A paradigm shift (or revolutionary science) is, according to Thomas Kuhn, in his influential book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), a change in the basic assumptions, or paradigms, within the ruling theory of science. (Source: Wikipedia, so you know it has to be true).
A paradigm shift is, according to DadsChangeDiapersToo, in its author’s current blog post (2015), the point in time of being a father where one finally gets “it”.
So now, as a scientific website, it’s my duty to define what “it” is, right? It might be easier to define what “it” isn’t, rather than what it is. “It” isn’t fancy formula machines (that I’m hoping to review in the future), or public lack of changing tables. “It” isn’t Daddy Diaper Bags, countless photos, or many sleepless nights.
Or…maybe that’s exactly what it is.
The moment for me, when my paradigm shift happened, was around 4am just a few days ago. NPP has been having a string of wake-up calls where he seems to be getting hungry. More seasoned parents assure us that this is completely normal, especially around six months, and despite my constant attempts to convince MOMPC that our child is far from normal, his sleep patterns and growth spurts seem to be dead-to-rights. In an attempt to alleviate much of the pressures of being a nursing mother, I truly do try to live up to the moniker of this site, and carry as much of the weight of having a child as I can. I was, after all, a part of the process from the beginning, so I guess it’s only fair that I do my part.
On this particular bleary-eyed morning, I roused myself out of bed, walked downstairs to get that all-too-familiar 4am bottle, and made my way upstairs to feed the little monster. An ounce or two in, and I start to thinking that it would be really great if my child would just sleep through the night. Another ounce goes by, and I’m getting pretty surly.
And then…I looked down at my son. I looked down at my son and I realized that I was looking down at my son. For some of you, that sentence just made a lot of sense. For others, you might be on the precipice of it making sense. Others of you might never get it, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
It was at that point that the sleepless nights, the 4am wakeup calls, the hands full of baby poop…it all went away. It was at that point that I went from a guy with a kid, to the father of my son. It was at that point that I realized I wasn’t just attempting to get my kid to go to sleep at 4am. I was sharing a moment that wasn’t going to be around forever. Eventually, I’m going to have to fight that little peanut to wake up before noon and not waste all day hanging out with his friends. Moments like that aren’t going to last forever.
Do I wish I could have slept another hour? Sure I do. But there wasn’t another place on the planet I would have rather been, and at that moment, not another thing I would have rather been doing.
This first six months have flown by, and it’s moments like these that I’m finding myself cherishing more and more.
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