The mother and child reunion

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Monday was the first day that my son and I were back to a normal weekday schedule in about two weeks. There was a mild case of readjustment to be home with just me for him, but for the most part the day was smooth sailing. We got in our naps, ate our meals without issue and eagerly welcomed Mommy home at her normal time. This was all quite a relief to me, as my wife’s work schedule threw a wrench in the system temporarily when she started a week of third shift back on December 8th.

Now the nice thing about third shift is that after working seven straight ten plus hour shifts she gets a full week off. It is a nice opportunity for us all to be home together and, for me anyway, it can be a nice break from the daily stay at home dad routine. We can go out and do things, tend to household chores that may have been neglected or just stay home and be entertained by little man’s antics. The other important thing is that our son gets more time to spend with his mother, which is very important to me.

Going into our non-traditional arrangement one of my biggest concerns was that over time our son would come to me first for things even if we were both available. Obviously from his viewpoint it would be understandable, just as for me growing up I looked to my mother for comfort and guidance because my father traveled extensively for work. Now at this point with my wife still nursing he does not have a preference of one parent over another.

Still, as she will soon begin the process of weaning him, making him less dependent on her for his daily nutrition and the comfort that nursing provides, I have to be cognizant of their need for time alone together so the incredible bond they have now will continue to flourish. It is very important to me that our son knows that he has two parents that he can depend on equally to satisfy his physical and emotional needs.

Just as I am planning this post out in my head, I can hear a key hit the door lock and very soon little man will become quite animated at the first sight he’ll have of his mommy since early in the morning. It is that excitement that makes parenting worthwhile and you can see the joy radiating on my wife’s face.

He is currently trying to find his voice and rambles on invariably throughout the day. One of the things I have been trying to do is talk back to him when he does this and encourage him to say what I hope will be his first word: Momma.