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With his first birthday just a few weeks behind us now, I realized that I’ve been a dad to a little boy for just over a year now.

A few thoughts about what being a dad has meant:

1.  Diapers
They don’t really tell you this when you arrive at the hospital, but apparently being a dad (or a mom) involves the swapping out of old diapers with fresh ones.  And by old, I mean anywhere from I just put a clean one on three minutes ago and these are not free to all the way overnight.  There’s no predictability with them.

And really, I am grateful for the existence of diapers in that they prevent the terrible things that fly out of Ted’s butt from getting all over our stuff.

I’m kind of surprised at how I’m mostly nonchalant about the whole diaper thing. I mean before Ted was born, I couldn’t conceive of wiping a poopy-butted child.  Now, you know, you just get it done.  That smell will not fix itself.  No amount of Febreeze is going to fix it.  The cats also refuse to render assistance.

Which isn’t to say that it isn’t totally gross, because it is. Totally.  Gross.  And I think Ted sees it as some sort of challenge, like What kind of face can I get Dad to make this time?  Can I get his eyes to cross from the smell?

2. Toys
Ted’s toys are way more fun now that he’s a todler.   While his toys were fun six months ago, they have only gotten better with his age. As a dad, its fun to see him play with a toy car and stack blocks and things like that.

I can’t wait until he’s old enough for real lego’s.  I have a considerable stash of them, just waiting.  I can’t give them to him now, or they’ll just end up being added to the bulk of the diapers.

3. Free Time
One thing I’ve learned quickly is that being a dad makes you prioritize how you spend your non-parenting time.  Working is important, as parenting is substantially easier with electricity and food. Spending time with Kate is important.  The act of paying bills is important.  Cleaning up after things is important.  I’ve discovered that, for me, video games, washing my car, and idly surfing the web are somewhat less important than they were pre-Ted.

Freelance website work is also less-important, but in a different way.  While making money is important, I’ve cut way back on the freelance because there is much less value in that kind of  time versus time spent with Ted.  I would rather either spend time with him and Kate or sleep, rather than make a few bucks.  I still do the occasional project, but since each new website implies a certain long-term time commitment, I have learned to be choosy.

4. Speed and Physical Fitness
One thing I wasn’t expecting was the sort of speed this boy is capable of.  He’s like a Mini Cooper… small, highly maneuverable and fast. And fuel efficient… he converts his food to high speed toddler activity! Kate and I have both gotten in better shape and lost weight. It’s helped us keep up with his moving and shaking. Also makes piggy-back rides easier.

5. Blog Posting
Thanks goodness Kate is around to pick up my blogging slack.  In case you haven’t noticed, she’s been putting up most of the content on this site lately.  I’d love to write more and post more photos, but there are only a certain number of hours in the day.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 at 8:38 pm and is filed under Dadness, Ted. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.