January 29, 2015 - Babysit

We're nearing the end of my month long journey to prepare for fatherhood, and I decided it was high time to put my skillz to the test.  Last night, Elizabeth and I babysat.

This is Walker "Baby Mac" McLean.  His parents, Todd and Blythe, have been great friends of our for years, and they welcomed this wonderful addition to their family back in August.  He is a bright, bubbly little guy that has a wicked smile and a very calm demeanor.  He is a really cool kid, and I can't wait for him to become friends with Nugget (Todd and Blythe, I'm pretty sure we're going to have to keep an eye on them, because there's no telling what crazy adventures they'll get in to together).

I got over to the McLean's home in time for them to show me the ropes before they went out to the movies.  Here's the bottle, watch this TV channel, here's his diapers, BYE!  And like that, they were gone, and I was left to care for this little human.  I've often wondered how it's going to feel when I am told that I can bring Nugget home from the hospital.  "Isn't there a test that I have to pass?  Don't you have to check to make sure I'm not a loon?"  Nope.  Just "Here's the kid, good luck."

It turns out that I didn't really need much luck.  For the first 45 minutes, I was on my own with Baby Mac, and we didn't run in to any problems.  I had to swap him from arm to arm because oddly enough, babies can get a little heavy after awhile.  We did laps around the house, and I made car and airplane noises depending on how fast we went (he smiled a lot at this, which I am going to take as a sign that I was doing something right).

Yup, me and Baby Mac were doing well together.  Then Elizabeth arrived, and I was chopped liver.

He's got good taste...

I get it, Elizabeth is clearly more interesting and better looking than I am.  I can't fault Baby Mac for wanting to hang out with her more (I think the necklace really lured him in).  But I was also amazed at how Elizabeth took to him and to taking care of him.  She was a natural, coming at this with ease and poise, things that have never been attributed to me.  She's going to be a great mom.

We both took turns feeding Baby Mac, and finally got to use the bottle warmer that so many of our friends had recommended (we are going to register for one, it was awesome)...

 

We helped each other when Baby Mac needed a diaper change (who am I kidding, Elizabeth took the lead there, I was just on waste disposal duty...duty...ha).  And we found that he had a lot of stuff to do in his jumper...

Looks like you've got a busy office there, Baby Mac.

We ran into a snag about an hour and a half in to the night.  Baby Mac had been fed and changed, and it looked like it was just about bed time. But he started crying and wailing and would not go down.  I tried putting him in his day bed, and that didn't work.  I tried bouncing him, and that didn't work.  I tried walking around and shushing him, and that didn't work.  What had once been a chilled out little baby had turned into a scream machine.  Elizabeth had the same luck with him, and we were worried that he'd continue to do this until his parents came home.

And then I remember something that Todd had said on his way out.  "The Baby Channel...put on the Baby Channel."  We don't have cable (in fact, we just have rabbit ears, so we might have to find an alternative), so I was unaware that such a channel existed.  I searched around on the guide and found this...

It was called ooKii's World, and it involved dinosaurs singing and doing activities.  We had put Baby Mac in his swing at this point to just try something different.  And this is what happened...

If you can't tell from the motion blur, that kid is smiling like I hadn't seen him smile all night (Elizabeth got quite the kick out of it as you can see).  It was incredible.  One second, he was crying his head off.  The next, right when I turned it to the Baby Channel, he turned into a calm and happy baby.  And within a few minutes, he was doing this...

Out like a light! I was blown away at the reaction that Baby Mac had to his swing and to the channel.  We realized that we had tapped in to his routine.  He was ready for bed, and part of getting ready for bed was that swing and that channel.  We're going to have to develop something similar for Nugget, because it was really amazing how quickly that worked.

Todd and Blythe got home to find Baby Mac fast asleep and the house still standing.  We're going to need a lot more practice, which means that we are more than happy to do this again sometime! (Bring him our way, McLeans, and you can have a night out in Greensboro!)

It was fun to play "parents" with Elizabeth, and to know that, if just for a night, we could make it work.  There will be many more nights to come, and we're not great parents yet...but I'm feeling good about our chances.