As a first-time parent, you learn all kinds of things. Many of them are really cool and exciting. Others can be pretty tricky to deal with. Yeah, tricky.

One of the difficult things I learned firsthand, is that sometimes, kids just want Mom. No more, no less. I hear that sometimes it’s Dad they cling to, but I honestly think that’s kind of rare.

And why wouldn’t they want Mom? She’s awesome. She’s the ultimate caregiver and they know it. It’s a wonderful thing, but unfortunately, it can leave Dad feeling left out in the cold if he’s not careful in dealing with it.

It’s something I’ve grappled with over the last couple years to varying levels of success (I’m not exactly a champ at handling rejection), but I’d say it’s something that gets easier with time. At the end of the day, I love my daughter and she loves me. I’m always sure to carve out time for just the two of us; the carousel at the mall, the McDonalds or the park down the road – places like that have become our “spots” where we can have fun together. And I think it’s really helped.

That being said, Hazel the cat never ever tires of my attention and requires more of my time than there are hours in the day. Yes, she still wakes me up in the middle of the night so that I can pet her, having completely forgotten the hours that I spent petting/holding her leading up to the time that I tried to go to sleep. Guess you can’t please everyone.