My Buddy and Me

This week is bittersweet for me.  It's the last week before Jennifer begins her maternity leave.  While I am thrilled to soon have her here full-time, and to welcome into the world our second child, this is the last full week of just Kyle and me.  By the time maternity leave ends, Kyle will be going to nursery school.

It's that whole old vs. new thing again.  We've been dealing with it a lot this year, and we have even more to come (for example, our neighbor, Kyle's best friend right now, moves to Colorado next week, and Kyle's babysitter moves to Maine in August).  It can be difficult at times.  Yet, it's unavoidable.  Change will happen, change must happen, change can be fun and the greatest thing that could ever happen to us.  Though we are often excited about the future, there's still that little tug that says, "Yeah, but what you have now is coming to an end."  I like what I have now.  I like it a lot. 

In three short years, Kyle has transformed from a crying/eating/pooping machine into my buddy.  We joke together, we can talk about our day, we build train tracks, we wrestle from time to time, and we occasionally debate religion and politics.  Kyle has really matured.  Many times it's fun doing things with him, and whenever that happens, the time flies and I almost feel as if we're just a couple friends hanging out.  At those times, I just love being a dad.

Naturally, in this final week of just him and me, Kyle has chosen to throw me a curve ball.  He has not napped since last Wednesday.  If this is the start of something permanent, then June 1, 2011, will be a day of infamy in our household.  When Kyle refuses to nap, his behavior goes sour. He whines often, fights with me, and starts testing the limits of what he can do.  He throws things.  He rips things.  He roots for the Yankees.  He even starts hitting me, and, as he gets closer to age three (Monday's his birthday), that sort of thing actually hurts. I also lose my sanity break and my writing time, which makes me all the more irritable as the day winds down.  I have trouble getting things done, and sometimes it's hard to even think.  Even though Kyle and I have had our fun moments, it's been a rough last week.  Maybe that's a good thing, since it's making me less nostalgic and even more excited to have Jennifer here next week. It's much easier to have a second person to help with a kid refusing to nap.

But then it's on to a new routine, and, in two weeks, a larger family.  A new home is around the corner, too (more on that next month - stay tuned!).  Then there's nursery school this fall.  I wonder how Kyle will react to all this change.  His mommy is going to be home full-time for a while as new people and places will enter his life.  What we have right now, this time when it's just the two of us, is coming to an end.  Sure, we'll have many more moments together, but it won't be as regular as it is now.  So far, Kyle has done well with adapting.  There's a good chance this change will affect me more than it will affect him.  In many ways, I hope that's the case.

I am looking forward to change.  I can't wait to meet my new son.  I'm excited that Jennifer will be home for several months.  It's going to be a ton of adjustment, and those first weeks with a newborn will be very tiring, but I know I will experience some of the greatest moments of my life during the next few months.  For now, though, I think I'll savor the last couple days I have alone with just my buddy.