Rookie Dad: It's been a year

It was a year ago yesterday when The Youngling finally graced us with her presence. I won't go in to alot of details from that day other than to say that the 22 hours leading up to her birth was, well, lengthy. I don't care to ever sleep in a hospital room recliner again. It's just not as comfortable as you think it would be.

But in the end it was all worth it because we got to see her eat a whole bunch of cake on Sunday. Us and about 20 others, actually. Yes, we broke the big rule that I've seen in parenting newsletters and magazines that says "just have the grandparents there and keep it small, your one year old will be riddled with anxiety and likely cry and crawl in to the corner with a huge crowd around her". Those magazines and newsletters aren't worth the ink or bytes used to create them.

The Youngling showed no signs of anxiety and was totally herself. Right down to refusing to eat anything on a plate. So the cake went directly on the tray of her high chair and she meticulously ate the frosting then got all up in that cake's chocolatey business. The wedge of two-layer cake was eventually smashed in to a gooey mass and she was working on building a coffee grounds-style beard but with cake.

The most impressive fact was that The Youngling kept her hair clean in spite of taunts and encouragement from her aunts to do otherwise. The clean-up was easy, too. Rather than try to clean her with a wash cloth or baby wipes we just gave her a quick bath and got back to the grind of opening her presents. After those hours of excitement she took a three hour nap and we cleaned up cake.

Rookie Dad: She's got her shots

Nobody ever looks forward to shots - unless you truly enjoy pain. I know I don't particularly like shots and I've been know to pass out having blood drawn - I'd make a terrible intravenous drug user. So it's no shock that The Youngling screamed her head off when she got her one year shots earlier this week. I actually did the whole good parent thing and read the information sheet provided for each shot - MMR, Hepatitis A, H1N1 and Chicken Pox.

That's when I was informed that some toddlers get a rash from the MMR shot - it's nothing to worry about and some toddlers have a reaction to the Chicken Pox vaccine a couple weeks out. All in all none of it sounded too bad.

Until the day after the shots when The Youngling was still groggy. One of the shots had caused her to develop a fever which she fought all day long. That particular day ended in a bath to cool her down and a few rounds of infant acetaminophen. She eventually pulled through all of that only to come down with what turned in to a full body rash. It looks like she was wearing carefully applied costume makeup all over her body but I've been reassured that it only lasts a couple days and she'll be back to her normal looking self. Even covered in a rash, The Youngling is still overly huggable and while people were happy to see us parents show up at a couple Thanksgiving shindigs yesterday they were downright overjoyed to see the baby. People cooed and played and crawled with her. Nobody crawled with me or wanted to bounce me on their lap. I'm starting to develop an inferiority complex.

Rookie Dad: Climbing the ranks

The Youngling is getting dangerously close to her first birthday and that means cake, messes and tons of progress that Rookie Dad is totally unprepared for.

The first progress, crawling, led to the initial gate leading from the living room to the dining room. That was easy. The second gate, from the hallway to the kitchen, was more involved (pricey). We wanted something sturdy yet easy for us aging adults to deal with. A metal swinging gate was just the ticket plus it's expandable for when we eventually have to corral The Youngling in to a smaller area by keeping her away from the hallway and the stairs leading to the second floor. I hear stairs can be dangerous for toddlers.

Then I learned that stairs are, in fact, dangerous for toddlers.

Last Saturday, as I tried to entertain the speedy little girl while her mom showered upstairs, I ran to the kitchen for some food (shocking). I figured that nothing could happen in the brief amount of time in which I was gone.

I was wrong.

In the 30 or so seconds I left The Youngling unattended she had crawled to the bottom of the stairs and pulled herself up to the second step. That elevation, while it nearly doubled her height, proved to be too much for her to handle. That's when I heard a solid "thud" and instant crying. Not just any crying but downright hysterical crying. The kind that makes the entire body shake. The kind of crying that happens with the eyes closed and fists balled up.

That's what can happen in 30 seconds. I think it's time to move the gate.