She's asleep. I'm usually not this productive when she's asleep. More times than not, I am asleep too. Morning nap time is a glorious thing. Up late the night before? No worries. When it's time for morning nap, you've got yourself a golden opportunity to make up those lost hours. Plus, nothing wrong with a little extra snuggle time. Is there anything better than your nine month old daughter laying her head on her Daddy's shoulder and taking a little snooze?
So far I've got the laundry done, made some phone calls, wrote some emails and now, even a little time to do some much needed blogging. Sure, I've got homework to do, but it's Daddy Day Care this morning and afternoon. Tough getting my coursework done these days. Just when I get rolling into something, she's into something. Natalie loves anything that is not a toy. Magazines, chairs, paper, books, cords, tupperware, etc.. It's like some kind of alarm goes off in her tiny little brain:
New object detected. Must investigate. And by "investigate" I of course mean, throw, drop and pull into tiny grabbing hands in order to tear apart into tiny pieces... I constantly find myself playing fetch with her by trying to distract with more kid-friendly objects to play with - and successful about 50% of the time. It's never been this fun crawling around on hands and knees. And if I'm ever feeling overwhelmed with the weight of the world on my shoulders, all I need is one of Natalie's squeals and all is well with my soul. I'm no Mr. Mom but I'm digging my time spent with Natalie during the week while Rebecca saves the world and pays the rent.
Today was a first. I actually grabbed a piece of poop off the ground without hesitation. It was my fault in getting there, as I wasn't quick enough in getting Natalie to the toilet, so there was a nice little treasure awaiting me in her cloth diaper. Fortunately or unfortunately depending how you look at it, when I went to rinse the diaper in the toilet, it just popped out and onto the floor. So I picked it up and dropped it into the water. Another time I realized that I was truly in the trenches of Daddy-dom was the early morning when Rebecca and I responded to Natalie's cries. She was definitely teething at the time and was feeling rather warm. So, there we were - in the dark, Mommy holding a squirmy baby on her lap while Daddy went to work and pried those adorable baby cheeks apart and eased a baby thermometer into her butt. I remember thinking at that moment:
This is the life. Yes, this is the life of parenthood. Waited long and hard for this adventure, and it was worth the wait.
Well, I just heard a little sigh from the other room. Back to "work" soon enough. If I wait just a little bit, I might hear some Natalie babble and giggles as she entertains herself in her crib. She's becoming a little person by the day. I'm so proud to be her Dad. Can't wait to see her dressed up in her first-ever Halloween costume tonight. Don't want to ruin the surprise just yet, but, not to leave you hangin' - I've included what Mommy and Daddy dressed up as this year. I can already feel Natalie's eyes rolling in twenty years when she looks back to her first Halloween. Yes, we may be responsible parents now but Mommy and Daddy still know how to rock.
