Dear Diary: Neat
A couple of neat things happened today — even without them, the day would have been grand — but the neatest thing may not, in fact, have happened at all. It may have been an accident, a coincidence. On their way out the door, Megan said something to Will about “Doodad,” and she and I saw him lift his eyes to me.
If I weren’t such a narcissist, that would have been the second-neatest thing. The neatest thing was Will’s falling into a deep nap on my chest, while we were sitting out on the balcony. I was stroking his back, absently, thinking about him but also about his life to come, in the city that stretched East before me — when I sit out there with Will, I’m supremely aware that his future is likely to be be full of intersections with thousands of slightly peculiar people (peculiar in the same way that all other babies are suddenly funny-looking) — and it was actually a few minutes before I realized that he had fallen deeply asleep. For half an hour, I sat with him perched on my right forearm, his head tucked to the left. I could gush about the profound gratifcation of being completely trusted &c, but what I meditated upon was the delight of having him asleep in my arms. He weights nearly seventeen pounds: there won’t be much more of that!
Actually, the neatest thing that happened was my carrying Will about in a sling, just like his mother’s, only larger. There is much to be learned about slings, and I had the good sense to follow Megan’s advice and buy a ten-pound bag of Carolina rice to practice with. I had thought that practicing with Will, with Megan there to help me, would be good enough, but I’ve become a quick study on points such as this, and I saw at once that Will is not to be confused with the outsized practice dollies at Metro Minis. It was only after seven or eight practice runs with the bag of rice that I was allowed to take Will himself on an errand to the Food Emporium. Megan came with, and I don’t know which of us was more beaming, I for carrying Will without having to hold him. or Megan for having a father who would practice with ten-pound bags of rice in order to pull it off. I will say this about slings: nothing is more tonic to a five month-old baby.
What made the day truly special was the dinner at the end: both Ryan and Kathleen came uptown for an impromtu steak. My hunch that Ryan would appreciate a baked potato that had spent over an hour in a hot oven turned out to be correct. For dessert, we had chocolate and coffee Häagen Dasz, which made us all wonder what Will’s favorite flavors will be.
Some day, of course, Will will look at me and call me “Doodad,” and nobody will think anything of it. Except me. I can’t imagine getting used to this angel.