You'd be forgiven for thinking that things here at Adaptive Daddy Towers have been moving along at a sedate pace, since I haven't posted for over a week.
Not a bit of it!
Of course having a one month old, makes life anything but sedate. Both Mrs T and I are doing are best to focus on our lovely son and work around the chronic lack of sleep. So, ofcourse, its only the lack of blog action that makes it look like not much is afoot in our lives.
Again, appearances can be deceptive....
As it happens, I've had the next three posts in mind for a while already. It had been my intention to have the first of the 3 be about our lovely Scottish Nappies! I've been busy making films and taking pictures for this topic, and you'd be reading about them now if I hadn't been roundly defeated by the massed ranks of Apple and their deceptively simply (looking) i-Give up. Once the videos and pics have been successfully linked to the blog, you'll have all that to look forward to....
So I called this post Thinking Ahead, although thinking ahead isn't an arbitrary title, nor simply a reference to the fact that I (shock, horror!) had actually thought ahead about posts to come, but also refers to key issues for Adaptive Daddy.
You could call it 'Thinking Ahead', but perhaps the issue is more accurately summed-up in the phrase, thinking my way out of any given situation'. The best example of this is 'The Cuddle Trap'.
'The Cuddle Trap' is that most sinister and under-hand of baby ploys, it works like this: I'm sure I'm not alone amongst the (new) fathers of the world in enjoying the bonding moment of cuteness that is taking your child in your arms and essentially just reveling in their cuteness as you think to yourself 'We made that!'...and 'He's cute, like, objectively, good-looking'. Now these moments are unmistakably precious and amazing. It's just, did you think about how they would end? Are you, caught for 20 mins, 30 mins an hour in 'The Cuddle Trap? It's all well and good starting the cuddle, but did I think about how I would successfully end it? The answer most times out of 10 is a resounding 'No'!
What does all this boil down to, well...put bluntly, it makes very little difference if I can successfully lift the baby, hold him, place him in the stroller, push him in the stroller, carry him in the car-seat, change his nappy etc, if I haven't thought about the transition from one scenario to the next. Clearly you can't always plan what or where you (or the baby & you) will need to go or do next, but often times it helps...
Let's go back to our 'Cuddle Trap' example. Say I'm holding the baby in my arms while I'm sitting on the sofa. I can't get up from the sofa whilst holding the baby safely, its just not a physical possibility. That means that without Mrs T to help. I can't move the baby to where he needs to go next, unless I've thought my way out of this situation in advance. In this case, I have to remember before I sit down on the couch with SJ in my arms to bring the inside stroller (with car seat attached) to where I can reach it so that when SJ needs to go for a nappy change, its time to nurse, needs to be moved around to calm him down or whatever the case may be, I'm now all set up to not only enjoy the baby in the here and now (on the sofa) but am also able to place him in the stroller and move him to wherever he's off to next.
Of course, that's one example of a phenomenon, an example that has happened often enough for me to know now what has to happen to resolve it. This doesn't change the fact that the need to plan ahead (an escape route from any given scenario if you will) is one of the constant challenges of being Adaptive Daddy.
Not a bit of it!
Of course having a one month old, makes life anything but sedate. Both Mrs T and I are doing are best to focus on our lovely son and work around the chronic lack of sleep. So, ofcourse, its only the lack of blog action that makes it look like not much is afoot in our lives.
Again, appearances can be deceptive....
As it happens, I've had the next three posts in mind for a while already. It had been my intention to have the first of the 3 be about our lovely Scottish Nappies! I've been busy making films and taking pictures for this topic, and you'd be reading about them now if I hadn't been roundly defeated by the massed ranks of Apple and their deceptively simply (looking) i-Give up. Once the videos and pics have been successfully linked to the blog, you'll have all that to look forward to....
So I called this post Thinking Ahead, although thinking ahead isn't an arbitrary title, nor simply a reference to the fact that I (shock, horror!) had actually thought ahead about posts to come, but also refers to key issues for Adaptive Daddy.
You could call it 'Thinking Ahead', but perhaps the issue is more accurately summed-up in the phrase, thinking my way out of any given situation'. The best example of this is 'The Cuddle Trap'.
'The Cuddle Trap' is that most sinister and under-hand of baby ploys, it works like this: I'm sure I'm not alone amongst the (new) fathers of the world in enjoying the bonding moment of cuteness that is taking your child in your arms and essentially just reveling in their cuteness as you think to yourself 'We made that!'...and 'He's cute, like, objectively, good-looking'. Now these moments are unmistakably precious and amazing. It's just, did you think about how they would end? Are you, caught for 20 mins, 30 mins an hour in 'The Cuddle Trap? It's all well and good starting the cuddle, but did I think about how I would successfully end it? The answer most times out of 10 is a resounding 'No'!
What does all this boil down to, well...put bluntly, it makes very little difference if I can successfully lift the baby, hold him, place him in the stroller, push him in the stroller, carry him in the car-seat, change his nappy etc, if I haven't thought about the transition from one scenario to the next. Clearly you can't always plan what or where you (or the baby & you) will need to go or do next, but often times it helps...
Let's go back to our 'Cuddle Trap' example. Say I'm holding the baby in my arms while I'm sitting on the sofa. I can't get up from the sofa whilst holding the baby safely, its just not a physical possibility. That means that without Mrs T to help. I can't move the baby to where he needs to go next, unless I've thought my way out of this situation in advance. In this case, I have to remember before I sit down on the couch with SJ in my arms to bring the inside stroller (with car seat attached) to where I can reach it so that when SJ needs to go for a nappy change, its time to nurse, needs to be moved around to calm him down or whatever the case may be, I'm now all set up to not only enjoy the baby in the here and now (on the sofa) but am also able to place him in the stroller and move him to wherever he's off to next.
Of course, that's one example of a phenomenon, an example that has happened often enough for me to know now what has to happen to resolve it. This doesn't change the fact that the need to plan ahead (an escape route from any given scenario if you will) is one of the constant challenges of being Adaptive Daddy.
Can't wait for the next three posts! I like your A-Team philosophy of planing ahead too.
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