Adventures Of Fatherhood

Adventures Of Fatherhood
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A disturbing morning routine is presently at play at home.

Invariably, for the last week or two around 5 in the morning, Beckett has been wandering into our bedroom and giving us an early wake-up call.

Sometimes he makes enough noise stomping through the room (actually the entire second floor) that it wakes Pam and me up before he gets close to the bed.

A couple times, since we apparently did not wake up as quickly as he wished, he resorted to banging his hands on the bed to stir us awake.

Other times, he managed to get so close to my face that his breathing actually woke me up. That was a little disturbing, obviously, and I prefer to not wonder how long he had been standing there.

On a particular weekend morning of note (it was 5:12), I woke up to him looking at me, saying, “Daddy I need to go potty, then I want some pancakes.”

I wish I could say I greeted him with a smile, but I didn’t. Not that he noticed since he was completely dark in the room as well as outside.

Actually, when I think about these early mornings later in the day, I realize I’m actually quite impressed with him because he’s waking up to use the bathroom.

Since he became potty trained back in October, he has only had a few accidents at night. That’s awesome I think.

Nonetheless, after about the 14th consecutive pre-5 a.m. awakening, it started to get a bit nerve-wracking.

We can’t be too hard on him because he has to go to the bathroom, but I sure wish he could do his business and then get back in bed for a spell, particularly on the weekends.

Instead, what usually happens is Beckett wants to chat in a loud fashion about this or that (the preferred topic the other morning was how he wanted to play soccer in the pool), and that wakes up his little brother down the hall.

The next thing I know it’s 6:15 in the morning and both kids have already had their breakfast, and I’m watching the sun peak up over the neighbor’s roof while trying to convince Beckett and Carson to stop standing and jumping on the furniture.

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With this parenting adventure come multiple “aha” moments every week.

These are situations that leave me scratching my head over how much life has changed since my kids were born almost four years ago.

The obvious disclaimer here is that life has changed for the better, of course, but with these wonderful new aspects of life come some tweaks to typical life situations.

For instance, last Sunday for the Super Bowl, we stayed home with the kids and consumed all the terrible, yet tasty, foods associated with football.

Pam and I thought it would be fun to watch the Super Bowl as a family, knowing full well the kids would be asleep soon after it started anyway.

We figured they would cooperate and even if they didn’t we could deal with it for an hour or so. Within minutes after kickoff, we were proven wrong.

It became apparent immediately we were not going to be able to enjoy the game and the commercials while the kids were awake. Therefore, we recorded it instead and came into it late.

For me, since we would be watching it on a delay, that meant staying off the computer and turning off the phone to ensure I didn’t hear anything about the game.

This was an interesting moment.

There we were watching Blue’s Clues instead of the Super Bowl because our kids would not stop being rambunctious and rough housing with us and each other.

Later, once the kids were down for the night and we were able to relax and watch the game, that beer sure did taste great.

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There is nothing better to me than seeing my sons hug.

Unfortunately, with a hugging episode occasionally come some extracurricular activities that are not as pleasant.

Usually it’s Beckett, who turns 4 years old in May, instigating a hug with his younger brother, Carson, 2. It’s a fairly new phenomenon in our lives, as up until a few months ago I think Beckett was still wondering when Carson was going to simply go away and give him his house back.

It seems he has now finally accepted Carson is here to stay and of late has been showing some affection to him through hugs and kisses.

The only problem is Carson is prone to deliver a little affection of his own during these hugs in the form of a right hook to the face.

Yes, we are in the hitting phase of the terrible 2s with Carson, who can look at you as sweet as can be one minute and then quickly land a slap atop the head. He thinks it’s all hilarious.

Beckett has been on the receiving end of several blows lately and he doesn’t like it.

However, since he has Carson by about 10 pounds in weight and eight inches or so in height, Beckett’s reaction usually results in some tears from his younger brother.

What happened the other night was Beckett gave Carson a hug and when he was finished squeezing him he was greeted by a slap to the side of the face that apparently hurt his ear. He then pushed Carson down to the ground and maneuvered his bottom so he could sit squarely on his little brother’s face.

Fortunately, I was there to stop him. He immediately said something along the lines of he started it. All I could muster was something like, “I know but you know better.”

I admit it was a lame response, but it’s all I could come up with.

About The Author: Steven Green

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The writer has been with The Dispatch in various capacities since 1995, including serving as editor and publisher since 2004. His previous titles were managing editor, staff writer, sports editor, sales account manager and copy editor. Growing up in Salisbury before moving to Berlin, Green graduated from Worcester Preparatory School in 1993 and graduated from Loyola University Baltimore in 1997 with degrees in Communications (journalism concentration) and Political Science.