Junior Says Daddy Just Isn't the Same

I've said before in this blog (I think) that after Junior was born, Mother Nature was pretty much through with me for a couple of years. Well, not COMPLETELY through with me but Nature just wants me to go out and kill something for dinner. Mammas do babies. Daddys do dinner. This is my opinion of how nature works because I don't think that we, as dads, are as good at taking care of babies as Mammas are.

Well, Junior supported my hypothesis. Allow me to set the stage: Junior is laying in his crib this weekend, happy as a puppy with two peters, when all of a sudden he decides that laying down isn't cutting the mustard anymore. Mamma is in the kitchen doing her mamma thing so I take it upon myself to go get Junior, pick him up, and try to comfort him (read: try to get that crying to stop at all costs). Well, obviously I forgot to put on deoderant b/c Junior was having none of my smelly self. He kept on keeping on with his balling.

I've also said before that I'm not the most patient of people. It takes me approximately 30 seconds to reach the point where I've had enough crying. Surprisingly, I pushed my tolerance limit to about 5 minutes in this case. At which point Junior is still not "comforted" (read: ceased the crying).

At this point, Mamma saw that Junior wasn't "comforted" and I certainly wasn't "comfortable", so she stops what she's doing and comes to get him. When she took him, it was like someone flipped switch. The clouds parted, the sun shone through, and Junior (quietly!) snuggled in.

I can't say as I blame him. If I had a choice of snuggling up to my armpit, or snuggling up to Mamma's boob, I'd choose Mamma's boob too. He's a smart kid.

However, this just goes to show you once again that Mammas are made for this type of thing. Even babies recognize this fact.

Now, Junior and I often get good quality time where he's happy with me. I'm not trying to imply that the above applies in every situation. I'm just saying that when worse comes to worse, when the breaks get the boys (to quote Ronald Reagan as George Gipp in "Knute Rockne-All American"), Junior says "hand me to Mamma and win just one for the Gipper!"

...and I'm cool with that!

Now, if you'll pardon me, I've got to go out and kill some dinner.