Fatherhood

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.

Tonight was the second night of our "indoor tears" issue. Last night, not long after I got home, Patrick started to cry ... these were tears of pain, rubbing his eyes pretty hard. Since it was a Papa night (all he wanted was me), I propped him over my shoulder and started bouncing him. He settled in, as if sleep was all he wanted. Mind you, he was still crying and rubbing the eyes. Then, he rolled horizontal, letting my hold him in my arms ... still rubbing eyes and crying. This went on for about thirty minutes. I tried having Jen take him, but we had the same symptoms, but now he wanted me again. I settled in for a long night and started walking him around the house. The pain was pretty obvious so we got medication into him ... Another thirty minutes went by when I walked near the back door when he jumped up and stopped crying ... a switch got thrown. We even had a smile. Jen came down since he had stopped crying so abruptly and I started walking toward her. About ...

Patrick's first day of daycare showed me how truly terrifying being a parent can be. Jennifer and I made arrangements at work so we could both be there as he was dropped off. We walked him in and handed him over, along with several months worth of clothing and food. He was in tears (yes, afraid of being abandoned at several months old), his mother was in tears (afraid he would hate her ... logically knowing he cried because he loved her), and I was fighting to keep the tears at bay (being the good, strong husband ... man, was that painful). We got as far as the car before Jen's waterworks started up again. I held her ... for what seemed like hours, letting her take strength from me. All the time, I was hiding the weak feeling in my knees. Eventually, we got to work. Then, the phone call ... it was Jen, picking him up. Another phone call ... they survived the five minute car ride home (first time without me). Another call ... he was happy and feeding. Finally, my wor...

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 ...