Bab-E Bonding

So Bab-E Brother is (slightly older than) 6 months old, sitting up well, loving Mom-E's homemade baby food (at times, depending on day and food offered), and sleeping pretty well at night (trying to let him scream it out instead of that 3:30 am feeding).

In general, he's a smily happy, chunky little booger with five fat rolls on his arms (too cute).

But something else about Bab-E Brother has captured my fascination recently.

We've reached a new level in our bonding.

Don't get me wrong, there's a tremendous bond between infant and father that I believe starts in utero. Since Mom-E is the sole food supply, we'd still try to give Bab-E Brother a little skin-to-skin time with Dad-E. And, of course, Mom-E and I have always had a pretty equal division of labor when it comes to diaper changing, rocking to sleep, etc.

Let's face it, however, when push comes to shove, Bab-E's want their Mom-E's. That's nothing against Dad-E's. The fact is when Mom-E is the food supply, she's the favorite go-to parent, hands-down.

But something's happened recently with Bab-E Brother, and it's clear that he's now very cognizant of the fact that his two parents are two different people.

Maybe it helped that for the better part of a week after Mom-E's surgery that I got to carry him around constantly. Maybe it's just a developmental thing.

Either way I'm not complaining.

Whenever I walk in the room now, or we make eye contact, I get this bright-eyed smile, and that "uncontrollable twitch" thing that bab-e's do when they're excited.

And he starts to vocalize (aka shriek) or looks quite restless until I pick him up.

It's very sweet. I love it. It's energizing.

It's one of those "I could've had the worst day ever, and one reaction from him like that makes it disappear in an instant."

In short, he loves his Dad-E, and I love him.

I always have, mind you, but it's just an amazing feeling when you start to see that bond of love reciprocated from your child.

Have a good week,
See you on Wordless Wednesday,
Busy-Dad-E