I Write. You Read.

I couldn’t possibly catalogue all of the “daddy moments” that Simon and I share. A “daddy moment” being a point in time when the full weight and fulfillment of fatherhood descends on me and I just “get” what this is all about. But last night we had one that I can’t help but write about.

It had been another long day for the little guy. After another long night of teething pain (he’s growing three more teeth at present, two one side and one on the other; I think they’re bicuspids), he awoke early to play with his grandfather and GeeGee. No big deal. Then he decided that was so much fun he would skip his morning nap before church, where he could only be pacified by one baby-sized container of Goldfish™ and another of vegetable puffs (technically banana-flavored; is banana a vegetable?), and that only worked part of the time.

After church, we dragged Simon with us to Rockfish for lunch. We ordered him a grilled cheese sandwich, but he was only interested in the fries. Mostly he was interested in letting us all know that he was sleepy (he’d been awake since about 6am at this point, after all) and would like to be addressed as Mr. Cranky-Pants. Eventually we all finished eating and headed back to the house. Simon finally got his nap.

After Mr. No-Longer-Cranky-Pants woke up, his grandfather and GeeGee left for their home, and Simon once again became Mr. Cranky-Pants. Deciding it would be a shame to waste such a beautiful day indoors (sunny and 70-plus degrees), we went shopping. Simon was a real trooper, only letting out the cranky when Mr. Frog or Mr. Moose had fallen from his little hands. Two stores later we arrived at our actual destination, the park.

One might think that a 13-month-old child would find little to entertain him at a playground built for more-than-two-year-olds, but then one would be mistaken. Up stairs, across bridges, under platforms… Simon didn’t care that he couldn’t maintain his footing on the tree-bark playground filler. With Mommy and Daddy close behind (or supporting him so he could walk), Mr. I-Used-To-Be-Cranky-But-WOWLOOKATALLTHISSTUFF explored his suddenly embiggened world. With Mommy and Daddy’s help, Simon even got to ride down the SLIDE. Heaven on Earth, for sure.

After a half-hour or so of playtime at the park, we decided we’d all had enough. Our sister-in-law had called to invite us over for dinner, and so we hit the road for one last stop that wasn’t home. Simon took it all in stride, of course, and crawled around the house searching out new corners he hadn’t yet seen or revisiting old ones with fresh, wiser eyes. A couple hours, one bonked head and one sort-of-smashed finger later, it was finally time to go home. We were all pretty tired, but Simon was pooped.

I was surprised that he didn’t fall asleep in the car. My cell phone clutched tightly in his hand (Mr. Frog was left at home and Mr. Moose was MIA somewhere in the car), he silently endured the car ride without a peep. We arrived home and I started getting Simon ready for bed. He was so tuckered out that he just lay there like a wet noodle, watching as I removed his socks and shoes.

Something moved me to wink, perhaps some latent impulse of fatherhood, and Simon grinned back at me. Just like I probably grinned at my dad back when I was a wee lad, my boy gave me a look that made me feel invincible and infallible. In that moment, I knew what being a daddy is all about.