Sometimes I love just how differently Bethany and I can view
Ellie.
You need evidence? I'll give you evidence. Case in point.
Bethany: I love Eleanor.
Jesse: Why do you love Eleanor?
Bethany: She's just so happy and smiley all of the time.
Jesse: Do you have any evidence to support your claim? I
kind of disagree with your statement.
I'm not saying that I don't love my daughter because we
all know that's not true. Instead, I'm just saying that Ellie can be and is
kind of a handful. At least she is for me. The moment that Bethany walks in
that door, Ellie immediately changes into the perfect child. In fact, that has
never been more prevalent than this week.
If I come across as slightly on edge, I'm sorry. It's just
that Ellie's teething right now. I know that this is something that most kids
that are Ellie's age have already gone through. However, we're still waiting on
that first tooth to completely arrive. There's been a multitude of false alarms
but I think it's finally happening. If I needed confirmation, the tiny patch of
white on her bottom gum should be sufficient to confirm it.
It's funny. Until this tooth began to poke through on
Ellie's gum, I never realized just how sharp a baby tooth could be. I seriously think that Sammy,
my cat I had when growing up, has teeth that are less sharp than what Ellie is
sporting right now. Now, of course, if my only complaint about Ellie teething
were the bite marks all over my nose, ears, fingers, and anything else she can
chew on, I'd be doing well. Unfortunately, the biggest issue I have with
Ellie's teething is more due to her attitude.
Obviously, I don't have a ton of experience with children
that are teething so I'm not sure what's normal and what's not. All I know is
that my daughter is not a pleasant human being to be around right now. Her days
between the hours of 7 am and 5 pm are basically dominated by epic screaming
fits, refusals to get ample sleep, and today, a refusal to even eat.
Now, I'm willing to be patient with Ellie. In fact, I'd love
to just sit and hold her and let her know it's all going to be ok.
Unfortunately for me, Ellie's busy nature keeps me from doing just that. The
moment I try to hold her, Ellie begins to wriggle, cry, scratch, claw, and
scream until she finally gets loose of my grasp. Keeping that in mind, I've had
to find ways to distract Ellie during the day. Luckily, Ellie made sure to tell
me what she wanted in her own particular way.
With the high temperatures this week, Ellie and I have
basically kept to the basement of our house. Not only is it the coolest room in
the house but it has plenty to keep both of us occupied. For example, I can
watch television while Ellie happily gazes out the floor-ceiling windows.
Normally, she's perfectly content just doing that for hours on end. That was
not to be the case today though. From the time Ellie started looking out the
window, she stood and beat on the glass while screaming with great intensity. I
tried to pull her away and distract her several times, but it just ended up
being in vain.
Finally, I decided to just try taking Ellie outside to her new
swing on our covered deck. As I strapped her in and began pushing, I was
shocked to see the sudden change in Ellie's demeanor. She was smiling and even
laughing as I pushed her higher and higher. It was unfortunate that we couldn't
really stay outside for longer due to the warm temperatures. However, Ellie did
get to go outside later on in the day to hang out in her swimming pool for
about 40 minutes. She probably could have stayed even longer, but I just got
tired of chasing balls down our driveway just to return them to the pool so we
could start that process all over again.
I'm hopeful that Ellie's easy-going personality will return
soon. However, until it does I guess I'm destined to undergo mental and
emotional anguish at the hands of my one-year old while counting down the days
until the weekend. Whoever would have thunk it? A stay-at-home dad actively
counting down the days until Saturday. That's probably normal though, right?
#DaddyWrite
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