Baby sister Trudi arrived a month ago, and Marty welcomed her with open arms right off the bat. Minutes after we brought her home from the hospital, he was smiling at her and saying “baby! baby!” with great delight. He has since learned her name, so he now refers to her as Trudi or baby interchangeably. While our new addition has added some more responsibilities and diminished our nightly sleep totals, Marty really hasn’t skipped a beat.
Paternity leave was glorious. While I had to check in periodically and deal with a little work here and there, I was able to focus almost all of my energy on my family. From Marty’s perspective, this really smoothed the transition. Any time Mama had to tend to Trudi, I was there for Marty. And when it was Daddy-Trudi time, Mama was able to give Marty her undivided attention.
Every morning, I’m still getting Marty up, fed, dressed, and ready for the day. Following a goodbye kiss for mom, he and I walk to the bus stop. Even after returning to work, I’ve been able to make it home on most days to greet him when he returns so we can have lunch together. Anne’s extremely fortunate to be off for a few months to spend time with the kids so I’m just doing my best to pitch in as much as possible. As you might imagine, every waking moment isn’t perfectly peaceful – especially the ones when they’re both upset about something and you’ve got stereo crying. However, for every moment of frustration, there are 100 that warm your heart. I suppose that’s just what parenting is.
In any event, Marty continues to grow and develop rapidly. He’s gone from baby to big boy seemingly overnight. Just over the weekend, he was watching Star Wars for the first time, and he was riveted. It was adorable to hear him say “Whoa!” as he leaned in to watch. He’s also really developing into quite the hockey fan. Despite having just turned two, he’s established that his favorite player is Kaapo Kakko, and he frequently requests that I play hockey highlights on my phone for him during meals. His mom doesn’t approve of too much screen time, but sometimes the distraction is helpful to get him to finish his yogurt or whatever we’re feeding him. While the games are typically on after his bedtime, I occasionally allow him to stay up and watch the first period with me. Is it weird that he’s my best friend? He can be exhausting at times, but I love him so much.
As I type this, Mr. Charisma’s still snoozing in his crib on the other side of the house. While I appreciate the quiet moments, I actually often miss him while he’s asleep. It’s hard to even remember life without Marty.
Life with Martin 