Embargo is lifted on my daughter’s baby news

I’ve gotten the go-ahead from Celeste to start my grandchild blogging. She told me the big news, that she’s pregnant, shortly after she picked Laurel and me up at the Burbank airport last Friday.

But she asked me to hold off on tooting my grandfatherly horn over the Internet until she’d told her boss. Which now has occurred. So here’s the first public photo of my daughter’s child.

Isn’t he or she cute? Celeste sure thinks so. She kept cooing over this ultrasound image as I struggled to make out any identifiable human (or even quasi-human) features. Well, that’s mother love. She’s excited. As is Patrick, her husband. As Laurel and I am.

Not so sure about her cats. Smokey and Cici have the run of Celeste and Patrick’s Hollywood house. They pretty much do what they want and are used to being fawned over, so it’s going to be interesting to see how the spoiled little felines handle some cuteness competition.

When we got to the Vos home after the plane trip from Portland, Celeste went all out and put together a cheese, cracker, and fruit plate, which we ate on their patio.

I was thrilled. My daughter is thirty-four. I can recall only one meal that she’s personally prepared for me: a macaroni and cheese (from a box) dinner at the apartment where she lived for a while after college. Even now, she and Patrick are mostly eat-outers. For my grandchild’s sake, I hope Hollywood has baby buffets.

Anyway, when we were done chatting on the patio Celeste took the snack plate back into the kitchen and laid it on a counter. We went into the living room to talk some more and await Patrick’s return from work.

Smokey walked in from the kitchen, dragging a large piece of cheese in his mouth. He dropped it on the living room floor. I glanced at Celeste, wondering how she’d handle the situation.

She got up. Strode purposefully over to Smokey. Looked down at him. And said, “Oh, Smokey, you’re so cute! Here, let me break the cheese into smaller pieces so you can eat it more easily.”

Well, that was my childrearing style with Celeste. Permissive. Like father, like daughter. Her mother was stricter, as I suspect Patrick will be. Currently he’s the cat disciplinarian, insofar as the discipline goes. It’ll be interesting to see how they work out baby-raising roles.

I’ll looking forward to helping out, when the time is right. Like, when the child is toilet-trained and can prepare his or her own bowl of cereal (it takes me a while to get going in the morning).

I told Celeste that I’d been fantasizing recently about how nice it would be to have a grandchild visit us on our rural ten acres, getting to play in the creek and run around our woods.

Celeste said, “Great, Dad. How does taking care of him or her for three months in the summer sound?”

“My thinking was more along the lines of three hours before my afternoon nap,” I told her. But I have a feeling I’m not going to hold to that. Since I was a permissive father, I suspect I’m going to be an even more permissive grandfather.

Comments

[Idler]

Congratulations! The photograph looks marvellous!

My wife and I recently saw a similar picture of our own. She's at about 15 weeks now, and everything seems to be going well, which translates into her feeling pretty lousy!

Lots of extra housework for me. Gotta do what you've gotta do!

[Brian]

Idler, congratulations. My daughter is about three months along--so she and your wife are on pretty much the same baby track.

It's a big lifestyle change, for sure. I remember thinking, way back in January 1972, "Now I've flipped from being my parents' child to being the parent of a child." A large change of perspective, almost instantly.

Much more responsibility. Much more work. But never a regret.

[Idler]

Actually this will be our second. My son Miles turns four on Oct. 16.

However, a friend has said that you're really a parent when you have more than one child. I wouldn't put it that way myself, but I can imagine what he might mean. Somehow I think 1+1 will equal something more than 2.

[Karl]

Congrats!!!
I pray your daughter is due to have a girl, after having read about your contempt for the male of our species I can only assume you would be devestated if she had a selfish, egotistical and male. After all, those male babies are only good for cannon fodder, according to you that is.
Hence, I really am praying the baby will be a female.

[Brian]

Karl, my man, that post about women being more generous than men was written in a light tone and should be taken that way.
http://hinessight.blogs.com/hinessight/2006/09/are_women_more_.html

I certainly don't have contempt for males, being such a creature myself, and liking what I am. My point simply is that women look at life differently than men, thank god.

Overall, one sex isn't better than the other. But women and men are better at different things, by and large. I believe women are better at child-raising, by and large, because they're more empathic and caring.

Men are better at fighting wars, by and large, because they're stronger and more aggressive. Different qualities for different folks. That's what keeps life (and relationships) so interesting.