Daytime Dad

Daytime Dad looks over Little One #2, who is a little more beautiful than the day before.
It’s late, sometime after 2 a.m., and she isn’t exactly screaming but she isn’t exactly sleeping, either.
Daytime Dad is tired, but what (working) parent isn’t with two children under the age of 4 these days?
Little One #2, whose blue eyes are closed, lifts her outstretched arms from the bed and wiggles her legs. Her face twists and then turns beet-red, signaling that a diaper change is just minutes away.
Excellent.
Daytime Dad scoops up the bundle and Off-For-The-Summer Mom gently falls back asleep.
Little One #2 grunts, groans and squirms in his arms.
We walk down the hall to the nursery and settle into an old yet comfortable rocker.
We sit and rock, sit and rock, sit and rock.
Neither one of us says anything, but Little One #2 looks like she has something on her mind, if not in her diaper.
So, too, does Daytime Dad — on his mind, that is.
“You are the most beautiful baby girl I’ve ever seen,” Daytime Dad says to wide-eyed Little One #2.
In typical 5-week-old fashion, she says nothing. Regardless, Daytime Dad convinces himself that she understands.
Little One #2 then reaches up at Daytime Dad and wraps her minuscule fingers around his nose. They might as well have been wrapped around his heart.
Daytime Dad smiles, rocks a little more, then says, “You’re not going to date until you’re 30. Or 35.”
Little One #2 says nothing.
“The first guy who shows up here to pick you up is going to be in for a big surprise,” Daytime Dad continues.
Little One #2 says nothing.
“Good,” Daytime Dad adds, “it’s sinking in.”
Little One #2 shifts her weight and lets out what Daytime Dad calls “the trumpet of the elephant.”
She wiggles on Daytime Dad’s chest and opens her mouth. She quints her eyes and then lets out the feed-me-I’m-hungry cry.
Daytime Dad can’t help her there so he does the next best thing: A diaper change.
He lies her on the changing table, leans over for a kiss and tells her, “I’m glad we had this chat.”

Little One #1 grabs his little chair and positions himself next to Daytime Dad.
Our patient — Little One #2 — lies on the operating, er, changing table with a luck of puzzlement.
“Doctor, we need the Desitin,” Daytime Dad tells Little One #1.
“OK, doctor, here’s the (inaudible but it does rhyme with Desitin),” Little One #1 responds.
Daytime Dad smiles at Little One #2, who no longer looks puzzled as she does confused.
It’s been nearly six months since Daytime Dad last changed diapers — Little One #1 finally (mercifully) mastered the toilet shortly after Christmas.
Little One #2, who is now no longer confused but rather quite irritated, frowns and belts out a groan that sounds too much like an elephant.
Daytime Dad removes the dirty diaper, discards it and cleans up Little One #2, who is now just angry.
“Doctor, we need a diaper, doctor,” Daytime Dad says to Little One #1.
“Here’s a diaper, doctor,” Little One #1 says. “And here’s the (inaudible but sounds kind of like Desitin.)”
Daytime Dad takes the ‘operating tools’ and gets Little One #2 ready to go. She is now infuriated and/or hungry.
“Thank you, doctor,” Daytime Dad says to Little One #1. “Excellent work.”
“Thank you, doctor,” Little One #1 replies.
Daytime Dad carries Little One #2 to Off-For-The-Summer Mom and smiles because the diaper-change, while taking a bit longer than  hoped, was a success for two reasons: Little One #2 is clean and Little One #1 felt part of the process.
Preparing a child for a new sibling is a delicate process. Daytime Dad and then-Expecting Mom believed it was crucial to keep Little One #1 engaged and involved, as much as possible.
As this study points out, it can be difficult for a child to adjust to sharing the parental limelight with a sibling.
Daytime Dad, who is about as close to a parenting expert as Boston is in distance to London, believes the more Little One #1 stays involved with the process — helping with diapers and baths, for example — the better.
Time, of course, will tell.

She came out crying, her 7-pound, 14.3-ounce body squirming like an inch worm.
She moved both her legs, each with distinct rolls, but kept her eyes shut. Her arms hung by her delicate side, but her minuscule fingers wiggled up, then down.
Daytime Dad, already smitten, knew right then his little girl would forever have his heart, as well as have him wrapped around her fingers.
She gently cried and was quickly reunited with her mother, who came out of her second delivery even more amazing than the first.
Daytime Dad believes in miracles. He believes in magic, but not the kind exhibited by teen wizards on big screens. He believes in faith, beauty and love, especially the kind that leaves one speechless.
On the second Sunday in June, in the wee hours of the morning, all were present when Little One #2 made her memorable entry to the world.
Daytime Dad gently takes his daughter into his hands and places her over his heart. He wishes the moment – which felt just as surreal as when Little One #1 arrived a little more than three years earlier – could last forever.
Hours pass, the sun makes its Sunday debut and Daytime Dad wonders what changes lay ahead, what adventures await and what this little girl will someday become.