Undivided attention

When I got home yesterday I had a nice surprise, Katie and DJ were there.  For whatever reason the second I enter his space, no matter who else is there, he wants my attention.  If he is restrained from coming to me even briefly he starts to cry.  So after I got home last night I spent around an hour with DJ.  When he was smaller he wanted me to mostly just hold him and carry him around.  Now that he is bigger and more mobile he likes to hold my hand and lead me around the house and the yard.  It’s very cute.

I do see why Cindy has said that when she watches him for extended periods of time it can get exhausting.  If he is awake you have to constantly be on guard.  When we were out on the lanai I had to scoop him up multiple times as he was ready to walk right into the pool, without hesitation. He will walk right off of furniture as well, if not guarded.  His love of putting things in his mouth is also a constant danger that has to be monitored.

That being said, he is now big enough that the sense of fragility that existed when he was a smaller baby is lessened.  He loved as I tossed him into the pillows of our bed and wrapped him up in a blanket.  He was a sweaty, smiling bundle of joy at the end.  That smile is quickly replaced with tears and crying however when it is time for him to leave.  I feel so bad about it that I try to avoid being part of the process of taking him out to the car to avoid getting him more upset.  It’s funny just how strong of a connection that me and the little guy have developed.  I am grateful that I am getting to experience, albeit in small doses, the world of babies growing up.  It’s something that I thought I would do myself when I was younger man but something that I wrote off as life progressed.