I’ll miss this when it’s done 1 Comment
Kayleigh has been teething for the last… oh… 6 or 8 months. Maybe not continuously, but it sure feels that way. As soon as one tooth makes its way through, about 3 or 4 follow right behind. By my calculations she’s gotta have at least 40 or 50 in there. This has to end soon, right?
Alright, this latest bout appears to be on the mend, but if not for the Motrin – the patron Saint of parenthood sleep – I’m not sure our sanity would have made it through. Not only have the sharp objects poking through her gums been driving her bonkers, but her recent attempts at staking a claim to some amount of independence has occasionally made it difficult to sympathize. I am not necessarily a strong man, so let’s just say that it’s a good thing she’s too young to understand certain diatribes that may have been spoken out loud.
As much as I curse the day she began making diaper changes a stressful activity (after 18 months they suddenly bother her? wtf?) and look forward to a time when she’ll sometimes answer with a “yes” instead of the constant barrage of “no”, the reality is these things just aren’t that big of a deal. Already my memories of 3 AM wakings with her curling up in my arms while I skip another 3 or 4 hours of sleep for her benefit have developed a sense of fondness. Even those horrible nights in Florida when she rarely slept more than 2 or 3 hours straight and forced us to watch Brainy Baby videos in the middle of the night seem sweet today.
Why?
Like I said, this is the easy stuff. As much as parents grow anxious to ditch the diaper days, how many are excited by the prospect of dealing with the teenage years? I’m not about to romanticize the overwhelming lack of sleep, but how many of those really difficult life situations Kayleigh faces in the future will be solved by rocking her for an hour in the middle of the night? Do you think some Motrin hidden in apple sauce will get her through junior high?
Last night I came close to losing my cool during another butchering of our bedtime routine, but reminding myself that she’ll get over these new teeth soon enough and a couple bad nights really aren’t a big deal certainly helped me in the face of tonight’s disaster. We’ll get through this together – one look at that face and how can there be any doubt?
A typical conversation 1 Comment
Kayleigh: Daddy!
Me: Kayleigh!
Kayleigh (holding up blue crayon): Whatcha got there?
Me: Whatcha got there?
Kayleigh: A crayon. What color is it?
Me: What color is it?
Kayleigh: Blue!
And repeat…
Hipster feel sad and lonely 2 Comments
When I’m feeling down and out and have no one to relate to my hipster ways, there is a new Tumblr out there to pick me up: Unhappy Hipster. There is genius and humor involved. My personal favorites so far include the plywood coffin, the bleak backyard, and the Escher/Van Allsburg room. Enjoy.
I am gonna make it through this year… Comment
So, how’s your year going? I know mine could be better. The shame is, for the crap storm that December turned out to be, 2009 actually ended on a pretty solid note. That has a lot to do with a 2 week holiday which gave me some much needed bonding time with a particular little human that wanders around my house screaming “Huggie Mommy!” on a daily basis. Being there all day long for once seemed to convince Kayleigh that I could be a suitable substitute for the bringer of all things milk. And then the virus hit…
To be honest, this particular illness wasn’t that bad. I had a few moments when the fever and body aches skyrocketed and completely knocked me out, but it didn’t even compare to the constant bathroom breaks that accompanied my gastroenteritis in Santa Fe. Still, the lingering feelings of crappiness that continue even a week later coupled with the total isolation of being stuck in the bedroom with little contact all those days were enough to drive me a little batty.
And thus I’ve been stuck with some general malaise that made me not even want to face the new year and instead dwell upon the sense of freedom lost to dwindling finances and a demanding toddler. Ugh, how lame is that? Just forgive me these trespasses as I try to get my proverbial rear in gear to prevent this trapped feeling from blossoming into a full blown case of early-to-mid-life crisis. Isn’t it amazing how difficult us middle-class, white suburbanites make life for ourselves?
