Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Fathers vs. Mothers

This is not a new or remarkable observation, I just happen to find the differences between what happens when Bob is solo parenting vs. when I am solo parenting HILARIOUS.

Last summer I had to visit my parents by myself, so Bob was in charge of Cooper for about 10 days by himself. I came home to find that Cooper refused to fall asleep in his own crib, and definitely refused to fall asleep before 9pm. That was not so hilarious. The other things that I discovered were more entertaining. Like one of my cutting boards (IKEA, $2.99) had been colored on with crayons. I don't know HOW that came about. If I am in charge of Cooper, he not only cannot get into the cupboard where the cutting boards live, but he is never left with crayons unsupervised. So either unsupervised illegal activities were occuring, or Bob ALLOWED my cutting board to be colored on.

A few weekends ago I went out on my own for some reason and came home to find Cooper and Bob playing with the walkie talkies we have. Somehow Cooper saw them and HAD to play with them, so when I walked into the house, they were both in the dining room, with walkie talkies in hand, and Bob was talking into his "Cooper, come in Cooper" and Cooper was turning the knob on his to cause fabulous feedback.

Last night was jazz ensemble rehearsal night, so Bob did pick up from daycare and was in charge, alone, for an hour. I walked in to find Cooper wearing his big puffy winter jacket, and a diaper. Oh, and socks. No pants, no shoes, just a diaper and a puffy jacket.

Part of this is of course that Cooper is way more active and interactive and asserting his own special brand of Cooper-ness. Bob thinks that Cooper does these things just to make Bob look bad when I get home. I think it is funny. I think Bob is a fun dad. This is not to say that I am the unfun parent, but there is always one parent who is the FUN one, the one who lets you eat crazy things for dinner and wear nothing but a puffy jacket and a diaper. And I think Bob is the fun one.

Cooper and I end up doing things like coloring, playing with play dough, stomping in puddles in his new Lightening McQueen rubber boots. It is not to say I am NOT fun, I am just more traditionally fun. Bob takes it to this quirky level. And I am OK with that. Cooper will love and admire his dad for those moments.

But I would like to say right now I would rather not sacrifice anymore of my kitchen utensils to the cause. One day it is an inexpensive cutting board, the next time I will find that something has been mixed in the blender that has hardened beyond the point of being able to clean it out. Some things are NOT TOYS.

7 comments:

Dproudmama said...

Good stuff!

Chip said...

Blenders are made for blending things... like lighters!

You are a fun parent. Bob is the FUN parent. Each role is great. I am reveling in being the FUN parent with Nate. It's great to do guy stuff... oh oh oh!

Chip said...

http://www.willitblend.com/

witchypoo said...

It's great to have two that are engaged with the children. Diversity. Loves it.

Mrs4444 said...

Hello. You don't know me, but I saw that you follow Ducks Mahal (Audubon Ron.) The Little Woman left an important post there today. Thought you would want to know...

Anonymous said...

Oh, the image of Cooper in nothing but a diaper and a puffy jacket just makes me smile.

Anonymous said...

Funny.

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