Day 10 –

At 1:00 a.m. I was awaken by a loud cry; lil’ man was hungry. Mom had coached me on this routine, but in my half-awake stupor, I forgot to actually feed him. At 1:45, I was awaked again by another round of loud cries. This time I remembered the a.m. routine – he needed food. A 45-minute feeding put me back into bed around 3:00 a.m. Normally I wake up at 5:00 a.m. and begin preparing for the day. On the day that we had an early flight to catch, I woke up at 5:30 a.m. We rushed to get things together and focused on catching the plane. Mom fed our son, while we drove, and we managed to make it in time for the flight. A quick kiss goodbye (I was still in pajamas) and mom was off to see her family. Lil’ man went back to sleep at home and stayed still until the next feeding.

The rush of the morning left Lil’ Man groggy. We went back home and he slept solidly until the 9:00 a.m. feeding. Afterwards, I took him back to the hardware store for supplies needed to improve our house’s readiness for the coming toddler. At the store, he was very patient and even engaged a few of the employees; smiles and bashfulness abounded and we finished our trip in calm. Back at home, I began (and completed) the childproofing project, with our son sitting in his car seat and supervising my work. The next project was cleaning up the mess and then cleaning our muddy floors, from all of the recent rain and snow we have had. The noon feeding went well and-so did the following play time. This was beginning to look easy. I received several phone calls, from concerned grandparents and friends who were checking up on our progress. I also heard from Mom and found that her travel was unimpeded. Things were going well. After the 3:00 p.m. feeding, I placed him is his rocker chair and attached the light bar that was included with the chair. Up to this point, he had never expressed interest in it but that changed today. After a solid hour of flashing lights, music and reaching for the hanging toys I put lil’ man back down. I grabbed a bachelor’s late lunch / early dinner (pizza and a beer) and readied for the 6:00 p.m. and then the 9:00 p.m. feeding. I was tired but things were working out. I went to bed at 10:00 p.m.