Men of the House

Adam just started a new job as an editor, and he's lucky enough to work on the VA grounds. When I was a child, this was one of my favorite places in the whole town. Now, Liam and I get to have picnics there with Adam every week. (Sometimes every day!)

We love lunch time picnics with Adam! Liam's favorite thing to do is to try to smear Adam's work clothes with yogurt or other tasty snacks. Adam spends most of the picnic artfully dodging. It is the classic, age-old dance...

But we're not all smiles here (although there are a lot).

Moments of Misery two days ago: Liam cried, and cried, and cried the night we tried to leave him in his crib to fall asleep. Every time I went to hug him and reassure him that we were still there, and he was ok, he clung to my neck like a frightened baby monkey and sobbed pitifully.

It was heart wrenching.

As I read online later, I realized that he is simply too old for a quick fix method. All Adam and I want are the occasional nights of 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep or our bed back every now and then.

This is too much to ask at this point, however, and so we work around Liam's schedule. Is our baby controlling our lives? Mostly. But, we're people of the book, and we believe in the Power of a Plan. It is my job over the next few days to Make a Plan. And Write it Down. Then, we Stick to It.

I am skeptical, but I have decided that the book to have is: The No Cry Sleep Method. Know anything about this book? Let me know....

An interesting side effect of this one evening of misery is some major new Liam-Adam bonding. When we finally decided Liam had cried enough, I sent Adam to go pick him up. Adam was totally his hero that night. Liam snuggled into his chest and Adam rocked him to sleep. That night, I brushed my teeth leisurely for the first time in 14 months (usually, I have to hurry because Liam is screeching). It was nice. When I finally snuggled into bed with the boys, Liam stirred and woke up, but wanted very little to do with mean-old-me-the-mommy-who-made-him-stay-in-his-bed. In fact, he was so enamoured of his dad that night that he kept removing my glasses from my face and offering them to Adam as a little present. It was very charming (and a little strange for me, who has had this baby's constant admiration from the day he was born. It made me realize, wow, some day, I will just be "geez mom"...so I'll enjoy the baby-snuggles now).

Liam is much more into Adam right now than he has ever been. This raises the happiness-level in our home. It also makes me think about father's day.

In the last year, I've watched my husband grow from a baffled, exhausted man-with-a-kid, into a patient dad who is utterly in love with his son. I always knew Adam would make a good father- he is kind, caring, gentle, and has a great sense of humor; but, before we had Liam, neither he nor I really had ever had our endurance tested. We were utterly used to doing whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. It was the luxurious life of the adultescent- sleeping in daily, going out for pitchers of beer whenever we wanted, travel whenever we wanted, so many other things that we didn't appreciate....

This last year has changed us, but in a good way. I have a postcard hanging above our changing table, sort of a kitchy thing, that has 3 babies on it and this quote from the Tao Te Ching: "I have but three things to teach you: patience, simplicity, and compassion. These three are your greatest treasures."

Patience, Simplicity, and Compassion. That is what Liam has taught us this year. And he is our greatest treasure.

Now, for some recent Moments of Beauty between Liam and Adam:

Driving range was fun for all...

And that's how the oh-so-cool men in my life are doing...more soon!