A Mommy Blog About Raising Men, Not Boys.
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Monday, June 18, 2007

The Daddy Business

I didn't write a Father's Day Post, for a couple of reasons.
I wasn't home most of the day.
and
I wanted to consider what I wanted to say a little more, and not have this post get lost in the endless shuffle of FATHER'S DAY posts across the blogosphere.

I know two dads who have always been very much into being dads.
One of them is my own.
Over protective to the point of madness according to some people's parenting, my Dad didn't mess around when I was little. If it wasn't safe, I didn't do it. I have pictures of me at the age of 4 in Florida, with zinc oxide on my nose, wearing a turleneck in the pool at our hotel. To protect my pasty white skin from the sun. I can promise you there was sunscsreen UNDER that turtle neck as well. Did I look crazy? Yes. Did I get a sunburn? NO. This same Dad would go on Brownie field trips, just in case I was scared. In a famous incident, the Brownies went to the Jaycees Haunted House when I was in 1st grade. I didn't think my dad needed to go. He went. And when the Haunted House had to be SHUT DOWN because a little blonde girl LOST HER MIND and HID in the house, her Daddy just happened to be there to go in and find her, and carry her out - sobbing.
My Dad is overprotective, but he kept me safe. So thank you Daddy, you did a good job - even if the turtleneck in the pool MIGHT HAVE BEEN a little overboard. I appreciate the lack of skin cancer and wrinkles now.

The other Dad is my husband. To clarify, my husband is a reformed reluctant Dad. When we were first dating, he didn't really seem to WANT children. Then, when we were told we couldn't have them, he was okay with adoption. When I told him I was pregnant, I'll leave it out, but he truly did freak out a bit. He wasn't ready, he was scared, he was worried and it was a rough time for him. It probably is for all guys.

But when I was about 15 weeks pregnant I got pneumonia and had to go the the hospital. I was so sick that they decided they need to Xray my lungs, despite the fact that I was pregnant. I was nervous, he was nervous, but away I went, to be quadruple layered in lead aprons so that the extent of the liquid in my lungs could be determined.

And ladies and gentlemen of the jury, do you know how you know the man you love has turned into a Reformed Reluctant Dad? This is how. When you are wheeled back from radiology he's sitting there, waiting for you with tears in his eyes. And the first words he says are "Do we still have a baby?"

He's also the guy who on Father's Day chooses something to make little boys hearts soar, rather than just something for himself to do. Such as this weekend, when he chose a museum full of giant dinosaus to make little boys joyous. Because on Father's Day, the thing that made him happy, was making the objects of his love happy.
I think he chose well.

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