Oh, she is a looker. And that was back when she was just a wee 5 months old. She’s been piling on the personality every day since.
Well, most days. Some days are for resting.
And then we did some Easter, and you could sorta say our little Bunny was born for it.
I knew Long Island City has a lot of babies. I did not know it has hundreds and hundreds of babies. If you want to see a cute overload, line up three hundred 1-3 year olds and set them loose on a field of candy-filled eggs. They aren’t yet quite old enough to Get It, so there’s a lot of toddling along to the first egg in sight and plopping down right there to eat it. Then the parents fly in to wrangle, with some of the cagier ones hustling the team down to the end zone for the easy pickings ahead of the mob. Can’t help thinking how much more fun those kids would have if the parents would just butt out. I mean, on their own they’d have a ball in there for an hour or more. Ah well. Parenthood. But I digress. The sun was shining, everybody had a good time, everybody got loot, and – believe it or not – zero tears in the ring. All morning we only heard two kids crying, and that was after all the hullaballoo. That’s a happy Easter. Avery will be front and center next year!
But wait, there’s more! We’ve been trying for ages to reunite with some of the Bradley group, to touch base after six months of parenthood. I started a Facebook group (NYC.BradleyBabies – by all means open to all) to keep in touch, but life has a way of relentlessly moving forward. Some have kept in touch, and with Marjorie leading the charge we finally managed to nail down a day that worked for a few of us.
Is it possible to get a good picture of three babies?
No it is not.
But it was really terrific to catch up and compare notes (read: babies) with Lynn & Eric (and meeting Silas) and Julie & Mike (and meeting Leo). Leo is crawling, Silas uses the potty, and Avery has teeth. And lungs. And may or may not be showing signs of needing a certain amount of the spotlight. And she can read! Ok, she eats books. So they each excel in their own delightful and charming ways. I can say with absolute confidence that I have never had so much fun in a room full of babies. We plan to meet up again soon, and hopefully more of Mary Esther’s Bradley Method alums will be able to join.
It was interesting to note that all three of us fellas are loving fatherhood, and we are heavily involved. This is supposedly common with Bradley Method grads. I reckon it’s probably more to do with the sort of guys we are, and the sort of women we marry. That select group does things like the Bradley Method partner-coached childbirth course. I’m sure there’s a thesis paper in it, if you’re looking.
I love being a dad. I really love being Avery’s dad. Full disclosure: she makes it pretty easy.
