It's hard to believe that 14 days have already passed since CJ was born (I sometimes wonder if it hasn't already been 14 years.) Two weeks of full time parenting under our belts and more importantly two weeks of life for our little man. He seems to change a little bit everyday. On the occasion of his one week birthday we threw a party complete with hats, a card, some presents and of course a cake (something I am sure CJ enjoyed at the midnight feeding when the cake worked itself though mommy's system.) I had the intention of celebrating every week with some sort mini party or littremembrancence, but as is the case, life has a way of catching up to you, and so with a visit from the nurse, mom's trip to her OB, 90 minutes of inconsolably crying and a very tired daddy - it just kind of slipped away.
So here's what can I tell you - after two weeks parenting is a bit like major league baseball. Over these past two weeks I have been able to keep an eye on the box scores for our hometown Tigers, who as of writing this have somehow managed to hang on to the best record in baseball (something that has happened this late in the season since the last time we were at war with Iraq.) However, just because they continue to set the pace for all other major league teams doesn't mean these past two weeks have been smooth sailing. They have been streaky at best, losing 9 out of 12 only to turn around and win 10 of their next 11.
So here's what I have learned from watching the Tigers these past weeks:
1. You don't win every day.
2. Sometimes you can go moare than a couple of days without winning
3. You do, however, get a chance to come back the next day and try again
4. In baseball you have to measure your measure success over the long haul...
5. And baseball...is a long haul (unlike football with only 16 chances to get it right, baseball is a marathon of 162 games, spanning the better part of half a year)
6. At the end of the day the best teams in baseball usually win a little more than half of the time
7. Ultimatley the successful teams are still playing come October
These first two weeks of parenting have been a bit streaky. We have strung a few good days in row only to follow them up with days that haven't gone as well. There have been days we seemed to know exactly what to do and have known exactly what he needed and there have been days where anything and everything we tried to do to comfort him didn't work at all. Simply put we've won some and we've lost some. One night CJ cried from about 1:30 until about 4:00 - nothing we did seemed to console him. The whole night I just kept thinking to myself, "Hang in there - tomorrow will be a different day."
So here's what the Detroit Tiger have taught me about parenting:
1. You don't have a good day everyday
2. Sometimes you have a couple of "not-so-good" days in row
3. You always get the chance to try again tomorrow
4. In parenting, you have to measure your success over the long
5. And parenting...is a long haul (it recently dawned on me the difference between having a baby and becoming a father - the having a baby part ended on June 6th, 2006 while the becoming a father part lasts forever.)
6. Maybe parenthood is a bit like baseball - the best you can hope for is a more good days than bad ones.
7. Ultimately we'll just keeping plugging away at in hopes, that like our belove Tigers, we'll still be playing come October.
Former baseball commissioner Faye Vincent says this about baseball:
Baseball teaches us, or has taught most of us, how to deal with failure. We learn at a very young age that failure is the norm in baseball and, precisely because we have failed, we hold in high regard those who fail less often, those who hit safely in one out of three chances and become star players. I also find it fascinating that baseball, alone in sports, considers errors to be part of the game, part of its rigorous truth.
The only way a team every gets out of slump is to get up the next day, learn from yesterdays mistakes, and try again. We are learning the same of parenting - mistakes are a part of its rigorous truth and the only way to snap out of a slump is to get up the next day and have at it one more time.
So, here's to tomorrow! And like our Tigers, we hope to still be playing come October!
PS - Things continue to look good in the Motor City - the Tiger beat the Brewers 10 to 1.
