Ok so the title isn’t 100% accurate since it’s actually been 7 months, but it should go to show how behind I am with my fatherhood writings. The first half of Tristan’s first year has been crazy, hectic, and completely wonderful. Being able to sit back and watch him figure out how to do something is enlightening. Observing him learning reminds me how to learn things too, something I’ve forgotten somewhere along the way.

Lately, we’ve been able to watch him take his first steps to being a normal “human”. Having barely started his adventures into crawling, Tristan feels the need to spend his time standing up leaning against things more than anything. Crawling is just a mechanism for him to go from standing on one piece of furniture to the next. This is no surprise to me, as I walked myself at 7 months old. Now, we’re hoping that Tristan won’t walk THAT soon, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see him taking his first stand alone steps in the next month or so.

The biggest transition has been the eating of real food. The doc says the food doesn’t really do anything for him besides get him used to eating food rather than milk. Feeding him his baby food is always an adventure though, but not in a bad way. Tristan getting his lunch or dinner is generally a very audible experience, filled with grunts, coos, and squeals. Some of this is probably my fault, as I try to get him to say ‘Nom Nom Nom’ when he is eating. Hopefully, one day he will say these three wonderful words while eating and I know it will be followed by me laughing my head off.

The first half of this crazy year is over, and the next is well under way. Hopefully, I’ll find more time to write about being a dad and the adventures of my son. But, as I’ve quickly learned being a dad takes A LOT of time.

P.S. This post would have been done 10 minutes ago, but Tristan crawled over and we got into a tickling match. I won for those interested.

A month ago I sent out a tweet asking for topics to write about here, and my good friend Nathan Verrill (twitter) suggested the following.

So here we go:

My son is going to born in roughly 3 months and there is so much going through my head on how my life is about to change. The fact that we are going to have a son was a relief for me, I just don’t feel like I am ready to have a daughter yet. People tell me that raising a boy or a girl is fundamentally the same, but I call bullshit. Raising a girl requires more emotional maturity than raising a boy in my opinion, which I simply don’t have at this stage in my life.

Questions like what type of father I want to be, what lessons do I want to make sure I teach my child, and how will I find the right balance between providing for my family and spending time with my family keep coming up in my mind. These are not easy to answer, and a real ‘answer’ doesn’t exist. The best thing would be to use these questions as checkpoints throughout this adventure that is parenting. If ever I am not happy with the answers that I give, I will know it is time to try something new.

For the first year of my child’s life I just want to soak everything in and help my wife out as much as I can. The two goals I have set are to attempt to teach my son how to entertain himself and some semblance of independence. I know it sounds harsh to want an infant to be independent, but I don’t really expect him to be walking around warming up his own bottle. However, having a sense of self-relience even at a young age will go a long way as my son grows up. I know this next year and three months is going to be quite a trip, and it will be interesting to see what my Year Two post will have to say.