To no surprise, Neil Patrick Harris is as fun-loving of a dad as he is on screen — but there’s one real-life caveat now that his kids are getting older.
“Now that they’re in first grade, I try too hard to be the cool, funny dad around their friends. And that just makes me look like a dork,” said the actor, 44, of 7-year-old twins Harper Grace and Gideon Scott in an interview for PEOPLE’s Celeb Parents Get Real.
“And then I think it’s cool to be a dork, so I over-dork it up,” continues the A Series of Unfortunate Events star, adding with a laugh, “They roll their eyes at me a lot. Which I hear is gonna happen a lot more often. I don’t know. I find it adorkable.”
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With the tears of laughter come waterworks that are brought on by deep emotional connection for the longtime actor. One of his fondest memories involves a trip to Walt Disney World he, husband David Burtka and their twins took together when Harper and Gideon were still toddlers.
“We went on Peter Pan’s Flight … the first time we rode it, I just was with my family at Disney riding a ride, and I was just bawling,” Harris recalls. ” ‘Cause I just thought it was an awesome thing. My parents took my brother and I there, so it was fun to relive that through … their eyes.”
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Of his twins, the How I Met Your Mother alum explains he “was really proud the moment that they were born” because he “knew it was the beginning of a massive roller-coaster ride.”
“I was also a big fan of when they started telling jokes and had a little independence and a sense of humor,” Harris admits. “I’m always proud and my heart is filled when they think something’s funny.”