"I tackle daddy"

For a solid 9 months now, Dawson's favorite activity is "I tackle daddy."  Though the definition of
tackling has changed over time.  Now it's much closer to wrestling with daddy but since daddy
is a forme football player rather than former a wrestler, we've stuck with tackling.

At first, tackling involved me laying on the floor while Dawson lauched himself from the couch
toward a semi-soft landing on my stomach and the occassional not-so-soft landing in other areas.
Dawson eventually began to fear the lack of a gauranteed soft landing, so tackling became an act
of Dawson pulling out every single blanket from a cabinet
and every pillow from the couch and covering me with them.

Lately however, Dawson has discoverd the joy of the spare bed in the tv room downstairs.  Now, "I tackle
daddy" has changed into "I go downstairs and tackle daddy."  On that downstairs bed we have good times
doing thins like pillow fights
(Dawson taking a dive even before the pillow hits him), form tackling drills, me pushing Dawson over
while he's jumping on the bed, swinging from the treadmill to the bed or me diving headfirst
at my boy on the other side of the bed.  It's just your basic father-son bonding time.

The good news is that as Dawson gets older and stronger, these matches are going to get more
intense and I'm sure the day in coming in which my son will put a serious hurting on me.  Right now,
though, its' just a bunch of silly stuff all wrapped up in the imperative, "I tackle daddy."