Where I get all mushy about being a father

Last night, into this morning, there were no poosplosions or episodes of diaper shrapnel. There were no exposed nails for me to step on. There were no episodes of dog puking within casa de batzer.

In short, it was a pleasant evening. Well, Leila came over (of course, it was when I was in the middle of watching a 80’s comedy that had more to do with women taking their tops off than character development), then, upon my turning off the TV, proceeded to cry herself back to sleep (seriously, I have no idea what the issue was, but she wasn’t happy . . . but it wasn’t an all night thing, so I’m not complaining). But, the kids kind-of ate dinner, there wasn’t any hitting . . . really, it was the kind of night your rational mind hopes for, as a parent. But the highlight came in the morning.

The alarm went off, as all alarms are wont to do, at a time that was far too early. I have two dogs, and they were both eager for me to get out of bed. Hobbes, the older and far quieter, walked all over the three of us in the hopes that he’d get to go for a walk (his all-time favorite activity . . . though, with my ankle, I’m barely able to get about the house, so he’s been disappointed every morning for the past two weeks now). Snickelfritz, the younger and louder, wanted nothing to do with a walk, but was hopeful for breakfast. In all of the commotion, Leila woke up, so she came downstairs with me to help feed the dogs.

When I got back upstairs, CJ was in that state between asleep and awake.

Now, those of you who are parents know there are few crankier beings than a toddler that has been woken too soon — and I now had two of them on my hands. I needed to get into the shower, but, well, if I tried that, then, I’d have kids forcing their own way into the shower with me – and considering that neither was quite awake enough that I wanted to even think about removing their diapers (and, therefore, waking them all of the way up), I didn’t want that.

I asked CJ if he wanted cuddles.

“I want to cuddle you” was his reply.

I lied back down. CJ curled up in my right armpit. Leila crawled on top of me and put her head down over my heart (something she hasn’t done in years . . . when she was very little, she’d fall asleep as soon as her head hit my chest — I used to think I had superpowers then). I think the ensuing nap only lasted 5 minutes, but both kids fell back asleep. In my arms. And I got to think “now, this is why I wanted to be a father.”

10 comments

  1. That sounds awesome. It’s these moments that keep us pushing through when the dog’s face is bleeding on the floor, the baby won’t let you put her down, and you were just about to cook dinner.

    Happy cuddles to you all.

  2. My heart! I welled up reading your last paragraph. I know exactly what you mean. Those are the best moments of parenthood. I’m glad you captured one of them on your blog.

  3. I read this last night on the way home and just sighed. “What a guy” I thought.
    it was so nice to finally meet you, you were everything I knew you would be.

    and a great dad too!

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