Diary of a Third Time Dad

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WEEK THIRTEEN - MAY 2002

The Sleep Zone

Sometimes Joshua won't nurse to sleep. He fusses and squirms at the breast, and just won't settle down. That's when I step in. I carry him around the house for about 15 minutes. He gradually settles down, stops squirming and fussing, and will finally enter "The Zone". He gets very still and stares straight ahead (sometimes at my face, sometimes off into space). He lasts about another five minutes, then his eyes slowly close and he's out.

The Zone is so funny, because I could talk to him, smile at him, do anything, and he won't respond. He just stares. It is very precious. Dad's if you haven't yet experienced The Zone with your own baby, I strongly recommend it.

Oh good, I don't have to hold him

Now I'm usually eager to walk the baby to sleep, especially if I've been gone all day. Today, however, was NOT the case. He was getting squirmy, and I could tell he was probably going to need me. But I had had a stressful day, and the last thing I wanted to do right then was deal with a fussy baby. As Cheryl brought him to me, he decided he wanted to nurse after all, and settled down with her and eventually went to sleep.

My first thought was, "Oh good. I don't have to hold him."

My second thought was, "What a terrible thought."

My third thought was, "I'm glad the baby can't read minds."

Maybe he could sense my feelings though.

Tummy Time

Most babies hate to be on their tummies, but I think it's good exercise. Joshua seems to enjoy it now though. He lasts a good five minutes, and pushes himself pretty high up. When he gets too high, though, he topples over and rolls onto his back. He was just as surprised as we were.

Morningness

We are blessed with a baby that wakes up VERY happy in the morning. He lays in our bed and laughs and smiles for quite a while. Today when Joshua woke up, Cheryl brought him downstairs. I immediately took him from her. She said, "No fair, now YOU get to enjoy all his morningness."

Morningness. An interesting word, but it describes Joshua's demeanor in the morning perfectly. He is just loaded with morningness.

Too much morningness

Today I decided to combine his tummy time WITH his morningness, and laid him on my chest while I lay in bed. What my wife had forgotten to mention to me (intentionally?) is that he hadn't burped yet. So we enjoyed a couple minutes of happy tummy-to-tummy time, and then out of nowhere, "Blurp!" His entire breakfast came up all over my chest, and proceeded to drip down in every direction. Needless to say, I was quite done with our morning time together. I couldn't tell if the smile on Cheryl's face was one of sympathy or satisfaction. I'm sure it must have been sympathy.

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