crazedparent

The best Father's Day gift ever (when you have sons and a husband who love baseball)...

While my husband and I share in the joys of parenting, I do spend a majority of the time with our boys. It comes with the territory of working from home most of the time.  It's no surprise that Nol will ask if he can partake in some activities that he's witnessed...

"Mom, can we write a story?"

"Mom, can we scrapbook?

"Mom, can we play with the sewing machine?"

"Mom, can we paint our faces?" (Translated: Mom, I want to play with your make up).

All well and good. It's amusing and clearly a kid wanting to imitate his mama. But given that we named the kid after The Express, I'm sure his dad is wondering if I ever break out a baseball bat (I think he may have even asked me that once).

Well, yes, indeed. In fact, the kid's got a pretty good swing and I'd like to think the afternoons I've spent tossing him the ball have helped create a future home run bandito.

But this Father's Day, Nol and I are truly going to impress pops. Thanks to Esquire Magazine, I'm taking Tim Wakefield's tips on how to throw a knuckleball and teaching Nol a new trick:

I anticipate the husband will cry tears of joy knowing that his son is well on his way to "rule the schoolyard," as the article commits. Is that not a top-notch Father's Day gift? Eh, at a bare minimum, he'll be entertained.

Wish me luck.

Happy Father's Day to all you cool daddy-o's from the crazedparent crew.

(image via Esquire online)

Happy father's day, homey

"Public eavesdropping" from the SF Chronicle's column by Leah Garchik:

"I'm not your homey. I'm your father.''

-Man to boy outside Baskin-Robbins in Emeryville, overheard by David Wallace.

One time I mistakenly called my dad "dude" to which he replied, "I'm not a dude, I'm your DAD." I wrote a tribute to my dad last fall called "Always a Contractor's Daughter." I loved following him around at work, pretending I was a "builder." And now I have even more fun watching my oldest son do the same thing with his Grandpa.

My husband also has some copycats following him around. Nol is a little parrot, mimicking his pops every word. Q. likes to replicate the silly faces and sounds. And one day, they will both call Dad "homey," "dude," "man," or whatever the hip phrase of their time exists. And I'll get to hear the hubs say with extreme annoyance and exasperation, "I'm not a XX, I'm your Dad." I love it.

Happy Father's Day.

 

Not-the-mommy...

I remember when Nolan was born. with the exception of diaper changes and the occassional bottle feed, crazedparent pops felt a little left out. Nolan was all about mama, and Quin, now, is following the same lead. Once Nolan started moving, smiling, recognizing faces, Pops felt a little more involved. But I was, and still am, the one both the boys want when they get cranky, sad, hurt, or are in need of a cuddle. CafeMama wrote about her similar experience over at Blogging Baby a few months back.

John P. Cleary over at the Star-Gazette has an especially sweet column today about his new baby son, now two-months old. In "I'm not the mamma, but I'm learning my role with the baby" he writes:

"It's as if there is a little switch on my baby boy's back that only my wife knows about.

"Our son, 2 months old this week, is generally a pretty happy boy. He likes to do what most babies like to do (eat, sleep, look at the ceiling, eat some more, poop), but like all other babies, he can sometimes be a little fussy and irritated.

When the tears well up, he wants only his mom.

I try to comfort him. I hold him, rock him, sing to him, and he keeps on crying. Indeed, the most likely result is to make him cry even louder. Liz merely has to touch him, though, to put him at ease."

I'm sure many dads go through the same experience. And it must be tough...they want to help out, but in reality, they can't because the baby truly does just want the mama. You don't ask why, it just is.

Cleary may be a new dad, but he has the wisdom of a great gramps....

"I'm not the mamma, but that's OK. Babies may focus on their mothers for the first year or so, but I know my time is coming. I know there are some pretty neat things I get to share with my son in the years to come.

Although Liz and I share all the responsibilities of caring for our children and would never divide our parenting into women's jobs and men's jobs, I am beginning to understand that there are some natural roles we fall into. It seems that her function is geared more toward nourishing and developing the children, and mine is geared more toward filling in the gaps and helping reveal the world to them."

How I wish every single new dad could read this column. It could make the first few months just a little easier.

GoodFathers new dad forum...

Jason Baxter over at Dr. Moz , creators of The GoodFather,  let me know they recently opened up The GoodFather's New Dad Forum. A good place to share info with other pops out in the parenting world. But it needs one thing - YOU.

Moms have no problem chatting with other moms about parenting issues..."Hey Susie, how do you get little Sarah to stop picking her nose in public?"

But dads seem to be a different story.  A little less, er, public with their "issues."

So here's a perfect place to ask questions and get answers from other dads without anyone knowing who the hell you are. Your cover won't be blown!

All you dads out there, check it out and help build this new community at the New Dad's Forum.

Get to it people.

(And you can read about The GoodFather here.)

Sleeping dads v. grumpy moms...

Oh, don't pretend you've never done it, dads.

Your newborn wakes up 3 times during the night and at least once, you either sleep or pretend to sleep through it. You're all snug in bed thinking, "Hey, I'm not la leche league, i'm not the food source, why should I wake up?"

Uh huh. You know the rest of the drill. Your wife wakes up and tends to the parenting duties. And when she comes back, don't even think of trying to get a little somethin'-somethin' from her. She's tired and even worse, bitter, because you didn't wake up.

UK-based Mother & Baby magazine (not available online) conducted a survey polling 2,000 or its readers on this very subject. And you know what? Dads fessed up. According to those surveyed, 52 percent of dads don't get up when they hear their child crying at night. They either are truly asleep and can't hear a thing, or fake it. And moms, for their part, said that they were so tapped out from taking care of baby that sex was completely off limits. Eighty-six percent of the moms said they'd want sleep over sex.

Check out this story from Manchester Online.

And speaking of sleep, that's where I'm headed.