Anyway, after I finish a small project for my Dad, hopefully I can stop talking about things and actually get back to working on my own hobbies rather than wallowing in the typical blogger meltdown…
Quarantine 4 Comments
No, I’m not talking about that crappy horror remake (and yes, the trailer and cover art basically “ruin” the last 15 minutes), I’m talking about my own quarantine. Some sort of flu-type thing has invaded my body and knocked me on my proverbial and real asses. Yesterday afternoon there was hope that it was one of those 24 hour things, but the evening revealed that to be unlikely. Now it’s day 2 of being trapped in the bedroom.
I don’t know about you, but sick days were a lot more fun when I was a kid. Maybe that’s because there was a lot more faking involved, but even the real sick days were typically spent curled up on couch watching too much TV while my Mom took care of me. To some extent this is still a similar experience, albeit with The Woman playing the role of my Mom, but as stupid things like adulthood and maturity get in the way a certain amount of guilt creeps in.
Only a couple years ago colds and flus didn’t really bother me. Lay down, rest, drink lots of water… whatever. Now there’s this whole little person running around that house that strikes fear into my heart at the thought of getting her sick, too. While previous illnesses often didn’t result in any form of quarantine, now we’re all sleeping separately to avoid becoming one of those households in which everyone just keeps exchanging different germs. On the one hand this means I can’t help out at a time when Kayleigh seems to be going through some major separation anxiety crap and on the other hand… I miss her.
It may seem silly, but walking down the stairs and seeing her so excited to see me yet not being able to pick her up nearly broke my heart. And I can only imagine the havoc that two straight weeks of nonstop Daddy-time followed by two days of zero interaction is playing with her. Back when I was a kid, stretching sick days out for as long as possible was awesome. Now I think another day of this will drive me (and the rest of the family) bonkers. Who knows, maybe this thing is finally clearing up in time to be labeled a “48-hour bug”. Or maybe that’s just the drugs kicking in…
It’s snowing 2 Comments
While technically last winter would have included Kayleigh’s first snow, this time she is actually aware of the fluffy white stuff falling all around. And she seems to be looking forward to more of it.
A couple weeks ago when a not-so-record 6 or 8 inches fell on my house, we took her outside for some exploration.
Snow can be terrible around these parts, but I still miss that almost constant blanket on the ground as a kid. It’s just so much fun for play, even if you’re still not convinced you can walk in it.
This year ended decently, hopefully that carries into the next one…
Almost a wonderful day 1 Comment
One of these two turned a year older today. The other one threw a fit in the nice restaurant that we went to for breakfast. Can you guess which is which?
Being upset with a 17-month-old toddler is a crappy feeling. Especially when her outburst was fairly uncharacteristic and she was very well behaved almost the entirety of the weekend besides the incident this morning. I look forward to her turning 18 months when I assume her separation anxiety will magically disappear overnight.
Rumors of my demise… 1 Comment
After a month of heavy posting I shut up and then leave some stupid tweet about having a really bad day… pretty crappy, eh? Not to make any excuses, but it comes down to this: layoffs suck. They suck a lot less when you’re not on the receiving end, but they still suck. And when you run the IT portion and get stuck doing some of the dirty work well… you can guess.
Just in time for pundits to start declaring “the recession is over” my company downsized for the first time in its 25+ year history. Obviously I couldn’t mention any of this before it happened because… duh. Once the deed was done and the press release hit the wire I still needed some time to gather myself. My office hidden in the deep back corner of a half empty building only shields me so much.
It’s not like I’m going to discuss specifics about my job anyway, but know that everything hit like a ton of bricks just when things seemed like they had turned a corner. The stress resulted in at least half a dozen gray hairs popping up in my winter beard which has since been trimmed down to disguise them and may disappear completely. It also beat down my immune system enough for a cold to grab a hold of my head. Fortunately the rest of the household remained unaffected while I took up residency on the back couch and passed out by 9 every night.
For now my head is buried in the sand far enough that things seem to be back to normal. In all seriousness there’s nothing here for concern beyond the need to tighten our belts a little “just in case”. Maybe I’m just an eternal optimist, but things have a way of working themselves out for me.
