Fatherhood

Trouble with the stairs again. Patrick was following me down the stairs. I had already gotten downstairs and was sitting in front of the computer when I heard him heading down the steps. I issued a gentle reminder for him to be careful when I heard the thumping start. Knowing I was too far from the steps, there was nothing I could do but watch. As I described it to Jen ... "Think of the gingerbread man pose. Put it upside down and on the bottom step and that's what I saw rolling down our stairs." Patrick landed with a remarkably gentle thump and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds before the screaming started. By that time, I had gotten to him and held him close until Mama arrived to take over. Amazingly, there didn't even seem to be a bump on his head ... No damage done ... but, what a scare!

What a glorious afternoon ... It was a simple day, a Saturday, with nothing to do. Just me ... my son, and my wife. And, we did nothing ... OK, maybe a bit of television and a few diaper changes. Showers and a bath, but nothing more than that. Then, we got to the late afternoon and Patrick kind of went ballistic ... crying, no screaming ... We tried several things and I finally carried him to our bedroom where I started to bounce him ... the tears faded ... and bounce him, some more ... and he simply whimpered ... and bounced him, some more. Eventually, he fell asleep and, minus a quick shift to the center of the bed, he slept soundly for several hours. ... what a glorious afternoon.

Yesterday was a long work day ... I would have said a long day at work, but I was there, headed home, then had to return in the evening to work with the evening shift. I got home early in the afternoon and basically did nothing. I tried to nap ... to no avail. When Jen got home with Patrick, I basically had time to eat dinner, then head out the door again. The truly painful part was Patrick and Jen standing on the front porch ... with Patrick screaming, reaching for me as I drove off. I heard his screams until I well out of sight. According to Jen, as soon as he realized I was not coming back right away, he stopped yelling ... turned around and started playing with the doorbell and the screen door. His discomfort lasted significantly less than mine did ... I was ready to head home for hours. What focus!

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 has had a variety of methods to let us know he is hungry. These range from red-faced screaming to the sign for more taught at school. Generally, he has indicated more and headed for his high-chair ... getting a bit more strenuous when we do not move fast enough. This morning, he tried something new to me ... he went into the closet where we keep his food and got a container. Then, without Jen and I knowing, he put it in the kitchen in front of the microwave. I knew something was going on when he came out and grabbed by finger ... pulling me toward the kitchen. When I saw the container of food, I had a pretty good idea of what was going on.

Tonight, we had an incident ... and, by that I mean blood and screaming incident. Patrick was helping me as usual. I was installing a grounded outlet for the computer and he wanted a screwdriver (yes, the one I had in my hand, not the one off the shelf). I did convince him to take another one and he was so excited he had to show his mother. Then, it happened ... the end of peace in the household; at least for a few hours. The screwdriver fell ... and as most do for someone that small, it fell tip down and hit the big toe on his left foot. He dropped next, screaming. We got water and a wet dish towel which was quickly replaced with paper towels and ice. And, while the screaming persisted (with a visibly upset Mama and Papa), the blood did slow from a small river to a dot that reappeared every few minutes. Mama got the stickiest bandaid she could find and we got it on him ... and as far as I know it's still on. So much for peace in the house tonight ...

Unable to speak yet, Patrick defines what he wants in various ways: pointing, grunting, grabbing, yelling, screaming, and recently dropping to the floor and crying or standing in front of me and bouncing with a smile on his face. Most of these behaviors are pretty clear and easy to manage. Often, he gets to play with what he wants or where he wants, barring any unsafe behavior ... on the stove top whether food is cooking or not, under the sink where we store chemicals, near the top of the stairs (unsupervised) ... you get the idea. We love that he has a variety of interests and wants to explore. It's pretty cool to watch him taking all the pots and pans from under the counter and trying to carry them to the front door ... he eventually gets tired using both arms to hold the weight and drags the pot or pan behind him ... very cool! The first few tantrums were kind of scary ... dropping to the floor, face down, and then tears that then raged into something much scarier. Rec...

We all had a rough night last night.  Apparently, when Patrick has teeth coming in, his rear end gets sore ... I don't know why, but once Jen and I made the correlation, my parents told me that's the way it was with me ... way, way, way back. He's got another tooth coming in ... and, both ends are in pain (getting better now ... rough last night). Trying to get him to sleep was challenging to say the least. I had to pat his lower back firmly while bouncing hard enough to make my calves sore in mere moments ... I wasn't given the option of just bouncing him with my arms (he could tell the difference).  Anything else resulted in screaming. As I finally got him to sleep, I was able to stop the patting and bouncing and sat down to let him get into a deeper sleep.  After about an hour, I put him into the crib ... Then, as Jen and I finally laid down, his little head popped up over the edge of the crib and another scream of pain was let out.  Again, I picked him ...