Workadaddy.com

We are expecting our second child within the next 4 weeks. I'm excited in some ways and have participated in birthing classes as best I could. However, I think I suffer from a common dad issue - I haven't really shown the type of enthusiasm that my wife would like.

I don't think I'm on my own, I think it's probably a common male trait. I will be a good father and take great care of our newborn, but I don't really know how to do that when our baby isn't here yet.

I try to be supportive of my wife, but I have to be honest in that this is not my strength. I'll wake up at all hours and change innumerable diapers, but I just am no good at showing up for my wife until those talents are needed.

I quickly ran outside to get the morning paper. I come back inside and my 3 year is no longer sitting at the table eating her breakfast. I hear her upstairs in the bathroom.

Me: "Honey what are you doing?"
3 yr old: "I'm going poop."
I frantically run up the stairs. Just as I get into the doorway, she's sliding off her toddler toilet seat.
Me: "Noooooo, Don't get off the toilet until I wipe."
Of course, It's too late.
3 yr old: "Why?"
Me: "Because...."
She turns around to see poo smeared on the seat.
3 yr old: "Yuk."

I guess she'll only learn by experience right?

I love road trips, though bringing a small child on a road trip was not something I had fully appreciated. A couple weeks ago I decided to try it out - three days of driving with my three and a half year old son. I knew he had handled several hours in the car before and so I figured we could make it work. I also had my secret weapon of a portable DVD player.

As I moved into the role of being a working dad myself, the term workadaddy started to mean something slightly different to me than the sixties use of the term. I am no longer in my twenties or teens for that matter, though the counter culture still exists in its own forms for these age groups and probably always will; However, I am now part of the culture to which they are rebelling. I am the establishment. I have become the man. I work; I go home; and I enjoy my simple life with my family.

Last summer, I took my nephew and son to a little pond and rented a pole to introduce them to fishing. Now, this pond is at a resort and you can see these monsterous fish in the bottom - so it all seemed a little too easy. The guys who rented me the poles also said that the best bait to use is string chees - no wonder the fish are so big.

This is the first in a series of things that I believe deserves some attention - safety - in particular, child safety. Now most of us parents will distinctly remember when we were kids and how our parents keep us "safe" in the car. Sleeping in the back of a station wagon on top of all the luggage was my personal favorite. Nowadays, kids have to be in car seats of one type or another until they're 8 or 9.

This week kids went back to school and I am amongst the joyous for the first time. Suddenly I understand why Labour day is a time to celebrate. Granted my three year old has been crying and clinging each morning, but that hasn't stopped me from getting out the door.