Life as Daddy: Month One

I mentioned in a previous blog that my fiancee (though we prefer the term "wife-elect")and her two sons moved in with me recently. Well I have a little over a month under my belt living with her and the boys and it's been quite an experience so far.

The first thing that caught me off guard was coming home and hearing "hi daddy!". I was surprised at how quickly they both took to calling me daddy of their own accord. I gotta say, I love it. Though there are a few things I have to get used to.

First off, i need to get more selfless and less selfish. I'm not gonna lie, as an only child for the first 8 years of my life, and a geek for all 28 so far, I've grown used to being by myself in my down time, and appreciating the special kind of quiet solitude that exists between myself and my books, games, movies, music, etc. But now, I need to share that down time with the boys. Our oldest said yesterday that he likes when he, his brother and I bond. That's awesome! It makes my heart grow about 3 sizes just hearing him say that.

But the "bachelor" in me, still wants some time to do grown-up stuff. Mind you, our 8 and 6 year-old already think they're grown-ups (at least till the batteries in the night light die), but they aren't grown up enough to watch R-rated movies with me or play M-rated games with me, or listen to Cuban Linx II. I need to restructure my leisure time around the boys and things that we can all do together.

To that end, the wife-elect and I taught the boys how to play dominoes last weekend. We though this was a relatively simple game, that could keep us all entertained. Well, the rules proved a little too much for them at some points. Unfortunately a weekend full of them double dutching with our last nerves led to short fuses for both parents and this experiment was less than ideal. Not giving up though. We'll find something family friendly and fun eventually.