Pride
Yesterday I experienced one of my first bursts of fatherly pride and it was great. The scenario needs a bit of explaining…
Elliott has been a pretty good breastfeeder from the start, but as she’s getting older it has become sort of hit or miss. Some days she never really gets settled while other days she does much better. The other issue we’ve been having is that she nurses extremely well off of Kari’s left breast and just never gets it done on the right side.
Kari has now dubbed her breasts “Old Reliable” (left) and “Righty” (right).
Elliott had a rough day feeding Tuesday. She fought it the whole time and made things difficult on Kari. She had one decent feeding at the end of the day so we’re just trying to figure it out.
So back to my moment of pride yesterday afternoon. Kari and I communicate through MSN Instant Messenger at times during the day (she’s perfecting one-handed typing as she holds/feeds/rocks/takes care of the baby with the other) and she has started to give me Elliott’s “report cards” on feedings. Generally speaking, she usually scores a between a B+ and an A on Old Reliable and usually gets a C or worse on Righty.
Wednesday afternoon, we had the following exchange:
KP says (2:53 PM):
Elliott’s report card:
KP says (2:53 PM):
Old Reliable:
KP says (2:53 PM):
A!
Homer D says (2:53 PM):
woo hoo!
KP says (2:53 PM):
Righty:
At this point, I’m literally holding my breath. I want her to do well SO BAD it is a little bit embarrassing. I then get the grade from Kari:
KP says (2:53 PM):
A!
I felt this total glow of pride and excitement for my little girl. She did it! She cooperated and fed properly on BOTH sides! I’m in my cube getting all emotional and it was great. I can only imagine what I’ll feel when she does something really profound, but for one day at least I was so proud of my little girl’s first straight A report card.