avery

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.

We bought our daughter a really nice crib. Non-toxic stain, responsibly harvested solid wood, organic sheets, organic mattress – the kind that doesn’t collapse in the middle over time. Not a top of the line crib, maybe, but certainly not far from it. It’s got, oh, miles of room to stretch out. She can lie in the middle and even if she stretches her arms wide she can’t touch both sides. She’s got more than a couple of feet of length to grow in to. She’s going to be good in this bed until she’s 5.

Why then, night after night, do we find her like this?

A strange little bird, that one. Reminds me of the time my parents found me asleep in the toy cupboard.

Meanwhile, she’s putting her waking hours to good use, with precious little time given over to napping. Much more important things to do. Like… yelling. And such. But she’s very happy. New experiences every day. She loves avocado, of course, and sweet potato, and banana, and even a taste of watermelon. Apple sauce? Not sure about that one. Not sure at all. So far she shows no sign of inheriting her daddy’s sweet tooth. I say wait til she discovers ice cream. Boom. Daddy win.

Coming up in the next week or two we’ll be working up the courage to part company with Avery for half a day each week. That’s assuming we can find a slot in the schedule that works for everyone at Fuel HQ. Having Avery at the team meetings is fun, to be sure, but productivity takes a hit when one of us has to tend to the bunny every few minutes. So… we can do five hours once a week without her, right? We managed almost two hours last week when Katie babysat for us. Even if we were only half a block away, it still counts! Not really looking forward to it, but the benefits outweigh the sucky balls, so brave it we must. Socialization and independence is really important. Not to mention covering the team business. But many kids go through a shy phase, some never get past it, and it would be great to help her dodge that trauma. She needs to know she’s fine without Mum or Dad around. Do I sound like I’m trying to convince myself?

She’ll be fine.

Anyone else notice that Time Warner has slowed the fast forward feature on their DVRs? How penisy is that? You have to hit FFWD twice to get double time. Is any other cable company doing that? They will. I would love to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation with their advertisers. All sorts of back slapping and high fivesing, I’m sure. It really makes me understand that I need to try harder to get Almost Broken in front of them. The format will save television, viewers will love it, and the show is awesome. So easy. I will sit down with Warner Bros at the Banff festival and open their eyes.

Just checked on Avery in her crib. She’s about halfway through the first turn. Strange little bird.