Thursday, November 8, 2012

Six months, six days

What to write today?

Reid had his six month checkup at the pediatrician yesterday. Doing great, growing as he should be, and got more vaccinations (handling it like a big boy).

It's been fun over this past half year watching the little baby morph in to more and more of a boy.

Even though I haven't had the time that Julie did over the duration of her maternity leave, I have still treasured the two-to-three hours we spend in the evenings together. Our best times are always bath time, in the 7:00 hour and the wee morning hours when mommy gets ready.

Bath time always starts with the changing of the daytime outfit and a ticklefest. When Reid is placed on the changing table, he makes a face, but the second he knows the clothes are coming off it hits him... IT'S BATH TIME!!!

We have a typical drill where I quietly creep up on the bathroom door and say to him, "I wonder if that handsome baby is in here again?" We reach our way into the bathroom and hit the lights while standing in front of the mirror... "THERE HE IS AGAIN!!!" Dad exclaims, and a big smile ensues.

I lay the little fellow in his tub within our tub and he perks up at the sound of the running water. I drizzle warm water all over him and on about the third one, a high-flow stream of pee shoots over the tub and smiling continues. True boy all the way.

I allow Reid to mingle with the crab, octopus, pufferfish, and turtle that reside in his basket of goodies. He's always shocked when they 'spit' at him. He'll continue to smile, kick, and splash until he wears down. Then, it's a quick head rinse and into the froggy blanket.

Reid loves the first stage of post-bath. It consists of drying and lotion application. The massages to the legs, (ticklish) feet and arms are something I know will initiate more smiling and lots of chatter. When the diaper and pajama donning occurs, that's when we run into trouble. It's as if something in his head says, "I'm hungry and I hate you Dad!". I do my best to get him dressed as soon as possible.

Our mornings are another highlight of my days. A typical morning finds us at the breakfast table, discussing politics or baseball. We'll normally sit there for twenty minutes as I eat cereal and he clangs bowls and sippy cups against the tray.

I know the bath time memories are limited, but I do hope that my son always finds time for breakfast with dad.

ac