Man, reading through this thread and seeing dads in all the various stages of raising kids brings all kinds of memories and thoughts of the future to the surface. I've got three kids, 15, 11, & 9 years old and it just feels like it's all going too fast at this point. I really try to be present and remember that these are the good old days I'm living through right now.
The main thing I'm trying to work on right now is saying "yes" as much as I can. Not to pleas of wanting to put off doing homework or stuff like that, but saying yes when they are asking me to do something with them. Will you play catch, will you play a video game with us, will you pull us on the tube, etc. Sometimes it's easy to say I've got work to do or whatever, but I'm really trying to say yes as much as possible since I can feel time slipping away from me.
It guts me to think about only having 3.5 more years of my oldest living with us. Fuck.