Tough phase

"You're the worst father ever, now get me a boob"

I’m in a tough phase right now. Not Mia, she’s peachy. After a near-German-like two months off I’m finally back at work. It’s been good to feel useful again, a productive member of society, but I spend most of the day staring at pictures covering my cubicle walls of my family, calling for updates or checking e-mail in the hope that Corrie wrote me with some cute anecdote or developmental milestone.

They met me at the T on the way home yesterday and we all walked the dog home, which is when it begun. She no longer needs her dad apparently. Corrie will hold her and she’ll be fine, but as soon as I pick her up she starts in on the wailing. I pass her back and she stops.

So this morning I wake up early to walk the dog and take her to the park before going in to work. Corrie nursed her early and put her in bed so she could sleep next to her. It’ll break your heart to see how cute they are there. I change her diaper and get her dressed, but as soon as I strap her into the Baby Bjorn, she starts wailing again. We make it around the block before I break down, give up and come back home, Walter cheated of romping time with his friends. Of course as soon as we get home and her mom holds her she stops.

Apparently this is just one of the phases she’ll go through, as noted in “The Wonder Weeks: How to turn your Baby’s 8 great fussy phases into magical leaps forward”. She needs her mom now, and at some point she’ll need her dad. Later on it’ll suck to be Corrie, but right now it sucks to be me.