Well, let's try this again...

The last entry was originally about the baby shower we had Saturday. I realized that baby showers are really not that bad - especially if it's for your baby.

Good things:

gifts (I even got one just for me)

food (free is ALWAYS good)

the chance to let everyone see that you want to be a part of every aspect of your child's life

Bad things:

being the unlucky person to discover the toilet's backed up

being the center of attention

That's it really. It's good that my "good things" list is bigger than my "bad things" list.

The gift I received is a book called 101 secrets a good dad should know, by Walter Browder and Sue Ellin Browder. It's really interesting for a few reasons. First, it's aimed specifically at dads. Second, it's not filled with shit like, "How to make the kid sleep when you want him to so you can watch the game in peace". Instead it's got stuff like "How to skip a rock", "How to carve a whistle", and "How to tell time by the stars". Good stuff - stuff that makes it seem like I might want to actually be a part of my child's life. OK - I know that sounds bitter. It's not meant to be, really. It's just that I do want to be active in my son's life. I want to teach him things and show him how to do stuff. Sure, I have all these high hopes and perfect intentions now, and everyone around me is saying, "it'll be different when he's here". Well of course it will - I'm no idiot. It's simple and natural to idealize the whole thing. If I sat around going, "God! There's gonna be lots of diapers, he's going to rebel at some point, there will be sleepless nights, etc" it would get depressing. I know all that stuff is coming. But I also know that I have a chance to do some really great things. Ok, enough of that for now.

As for the toilet... and this will tie in to the other bad thing... I discovered that one toilet and 15 women are not a good combination. I had been feeding Ethan (something I really enjoy doing for some odd reason) and explaining to him what was going on (like I had any idea myself). The coffee I had gotten on the way up had now started to fill my bladder. Once I couldn't stand it anymore I handed him off and headed for the bathroom. I did my duty and when I tried to flush I saw little bits of toilet paper shooting back into the bowl. Knowing that I had not used any (men don't need to every time, you know) I deduced that it had become congested prior to me using it. This knowledge did not make me feel any better. It was still me who had to go tell the hostess that her toilet was stopped up. I froze. The thought of everyone in that room knowing what happened to me made me feel a little sick. I already feel like Amanda's family thinks I'm weird and some of them may just not like me. This was not going to impress anyone. It really didn't become a big deal though, thank god. And I only felt worse when I found out there was no plunger in the house and that the Amanda's sister (the hostess) was going to have to borrow one from a neighbor. I felt terrible - interrupting the whole event just because I had to pee. I know it's not really a big deal - it's just the whole 'center of attention' thing. I was really trying hard not to stand out, just let the whole thing happen and enjoy the food and gifts...

Meanwhile, we did get lots of good things. My parents, who weren't able to make the 6 hour trip since they're saving their time for the birth, sent some presents - one of which is a supercool play yard. It's got lights and sound and vibrates and can record a few seconds of whatever Amanda and I want to say plus a CD player for the crib!. How cool is that?! My son's first CD player... he's gonna rock out... in a few years. We also got a high chair (nothing says "wow! you're having a baby" like a highchair. I don't know why that is, it's just something I noticed), lots of clothes, books, stuffed animals, a travel system (that means carseat, don't ask me why) and endless tips on how to do things. Even with all that we got, there's lots we need (crib, for example). Here we go!

previous - next

duh - 2008-09-15

hi mac - 2006-12-12

corporate whore - 2006-11-03

new - 2006-10-05

elvis costello sings for you - 2006-09-27

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