Sleep? What’s that? I’m lucky to get to bed before midnight since I am the unofficial sleep buddy, makes waking up at 5am lots of fun. My 13 month old son wouldn’t fall asleep unless he was on the left side my chest until about 2 weeks ago when he started fussing because he wants to be in his crib to fall asleep. When he’s scared, hurt or doesn’t feel good he wants Dad. When he wakes up at 3am and can’t get back to sleep he wants Dad. I love that he needs me to feel safe but DAMN!!! My job is dangerous enough, add in sleep deprivation and malnutrition and it can quickly become fatal plus falling asleep on a pole or in a bucket is exceptionally uncomfortable.
He started crawling at 9 months and one week......at 10 months and 3 days he started walking.....three days later and he’s running without knowing how to stop. I was amazed at how much of my house I want to tape pillows to or take a router to so I can get rid of sharp edges. For the first 2 weeks of him walking he wanted to hold our hands, now he’s like “fuck you, I can do it!” and pushes our hands away and then promptly trips over a toy. If I put a dollar aside for every time I caught him at the last second and saved him from permanent brain damage, scarring or death I’d be able to buy a new house by thanksgiving.
He’s currently of the mind that Daddy is an elevator that will pick him up and put him down 3,000 times an hour and that biting mom and dad is a cool thing to do. I went from wearing comfy basketball pants or shorts to wearing my ripstop cut resistant work pants around the house. “Good luck getting those sharp little baby teeth thru those ya little shit!”
Stress level times 3 million when you have to clip his razor sharp fingernails that he uses to tear open my cuticles, fingers, hands, cheeks, ears etc etc etc. Cleaning the excessive wax out of his ears with a Qtip is a lesson in hand stability and reaction time so I don’t puncture his ear canal.
The Nosefrida while disgusting to think about IS AMAZING!!!!
Being a dad is the hardest most stressful mind numbing thing I’ve ever encountered in my life and I live in constant fear of sucking at it. Regardless of all the stress and everything that comes with it I wouldn’t change any of it and I LOVE BEING A DAD!!! It’s the best job I’ve ever had.