My grandson Cal is doing great. He is great. I keep saying this, but I had no idea how attached I would get to him so quickly. It's a highlight of my week when I know I'm going to see him.
Before Cal was born, I wasn't sure how fast my baby parenting skills would return, or if they would return at all. But it would seem I had nothing to worry about.
For one thing, changing a diaper is like riding a bike. You do it a few thousand times as I did back in the 90s and early 2000s and it becomes awfully hard to forget.
You remember, for instance, how to open a fresh diaper with one hand and position it underneath the child while using the other hand to lift their butt by pulling their feet up. You quickly recall wipey techniques for fast and efficient clean-up.
And in the case of boys, you remember to cover them up so as not to get doused by an unexpected arc of pee.
All of that was fine. But it turns out I'm also still pretty good at getting babies to sleep.
I have, I think, a natural rhythm and bounce that allows me to calm little ones down when I'm holding them. I always had a knack for getting my own kids to sleep years ago, and it appears to have transferred to Cal.
Well, it's either that or else I'm just insanely boring and the kid can't help but drift off in my presence. Either way, I am the Baby Whisperer.
It is such a joy when Cal comes over and I go to take him out of his car seat. He looks at me for a second and then gives one of those big baby smiles that says, "It's you! I know you! Mom, it's that guy! Grandpa! I love him!"
To say my heart melts in those moments is something more than an understatement. That's when I can't wait for him to grow up so I can start spoiling the little guy properly.
Spoiling, in addition to diaper changing and getting cranky babies to sleep, is right near the top of the grandpa job description.
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