My husband Michael is SOOOO good at playing with our son, Tyler. Don't get me wrong: I love playing with Tyler too. It’s just that, unlike Michael, I find it hard to stay in character for more than two hours during an elaborate “Star Wars”- or “Wild Kratts”-themed role-playing session.

These play sessions can get intense. They involve diving over couches, hiding in closets, tiptoeing down hallways and maintaining a steady stream of dialogue that cannot include mundane, real-life lines like, “I’m just going to start one load of laundry really fast, OK?”

See? That’s the sort of buzzkill line I might say. Michael never, ever steps out of character, and he always relishes the time Tyler wants to spend playing, and playing, and playing.

“This will pay big dividends later when he’s a teenager,” Michael always says. “I just know it.”

Here is a photographic tribute to Michael’s rock-star playing skills. We love you, Daddy!!!

Tyler finds himself in a tickle pickle:

LEGOs and camping: A great combination!

Michael instills a love of golf in Tyler so they can spend hours and hours hanging out together as Tyler gets older:

Take me out to the ballgame:

Fun at a 5K with Stormtroopers for the Cure:

Play time ends only when Tyler needs a little bit of rest:

Laura T. Coffey is editor of the TODAY Parenting Team and author of the best-selling non-fiction book "My Old Dog: Rescued Pets with Remarkable Second Acts." Connect with Laura on Twitter @ltcoff or at MyOldDogBook.com.

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