The other day I was holding Q. Actually, I had just fed her a bottle, and holding her up on my shoulder so she could burp. She was up with her head the same height as mine, and she slowly turned her head to look at me. As her face got adjusted so that she was looking me in the eyes, her mouth was inches from my nose. At that moment the burp had climbed all the way up, and came flying out of her mouth at full force, right into my nose. Mmmm, baby burp smell. =-) This got me thinking about what other things happen to me now that would never happen to me prior to being a dad. I thought maybe I should see if I could make a list of things that fall into those categories.
1. I definitely never had a baby burp in my face prior to being a dad. I assume, like most dad's, I stayed far away from small baby like creatures when I was not a parent. I had a slight fear I would be asked to hold the baby, and most likely I would do it wrong and break it. Now, a nice baby burp in my face just makes me happy knowing that she won't be hurting from a gas pain later.
2. Walking through the house in the dark used to be relatively safe. Now I walk as gently across the floor of my living room as I do across the chicken house floor when it is filled with curious baby chickens, who tend not to know they shouldn't run under the boots. I learned in the chicken house to shuffle along the floor to avoid making space for a chicken to run under my feet. In the living room I also shuffle to avoid another incident where the plastic Buzz Lightyear caused me to fight back tears of pain as I walked across the room to turn on a light.
3. Prior to being a parent my conversations, although not always fully mature, seldom had me using voices of muppets. Now I spend time on occasion reading to T while having my Elmo voice ask me (the Daddy voice) leading questions about the story. I hold Elmo in one arm, and T in the other and all three of us talk about the story as I read. T really likes hearing Elmo's crazy thoughts about the story and characters, and he always corrects Elmo about what is really happening.
4. Before I was a parent, L and I would have spontaneous dates anytime we didn't feel like cooking. We would start out by heading to a nice dinner and then possibly decide to take in a movie without giving it a second thought. Now, a date is something few and far between due to the intense planning that is involved. There is the notification of relatives to make sure we can get one of them to baby sit. Usually the honors go to grandma and grandpa. Next is finding a good day to do it where we both will have the energy to go on a date. Believe me this is often the most difficult part. Spending the day with a toddler and a baby, or even just one of the two, can drain the energy out of you fairly quickly. Next is the fact that we have to get the kids to grandma and grandpa's house early enough so that we can grab a quick meal, then catch an early movie so we can be finished in time to get back, pick up the kids and get them home in time for bedtime. It is basically more work to take some time to ourselves than it would be to just sit at home and hope the kids go to sleep right away so we could watch a movie on the couch with a bowl of popcorn.
5. In the pre-parent years I could finish typing a sentence without having my face grabbed. I say that because as I was typing the last item T decided he wanted to show me something. He started talking to me, and I was trying to quickly get my thought down before it faded away. I didn't type quick enough for T. He isn't shy about making sure the audience is paying attention. He grabbed my face and said,"Daddy, listen to me, I have to show you something." He put his hands on my cheeks and turned my face so that we were face to face. Eye contact while talking is important you know. And yes, I do need to work with him on the virtue of patience, among a few others. In Spanish we say 'poco a poco', which means little by little. Life is a journey remember and he will learn all things in their proper time.
Just a side note: There is a poll on the side. Please cast your vote for your presidential candidate. It seems a bit one sided so far. Thanks!
1 comment:
Ahh, the joys of parenthood! I got to say, there are days I miss my kids being that small... then again there are days I certainly don't! I can recall days where I was covered in baby vomit when burping my son and daughter. :)
But, I definately like being a dad. I miss the spontanious nights out with the wife and the quiet evenings on the couch, but there are precious moments with the wee ones that definately make it a worthwhile tradeoff.
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