherein you learn a lot about your child, the World and yourself.

As we begin this week, here are a few lessons I’ve learned of late:

1.Being a dad means wondering everyday which will give out first — my wallet or my back.

2. Being a dad means figuring out a way to use a meaningless Giants game as a metaphor for expending maximum effort even when it seems pointless.

3. Being a dad means constantly having to push myself to come up with a better answer than “cause I said so”

4.  Being a dad means that every morning when I hear “hello daddy” I am pulled between great joy and the thought “Why don’t you sleep late? There is nothing to see this early except the bags under my eyes.”

5. Being a dad means that yes I have watched a marathon of “Masha and the Bear” in the original Russian, right after the marathon of Korean language children’s cartoons. http://youtu.be/0ZcFyXVmYiU

6. Being a dad means you think back on every time some guy at the office was acting like an ass and think “maybe he just has a kid who doesn’t stop” or maybe he’s just an ass. But, you do stop and think about it for a second.

7. Being a dad means sometimes you have to suck it up and go to the playground before you had your coffee. #bigsacrifice #teamplayer #uncaffeinatedandannoyed