Katie Loves Mommy

[billroper]

Although I occasionally have helped with the process, daisy_knotwise is the one who's always actually put Katie to bed at night. And tonight, it took about an hour-and-a-half to manage it, as every time I tried to put her down, she'd wake up and squawk at me.

At the end, she was lying with her head on my chest and, every so often, she'd pick her head up and look at the door for Mommy to come in.

Mommy should be home Thursday, darling.

Comments

[mdlbear]

Oddly enough, I was usually the one who put the kids to bed; this probably came about because both of them were born by C-section, and Mommy wasn't in any shape for lifting.

Putting the kids to bed invariably involved singing, and usually a story.

[jrittenhouse.livejournal.com]

Kids are far more creatures of routine than you'd think, and one of the problems I had for a long time was that Mommy was the person who could do a lot of basic stuff with Mere, and who the heck are you, dude?

In my case, that was because (1) Daddy was furry, which was a huge I-Don't-Think-So with her; I had to shave off my beard to get near her for the first few months. Also (2) Mommy had tons and tons of experience with babies and kids, and I had zippo, and was scared of the Now-What-The-Hell-Do-I-Do bits with Mere.

So what I tell dads is that they're better off diving in from the get-go on this stuff; of course, there's also the question of whether Mommy is all that willing to let Daddy, the stumblebum, get that close to dropping Kiddo on their heads. (Mommies can sometimes get a little possessive on this subject.)

Good luck to all of you.

[stevieannie.livejournal.com]

My kids all had the opposite reaction to beards - my bearded hubby has always been good about scraping off sticky bits and other repulsive jobs, so they got used to the beard early on.

Even to this day they have an inbuilt distrust of anyone who *doesn't* have a beard. Which can be quite amusing at conventions and re-enactments where beards are the de-facto state of male facial existence :-)

[jrittenhouse.livejournal.com]

It was a little different with my kiddo; we adopted her from a Chinese orphanage at nine months, and both she and her twin sister (doesn't live with us, long story) have/had a form of sensory disruption from the time they spent in the orphanage. Think of all the clues your body gives you about 'I'm hungry' or 'I'm tired', and that sort of thing. Now, think of how difficult it would be to deal with hunger or tired if you didn't have the basic understanding that stimuli A meant 'I'm getting hungry', etc.

We've worked hard at it, but there's still some of this around. In the early stages, Fur That Moved absolutely freaked our daughter out. It was if you'd stuck her hand into something cold, slimy and vibrating. And daddy (and animals) was Fur That Moved.

[stevieannie.livejournal.com]

Yup - that would definitely explain it :-) Tim introduces himself to other small children (ie. those unused to beards) as "Mr Scary Hairy Man" :-) They invariably scream and run away.

Who would have thought that facial hair could cause such an extreme reaction? But it does - you are quite right!

BTW: congratulations on working so hard with your daughter - it's nice to know that there are so many Good People around :-)

[qnofhrt.livejournal.com]

Who would have thought that facial hair could cause such an extreme reaction?

Both my nieces had the same reaction to my husband when they were little. Grampa (and one dad) had a mustache but no beard. Of course they were timid in general.

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

I'll second what JR said about creatures of habit. Elaine and I have a ritual we've done for bedtime since the girls were born that involves, among other things, both of us putting them to bed. We've never had a problem when only one of us is available.

However, as you know, Bob, when Melanie was born, I had back problems resulting in a) back surgery and 2) not being able to hold Melanie until she was about eight months old. I believe that that strongly impacted her acceptance of me and we still have repercussions from it.

[billroper]

Bob? Brain cramp? :)

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

No, the phrase is "As you know, Bob." For this phrase, Bob=Bill, or Joe, or Fred, or Gretchen, or any other name.

Sort of like 2+2=5 for relatively large values of "2."

[jrittenhouse.livejournal.com]

http://www.alternatehistory.com/gateway/essays/MusingsAsYouKnowBob.html

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

But not just for AH. I believe it has an entry in the much more general Turkey City Lexicon.

[mbcrui.livejournal.com]

Babies are the most conservative creatures around. They DO NOT like change of any kind. When Mommy gets back, maybe you guys should take turns putting her to bed. She'll get used to it very quickly.

We have the opposite problem. Dad always put the boys to bed. When he can't for some reason, they're really creeped out (still) by the fact that I can read out loud at bed time. It just isn't on their radar. (And I don't do it *right*)

[daddy-guido.livejournal.com]

You'll do fine - think of this as an opportunity to bond with her.

[carolf.livejournal.com]

At the end, she was lying with her head on my chest

Mommy should be home Thursday, darling.

How beautiful. I think I'm going to cry.

Somehow, Bill, I never quite saw you this way, even though I knew you had a daughter, now. But "darling"? A tiny child on that bear chest (pun not entirely by mistake) ... I'm so happy for all of you.

[update on Mommy? Or is that in an earlier post I've not reached yet?]