Being a stay-at-home dad is a really fun job. On second
thought, 'job' might not be the proper term. 'Career' or 'profession' doesn't
sound quite right either. Even 'serf' would be the wrong description for what I
am. Therefore, for the sake of time, I'll stick with the word, 'job'.
To reiterate my initial point, being a stay-at-home dad is a
really fun job. I truly mean that. Although I often complain, harp, and moan
about my current lot in life, that's partly because #DaddyWrite serves to
provide me with a nice outlet in which to vent.
 |
| Wrong kind of harp... |
Honestly though, think about the perks. I get to be outside
pretty much whenever I want. I can go to the park or the zoo at any time. As
long as it fits into Ellie's nap schedule, there's nothing stopping me from
meeting friends for lunch. Pretty much the only thing I can't do with Ellie in
tow is go to a movie, although I doubt that would be enjoyable for anyone.
Of course, for every up in parenting, there must also be a
down. For yours truly, nothing is worse than having a sick kid. Even if said
kid is not really sick in terms of the conventional definition, it still can be
a bummer.
Lucky for us, Ellie have been a remarkably healthy child
during the first year and 364 days of her life. Honestly, the only time I can
remember her being legitimately ill was due to a single ear infection. However,
there have been plenty of times Ellie has found herself "sick" due to
one tricky factor: teething.
Ellie has been unbelievably slow to have all of her baby
teeth pop up. In fact, the poor girl didn't have a single speck of white in her
mouth until about thirteen months of age. Since then, it's pretty much been a
nonstop barrage of teething pains. While they are normally bearable for Ellie,
she is subject to a really bad episode now and then. When these bad episodes
occur, there's only one thing I can do: man up and cheer my daughter up.
Obviously, Ellie is currently in one of those hardcore
teething pain sessions complete with mild fever, lack of appetite, and the sour
attitude to match. Therefore I've been doing all I can to make her happy. In
case you're wondering, I've found there are three things that seemed to work
above all else.
The first thing? Building towers with blocks. While this is
always a favorite activity of Ellie's, it seems to have increased tenfold
today. Although I should state that Ellie is not really the one building said
towers. Instead, I'm the one tasked with building as Ellie yells "Build
towers" at me over and over again. No matter how good of a job I do, there
always will come a time when my tower no longer meets my supervisor's liking
leading to its inevitable demolition.
Now for the second thing which is napping. Although, today
wasn't exactly napping as I've come to know it. To provide some context, Ellie
probably only slept about four hours last night which means that Bethany and I
probably only slept about four hours last night. At 7:30 this morning, Ellie
began asking for a nap to which I happily obliged. I'm happy to report she
slept for two hours during that first cycle. No problem there.
The problem, however, occurred with each cycle to follow as
Ellie inevitably would play for 30 minutes to an hour before asking for a nap
again. With that, she would head to her bed only to arise 15 to 20 minutes
later. As you can probably guess, this never-ending cycle consumed most of my
day. Even though I eventually wizened up and quit latching her door, I still
was obligated to tuck Ellie in for each of her so-called "naps".
On to the third thing and make certain you're taking notes
here. If you happen to be cat sitting, use said cat to solve all that ails your
daughter. With Bethany's friend/co-worker, Vicky, in Seattle for a few days,
Ellie and I had been tasked with checking in on her cat, Petey, every couple of
days. From the time we walked in the door of Vicky's apartment until we left
almost forty minutes later, Ellie was totally enamored with Petey. Not only did
she play with him and follow him around the apartment but she also took great
interest in making certain I changed Petey's water. Seriously, all I heard during
that time was "Petey's water. Petey's water. Petey's water."
Here's the part of
this post where I ask you all to hold out hope for me that Ellie's teething
woes subside sometime soon. You see, even though I know ways to combat what
ails her, I don't want to see her suffering. I also don't want to see
myself suffering through the mental anguish of putting Ellie to bed
approximately 15 times just for her to get out of bed 15 minutes later.
Ugh. #DaddyWrite
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