Oh, my, how they change us

Even before I became a father, people used to tell me how much kids change your life. Friends, co-workers, my sister…even my parents (although I still firmly believe their motive was some form of reverse psychology encouraging me to actually take that plunge). Hell, I'd even come across the message in TV ads, magazine articles and the random Pampers or Huggies coupon inside the Sunday paper. But even when one enters into fatherhood armed with all this information, you soon realize that you never really understand just how true it is until you actually experience it. Now, a two-year veteran in Club Daddy, looking back I can distinctly identify all of those things I currently do that I would have never been caught dead engaging in prior to having kids of my own. Here are just a few of the better examples:

• Eating off the same utensil that your little darlin' just drooled all over while attempting to eat like a big girl.
• Willingly accepting a bite of your child's half-eaten fruit (or worse a food like ice cream or bread that only moistens faster when combined with the saliva of a small human being) because that tiny, magical smile far outweighs the horrible mushy feeling in your mouth.
• Allowing your child to throw up all of your sweatshirt just so she won't get any on the floor.
• Learning that baby poop on the hand is not the most horrific event one can experience in his or her lifetime.
• Freely engaging in public baby talk, knowing very well that while you may look like the “cat's meow” in your child's eyes, you sound like a complete idiot to everyone else.
• Singing out loud to Elmo's Song with the windows down while cruising to daycare.
• Getting teary-eyed every time you listen to Bob Carlisle's Butterfly Kisses.
  
• Finding more satisfaction in buying new things for your kids than for yourself.
• Discovering that staying up late and sleeping in are truly overrated when compared to the satisfaction of rocking your child back to sleep after a 2:00 a.m. nightmare.
• Accepting the fact that the next 18 years are going to cost you money, freedom, your patience, and, more than likely. the color of your hair…early. But, knowing that what you're getting back in return is worth it all.

It's funny, all of those people I mentioned earlier, the “advice” people, in spite of all their warnings, when it came down to it, they all held the same opinion about being parent, and that is “I wouldn't change it for the world.” And, now that I've been through it all myself, you know what? They were absolutely right.