Last week was our toughest yet as parents. It all began when Squish endured a few days of unexplained fevers and interrupted sleep. We eventually found a rock-hard lump on her leg that was clearly the source of her pain. Our baby needed surgery to drain the infection.
The title above could just as easily read “My First 9 Months as a Dad”. I don’t think of myself specifically as an adoptive dad — I am a dad — to a beautiful, curious, vibrant little nine-month-old baby.
My new after-work ritual marks a big shift for me. No longer do I get to veg straight away, as in my bachelor days. This is a sacrifice, but it is one that I am willing to make.
I have previously written about how children are wired to need both a mother and father. This is a fact that has come into much sharper focus for me as our little Squish has begun regularly calling out our names.
Since August last year, I have been writing a series called ‘The Adventures of Squish’ about our adopted baby. For legal reasons, my wife Angie and I were unable to make our baby’s real name public until the adoption was finalised.
Here are some important lessons that Angie and learned from our first flight with Squish. Take time away to be with your family. Don’t let the fear of flying with your baby stop you from taking that important time away.
Listening to ‘Unplanned’ made my wife and I deeply grateful for Squish, and deeply grateful to her birth mother and father for staring down every challenge they faced to give this beautiful baby the gift of life.
It has dawned on me in recent weeks that the time to model “the good life” for Squish is not when she starts talking or begins school or reaches adolescence — but today.
Sanity has prevailed in the case of a gender dysphoric child currently before the Family Court, with the judge allowing evidence from an expert who believes that rates of gender dysphoria are on the rise due to social contagion.
It has officially begun: Squish is eating solids. Watching her navigate her first few mouthfuls of food, after months of a milk-only diet, was predictably entertaining.
RESOURCES
ASSETS
TRAINING
Events
MUMS
© Copyright Dads4Kids 2002 – 2024 All rights reserved (ABN: 63 563 020 918)
The Fatherhood Foundation Incorporated trading as Dads4Kids is a Harm Prevention Charity listed under Subdivision 30_EA of the Australian Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 with Tax Deductible Status (DGR) for donations
Dads4Kids – Building Men. Growing Fathers. Changing Generations.
