Politely Excused

Posted on Wed 07/16/08 in Fatherhood

When I come home from work, my greeting varies from lots of hugs and "Daddy's home!" to a household of slumber. Sometimes the moods are lively and cheerful, and other times I hear whining in 7.1 surround sound. Immediately, I feel Beth out for how her day was and adjust my attention to compensate. For a rough day, I grab McKenzie and start feeing her while I rebuild Ethan's train set for the 1000th time (each more enjoyable than the previously destroyed track : \ On the terrible days, Beth heads for our room for a nap. On most days I find a happy family, ready to wrestle or play Play-doh, navigate You Tube in search of garbage truck videos, or have a dance party.

Today was a sleepy-whiny day. Ethan was sleeping when I came home. Beth and McKenzie were watching Oprah in the bedroom. I actually laid down on the bed for 30 seconds and talked to Beth about my day before the whining started. The next 30 minutes was a slur of half whining-mumbling, half crying. After I pushed Ethan's buttons for a bit (an old habit from having two younger sisters), I decided to bring him out of the funk. I offered to rebuild his train set and Beth offered him some milk.

We played for a while before Ethan asked to see the garbage trucks. So, I loaded up You Tube and started him off with a nice green garbage truck. I watched as he clicked the related videos... another garbage truck... a fire truck.... a golf cart... a video of a mini golf game... a video of a marble game... and so on. He played right on through dinner -- he's been wanting to eat a bit later lately. McKenzie sat with us at the table in her Bumbo chair, which I slowly rotate on the lazy susan. That was pretty funny.

McKenzie spent the rest of her night with daddy... eat, bath, eat, bed... oops, still awake, swing and the vacuum cleaner... then bed.

Ethan was having a mommy night. She sat with him while he ate his dinner. Then, she bathed him (without resistance). When I was done with McKenzie, I found Beth in Ethan's room doing puzzles and doing some hard core educational stuff. It was very tranquil. I figured I'd be welcomed to join then, but Ethan apparently had different thoughts. He got up from his puzzle and walked around Beth to stand in front of me. He looked straight into my eyes and said, "Daddy, go away. I need a couple more minutes with mommy." He gave me a kiss, and I left.

With nobody caring for my presence at the moment, I decided to bang this one out on the keyboard.