Good morning. My name is Bob Zeh, and four years ago I became a father. My wife Mary Anne’s motherhood began with unambiguous joy but my Fatherhood began with stark terror. There was a lot I didn’t know about caring for babies, and I knew it.  A year earlier, while I was holding a crying baby his mother suggested that I hold him upside down. She wanted me to hold him on his belly in the football position.  Instead, I  pointed the top of his head toward the floor and the soles of his feet at the ceiling.  After correcting me she turned to my wife and said “He's not ready yet”.

So, when I found out that I was a Dad, I was afraid. What was I going to do now that I was a Dad?

Before long what I was going to do became clear. I made my daughter Susan laugh for the first time by repeatedly dropping a plush toy on her nose, an approach her mother had never considered. For about a month, watching toys careen off the edge of our kitchen table was the height of humor. Again, this was an approach mother hadn’t considered. It was also our first hint that we had an adrenaline junkie. Susan’s love for “sky” confirmed the diagnosis.

“Sky” is throwing Susan into the air. It produces three reactions: joy in Susan, fear in viewing Moms, and casual unconcern in surrounding Dads.

What I do is to throw her a bit higher, push the swing a bit harder, and go down the sleigh hill a little bit faster. I asked Susan if anyone else could give her Sky, and she said “Never ever”.

Nine months ago my wife was pregnant again, it should come as no surprise that our roles were reversed. Mary Anne was wondering how we were going to take care of a pre-schooler and an infant. But we’ve had Peter Thomas for a week now and it is working out. Susan wants to keep him. I am waiting to see if plush toys on the nose are funny, and finding out what he thinks about “sky”. I’m joyfully looking forward to doing the things that only I can do.