Fatherhood

Patrick loves to be outside. When he arrived home yesterday, I was just getting finished with some weeding ... he and Jen immediately jumped in to help. We dragged branches to the pile in the back yard. Then, I found Jen and Patrick getting ready for a bike ride. Wanting to spend time with my wife and son, I opted into the ride. We didn't go far, my back and legs were a bit sore at that point ... but we did get out together as a family. The bike seat we have is not the kind I remember as I grew up. Patrick's is pretty close to my seat, in fact my heels hit the lower part of his seat if I am not paying attention. Despite this, we have a lot of fun. He loves to look around and notices things ... at one point, Jen wandered off and he started calling to her until she headed back to what he considered a safe distance. He is also a boy and likes to play. He "high-fived" my back and spent a few minutes pulling my shirt out. I hope I never forget the head-butt...

As we picked up Patrick from daycare, he got all excited and rolled over this blue padded cylinder they had in the room. He promptly hit his forehead and started crying (we did not see the impact on the forehead until later). It was actually pretty funny other than the crying (yes Mama, it was OK to laugh). His crying settled down very quickly ... even with Papa holding him. A typical incident ... as I have written about previously, he does have a tendency to Bonk His Head . As the night went on and we went through various games, such as Papa laying on the floor and Patrick jumping on top of him ... the bonks to the head continued. Thankfully, being that close to him, I was able to minimize the damage to the reddened bruise on his forehead. ALL BOY!

Oh my ... It has been one of those days. Patrick fell down the steps outside; thankfully no major damage ... in fact, none that we can find. He dropped the mop handle on his toe ... it is now quite red. Next, he walked into the table ... took the corner on his forehead; it was quite a resounding thunk. Good goose-egg up there. He's still got he scrape on his knee from a few days ago ... definitely all boy. This is one of those days to get scraped, bonked, and generally dirty and beat up. I can't wait to see what will happen over the next few hours before we go to bed.

Patrick had a good fall last night. He was "running" from me, as only a fifteen month old child can do, when his feet slipped out from under him. He went down quickly and the back of his head slammed into the floor. I picked him up, just after the shock of the fall wore off and the pain kicked in. He cried steady until his head cleared a bit and the tears faded as he asked for "Mama." This got me thinking about the various times he has "bonked" his head. First, I should point out that he must have a very thick skull as there has been no lasting damage. Second, I will only present a few of the more memorable spills. The first I remember actually occurred at daycare. I picked him up that day and there was an Incident Report (I think I've still got it somewhere). Patrick was learning to stand, and apparently tried to use a bookshelf to pull himself up. A simple slip later and he had a vertical egg on his forehead. They tried to apply ice ... that...