Thoughts on Fatherhood 8

The baby and I have spent a lot of time indoors since I have been a stay at home Daddy due in part to nature this winter. It simply is not feasible to go for a leisurely walk when there are more than 2 inches of un-shoveled snow on the ground. Suffice to say, we’ve gotten fairly complacent with our wardrobe choices.

We received some unexpected company recently and after taking a quick glance at myself in the mirror, I realized I needed to make some minor appearance adjustments before they walked in the door. However, my refusal to wear work attire coupled with my inability to fold laundry put me in a bit of a bind. Minutes before my company arrived I turned to my child and said, “wait here, Daddy’s has to go change into his nice pajamas”.

Besides daring clothing moves, it turns out that I’m fairly good at this fatherhood thing, at least so far. We dance, sing, practice sitting up, talk, do the household chores, and roll over (though not as well as Benji does). When my little girl smiles and I know I’m doing well! Of course, at times she when she smiles it leads me to believe she has a different agenda than I.

Just this morning she was sitting in her high chair as I was unloading the dishwasher. I looked over at her and she seemed moments away from dozing off to sleep. I hurried to finish putting everything away, glanced back over, and saw her wide awake with a massive smile. Pleasantly surprised, I went over to her and kissed her on the head. As I approached I noticed the smell of poop. I kissed her as intended and then brought her to the changing table.

What I found was not surprising, however, the quantity was a bit shocking. She must have pooped out 5% of her body weight because it was all over everything. It escaped her diaper, went through her pajamas, and even managed to smear on my arm and shirt in transit from the chair to the table. The entire 20 minute process I spent cleaning and changing her she spent smiling and occasionally stuck her tongue out at me, as if to say, “got you”!