"There's only one of him, and there's two of us. How hard can it be?" Immortal words I uttered in the last days of the Pre Baby Era, and ones that I still live to regret. It's one of the things that they don't mention in the baby books about just how tiring it can be looking after a baby, even if there's two of you. At the end of the day, even if there's another person in the room with you, the majority of your attention is still on the baby, making sure he's ok and not about to scream the place down.
It therefore makes sense that caring for Jake needs to be a shared operation with enough down time away from the baby to keep us both sane. During the long summer holidays, it wasn't a problem as we were both at home, and it was actually quite nice to be able to send Kelsey out with her sisters or parents and have some quality Jake time at home. Coming back to the UK has meant that I'm back to work and that Kelsey is back home with Jake all day. I've recently started a teaching course meaning that I'm out of the house for a good 10 hours a day. This means that on my return, Kelsey is ready for a break and most of the time I'm more than willing to take him (let's be honest, I miss him during the day!).
For now, whilst the evenings are light, it's easy to keep him occupied by going outside for a walk or to look at the trees in the garden. In the winter, it's going to be a little tougher, and hopefully Kelsey will be able to meet his need to go outside each day where possible.
The balancing act comes in when I come home tired and it's sometimes tough to make the transition from being a trainee teacher at work to being a father at home when I walk through the door. Fortunately, just seeing him puts a smile on my face and gives me the boost of energy I need to scoop him up, even more so when he's in a chatty and smiley mood. My aim is try and keep school work at school so that when I come home I can give my full to Jake and Kelsey.
No comments:
Post a Comment