TMI Tuesday: I Want To Talk To Daddy NOW!

Part of my daily routine is calling my wife while on my way home after work. I have done this for a while and in the past it wasn’t as regular as it has become over the past year. Of course, now my wife and I have little say as to whether my phone is going to ring while I am getting on the highway.

Every day, so I have been told, when my wife picks our son up from work he babbles in the back seat saying “da da” over and over again as if it has become his infant mantra. This usually continues for much of the afternoon (and sometimes into the night) until he finally gets to the point when he reaches for my wife’s phone, says “da da”, and waves. He may only be ten months old but he has no issues getting his message across… I want to talk to dada now!

This is pretty much the same routine regardless of whether he is having a good day or a bad day and sometimes, for some reason, hearing my voice on the phone is one of the few things that will calm him down. However, consider yourself warned, if he is expecting to talk to daddy and you decide to call, he will not readily accept this and will be rather vocal about his displeasure. I am told that it is an interesting site to behold when the voice on the other end of the line is not that of his daddy… basically, imagine being cursed out in baby babble.

Of course, I am of two minds when I think about this routine that we have and the close relationship that I have been able to build with our son. While he knows my voice and he looks forward to seeing me every night, I am usually only able to spend anywhere between 30 and 60 minutes with him per day. And that is if I don’t have anything going on that night. This is why I am happy to have the relationship that we do but, at the same time, I don’t like the fact that I see him for such a small amount of time.

It’s almost as if I can hear Harry Chapin warming up back stage letting me know that I am walking a fine line. He is ready to go and can start singing at any time if I screw up. That is the last thing that I want to happen and why when I am home I give my son as much attention as I am able, play with him, and tell him I love him whenever I am given the chance. It may not be ideal but, so far, it is seems to maintain the strength of our connection.

TMI Tuesday: Hi Da Da!

Someone call Sting! Our son already knows part of a Police song!

At some point each night, my wife and I try to unsuccessfully prompt our son to say either “ma ma” or “da da”. Every night and every weekend it is the same routine. When our son got really sick with croup some weeks back, he was finally able to call for his “ma ma” which alleviated the pounding in our heads just a little bit. It was that sad and touching moment when the two of them connected. He knew that “ma ma” would make things a little better and my wife was able to tear up as he said it for the first, second, and third time throughout the day and night. It also proved that he knows how to say it but chooses to remain a quiet little boy most of the time.

It is because of this that my wife has been pushing more and more for our son to say “da da” as she wants me to have the same experience albeit without the running nose and constant crying (bonus for me). Of course, it is just like our son to say “da da” the moment we stopped pushing him. It was a moment when we were playing on the couch after having been at the office all day and my little boy was just happy to see me. I forget what I had done to make him smile but soon after he said “da da” in such a way that he wanted me to continue keeping him entertained. It was a spontaneous moment for both of us and an instant reinforced our bond once it happened.

Like many of his achievements thus far he seemed to check it off the list as complete and moved on to the next milestone without any plan on revisiting what he had already accomplished. Hence, I have not heard those simple words since. It was a brief moment but one that will surely remain vivid in my mind for the rest of my life and I look forward to hearing it again when he chooses to do so. Who the heck knows when that will happen again?

I guess this is just another way in which our son is like me, at least that is what my wife thinks. We both tend to check things off the list and almost immediately move on to the next new thing, something that we haven’t done before. With that said, we have our routines and there are times when we both revisit our accomplishments especially when they bring a little happiness to those around us. And this little monkey has certainly made us happy.