I Love My Daughter

I love my daughter. I say that at least five times a day. Love is the most dominant feeling I have towards my daughter. I don’t think that the love would be as strong as it is if I did not take an active role in forming a relationship with her. It’s through the diaper changing, dressing, undressing, bathing, feeding, and playing that I have bonded with her. When I come home at night and I see her leaning towards me hands outstretched as I walk through the door, or she screams and coughs for joy that I am home I get so happy and feel so much love.

It’s a bit of a cycle. I had a hard time getting it going in the beginning. When she first born I had no clue what to do. My experience with babies was extremely limited. I had held two or three babies for maybe 5 to 10 minutes a piece till then. I had only changed a diaper on a doll. Teresa made me do drills. Even still I was confident I could handle her and aid Teresa who I knew had loads more experience through her huge extended family. Then we took her home and she started to cry, and just like that I was overwhelmed. The crying really caught me off guard I had no idea how to stop it. To my surprise Teresa wasn’t too sure either. Though we tried everything she still cried. I remember well trying to get her to sleep. She would scream like I was trying to kill her. It was really hard because I felt her pain and could not comfort her enough. Eventually she got used to the routine and put up no fuss. It’s through the success that I feel a bond has formed between us. She now can look to me for comfort and love. When she shows that excitement to me I am motivated to provide for her, and it goes back and forth. (one disclaimer I don’t spend 24 hours a day with her which helps).

For the guys it is harder for us to get that bond going I think in part because we don’t have breasts.

-TOM