David & the boys meet Megan

Thursday morning, I drove down to Miami to pick up Jessica, Barbara, and Megan from Miami International.  Its a little before rush hour, and the traffic is about as bad as I expect.  I pull into the airport a few minutes after their flight lands, and pick a parking location near the American Airlines terminal.  I head in, and walk a few paces to see the board for arrivals.  It turns out that they are one carousel away...and it turns out I picked the perfect location to park, because they have *A LOT* of bags, plus a baby!

 

I'm off to a good start.

 

I meet Megan, and she's a cutie.  Jessica had been raving about how she takes to everyone, and she seems really friendly.  I say hello and spend a few minutes with her before we head home.

  

We get home, and everyone is pretty tired.  Time to get cleaned up and get a nap.  I offer to give Megan a bath.  Except now that she's home she decides she's *not* going to take to me.  I get close.  She screams.  I pick her up.  She screams louder.  She hangs on Jessica for a while, until finally I coax her into the tub.  She doesn't like the bath, or maybe its just that she doesn't like me giving her a bath.  In any case, she screams throughout.

 

I get her changed, and she lays down with Jessica. 

 

A while later, the boys come home, and they want to meet Megan.  She's thrilled.  They're thrilled.  She takes to them right away.  They read to her, play with her, whisk her around the house, and she's happy.

 

But she's still not sure about me.  I come in the room and she crys and crawls away.

 

Okay, let's be honest: in high school, I experienced a similar reaction from girls.  So that's not exactly new. And here I thought I had changed.  Maybe not?

 

So, we'll just have to find another way. 

 

I made her some congee, hoping to win her over with food.  She liked that, but...she wouldn't let me feed it to her.  Only Jessica could. 

 

Later, she has a full tummy, and is clearly in a good mood.  She played happily with everyone, except me of course.  Its clear that for now, I can't be in the room with her without eliciting a reaction.

 

The first day is not going well for me.  But if there's a bright side, its that the situation makes the boys laugh - 'she doesn't like you, daddy' they'll say giggling.

 

I know the answer is time, but its tough because I can't give Jessica a break, and I would like to bond with her.

 

The boys are happy to have her around, and I can see that they'll be good siblings.  That makes me happy, even if its going to be like this for a while.

 

Oh, and the by the way, in the afternoon, I got a jury summons!  And of course its for the time that I'll be off, caring for Megan, assuming she'll have me.  I'm sure I can get a postponment, it just figures that my day would go like that.

 

Maybe tomorrow will be better.

 

-- David