Twoism Fathers

[Mexicola]

We just took a walk past the nursery on the way to the shops. She waved at them all with a smile and spent the next 3 minutes telling me, in some detail, all about her time there and how I came and picked her up afterwards and how we all went home and played blowing bubbles and then had to wash our hands, and then.....

You get the idea. Seems she wasn't entirely traumatised by it then!

[A_Northern_Soul]

^ ha! I love those long "and then..." stories. I'd rather those than the latest thing with us - what do animals eat?

"What do bears eat?"
"What do cows eat?"
"What do butterflies eat?"
"What do seals eat?"

*30 mins later*

"What do worms eat?"
"What cats eat?"

[Techboy]

Haha - what about you Mexi, will you be okay? ;P

[Mexicola]

Too soon to say! It's just too soon to say...

[A_Northern_Soul]

....

"what do owls eat?"
"what do crocodiles eat?"
"what do meerkats eat?"

.....

[Mexicola]

PMSL!!!

[drixlin]

Gah! So glad I saw this post!

I have a 2 year old little girl and we just found out on Monday that we are having another little girl!

Being a parent has been quite a (rewarding) change! I can't get over how much my little one has grown and we are so excited to have another. The funny thing is, their two birthday's are going to be around 2 weeks apart in November, heh.

I'm very fortunate that I get a good chunk of vacation time and I can use sick time on top of that (my wife has to have a c-section) to help care during the transition. If all goes according to plan, I may have up to 5-6 weeks off.

Now is the time we have to start buying the bigger things, but it's all so much fun - and our little one now is starting to talk about having a sister and pointing at Mama's belly.

Here is a short clip of my wife, little one and I watching Tonx's video from Lake Dolores last year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGJoIHMBMIg


When little A was born:



Little A and I for Mother's Day this year:

[Mexicola]

Congratulations!!!

[drixlin]

Congratulations!!!

Thank you sir!

I was reading the posts about daycare - ack! I would/will be an emotional wreck when that day comes for us!

I'm fortunate that, while making big financial and material sacrifices, my wife is able to stay home with our kid(s) until they go to school full time. It's certainly not easy, but we see the loss of income as "payment" for being able to have a parent stay home with them.

I sent my wife the link to this thread and she just loved to see all the proud parents here, awesome idea for a topic!

[Mexicola]

Know exactly what you mean re the whole finances vs time balance. My wife and I both work part-time now so we only have one day where we both work at the same time (Granny Mexicola takes Mini-Mexi on that day). 3.5 day working week is cool, especially as I get 1.5 days as time with my daughter. Work looooong hours the rest of the week to make up for it though. Still, no more Monday commute for Mexi!!

[panic button]

Yeah, that money vs. parent/kid contact time thing is a hassle.

I work one full time job and one part time job (55 hr week total) for six months of the year, split into two three-months stints. Just work the normal 40 hrs for the other six months. This is so baby Panic Button can be brought up properly by her mother, who stays at home every day.

Mexicola, I think I like your system better!

[paul]

looks like i am not the only new dad who is having a total blast.

i'll chime in here since this was a major concern for us too. baby care here is astronomical but we were able to circle wagons over the last few years and have our immediate family move out here to be with us (parents and siblings). my wife has no choice but to work M-F, however she did take off the first 7 months which was awesome, despite the loss in pay (the tight times will be forgotten but the bonding time will not). plus she has summer off. add my telework day on Monday and we have our little man in the loving hands of his grandparents/aunties during the days that we can't be there.

my deepest respect to the many new parents in that feedback loop who have to work in order to keep their job but they have to shell out most of what they make to pay for childcare. at the end of each day i take a minute to be thankful for how lucky i am.

one question - now that our little monkey has started crawling we are going to have to reconfigure the whole place. yesterday my wife put something in her closet and when she returned 10 seconds later, he was half out of his walker, with the garbage can lid open and half-in fishing for treasure. do any of you dads who have just been through it have any clever tips other than get rid of everything and turn the house into one big play pen?

[drixlin]

my deepest respect to the many new parents in that feedback loop who have to work in order to keep their job but they have to shell out most of what they make to pay for childcare. at the end of each day i take a minute to be thankful for how lucky i am.

QFT - what we can't buy now, would never replace the time my wife and I get in bonding. That being said, we are BARELY able to manage, totally respect anyone that has to bust their asses to keep their families going. We're all parents, and the best ones will do anything necessary to make sure their families are taken care of - in whatever form that takes!

]]one question - now that our little monkey has started crawling we are going to have to reconfigure the whole place. yesterday my wife put something in her closet and when she returned 10 seconds later, he was half out of his walker, with the garbage can lid open and half-in fishing for treasure. do any of you dads who have just been through it have any clever tips other than get rid of everything and turn the house into one big play pen?

How old is your babeh? Just starting to crawl is such an interesting time, before ours was crawling NOTHING was baby proofed - then a little here and a little there. Now she has moved on from the TV/Electronics to doors and rooms - eek!

The best thing we had were "baby gates" like this: http://www.toysrus.ca/product/index.jsp ... Id=2689375. This particular one is a bit...excessive...in price, but the idea is there. You can get "cheaper" ones, but they all do the same thing. It's function is to serve as a hexagonal shape (very BoC-ish, heh) we used them to cordon off the TV and computer! They can be made into all sorts of shapes and sizes, you can play with what works for you. It worked well for us, until she got big enough to reach over, heh. Thing is, now she isn't so much concerned about what was behind, as she is now, like I said earlier, onto doors...

Baby hexagons, gates, clips for drawers/cupboard stuff, and in later months, plastic door handle covers are saving us!

[Mexicola]

Yeah, baby gates are essential. Our daughter is walking/running now but it's great to be able to keep her safe playing in our lounge while I'm cooking in the kitchen or whatever.

[paul]

thanks fellas. the gates look like the trick. my little guy is 10 months.

from what i understand he's a little late on the crawling but he has been calling me daddy for over 3 months so i am putting my money on his brains over his braun (despite the fact that he looks like he ate himself in only a few month's time!).

yeah, we need to move all plants outside and add bumpers to some corners but i think we will make it. will order the gates asap. thanks for the feedback gents.

[hexagon son]

Congrats! My only advice is to never work away and have your kid live in a foreign country where you don't understand the language. There isn't much problem until they are 4 or 5, then they start asking you why you don't speak the language.

[jcnporter]

Apparently my 8 year old son, when in the car with my wife earlier, cheered when he found out my iPod was still plugged in, said the music on her iPod was 'too cheesy' and went straight to BoC and The Advisory Circle.
This made my day.