Fatherhood

Jen had e-mailed to ask if she should take Patrick in to see the doctor. Knowing he has had a persistent cough (although not bad ... just not going away), I told her to take him ... I expected the visit to occur once she got off work. I learned that she took him much earlier than I expected ... as I got a text message from the pharmacy saying that his prescription was ready. Then, things got exciting. About an hour later, I got a call from his daycare saying he had thrown up and I had to come get him ... since I was only twenty minutes from the end of the day, I left right away. On the way, I called Jen's work and cell phones and left messages, letting her know what was going on. I called the doctor's office to determine what I was dealing with ... thankfully, nothing major. I also got the bright idea to call the pharmacy ... to find out that Jen had not picked up his medication. I stopped in on the way and got it! Then, I finally got to Patrick ... he looked fine, ...

Patrick woke crying in his crib. Since Jen is on a quarter break, she got up and tried to get him back to sleep. Unfortunately, this was turning out to be one of those nights where something is wrong ... and we have no clue what. She brought him to bed with us ... which usually works. Not tonight. I rolled over to the cries of my son. I suggested medication; Jen agreed and went to get them. That is when Patrick got livid. Something was wrong ... and now, it was worse; Mama was gone. As he leaned her direction ... arms out, I carried him down the stairs looking for Mama. When we reached the kitchen, Jen and I swapped Patrick for the medication ... I think Jen got the better deal. We quickly got the medication into him ... Patrick then leaned forward for his step-stool ... yes, I know ... kind of unusual. Once on the step stool, he was reaching for the fridge. I placed the magnetic teddy bear near him. Patrick gave me an odd look and pushed it toward the bottom of the...

Jennifer and I woke about twenty minutes ago to Patrick crying ... nothing unusual. I asked her to get him since I have to start getting ready for work in about three hours (yes, I have to work on a Saturday). Where things became unusual was the loud, sustained crash, and Patrick's cries rising to a hefty scream. Being the concerned parent that I am ... with visions of his changing table collapsed on top of him, I rushed to their aid. "What was that?" I cried. Jennifer, weakly replied, "I fell down the stairs." With Patrick screaming at the top of his lungs, I think I actually asked her to repeat what she said. I found my wife sitting, with her legs out and my son in her arms, at the bottom of the stairs. Asking if she and Patrick were OK was mixed into confused questioning about what happened. Somehow, her feet went out from under her (we suspect a couple of the leaves that Patrick likes to play with were on the steps). While my real concern was i...

Patrick had a rough week while we were on vacation. His allergies kicked in while we were out of town. Lots of coughing and medication later, we got home ... noticing a mild rash that may have stemmed from a new tooth coming in (yes, those two factors do seem to go together somehow). Now, he has picked up something else that is causing diarrhea (think changing the diaper every fifteen to thirty minutes) which has irritated the rash ... taking things to a whole new level. I got called by Patrick's day-care part way through my work day; severe rash and five diaper changes that were getting progressively more painful due to the consistency ... thankfully, I am a good trainer and my students were working through the launch of the software extremely well. I called Jen and left ... I had to stop by and swap vehicles since she had two things in her vehicle that I didn't in mine: the car seat and air conditioning (necessity with a sick child and consistently 90+ temperatures). ...