The kid and I have hit our stride in a lot of ways lately. Earlier in her life she was very, very much Mommy's girl. The sight of Daddy actually caused panic simply because I wasn't mommy. Even when we managed to have tender moments, the sight of mommy was enough to shift her attention away.
But the changes I made in my career a few months ago are paying dividends at home. I do find myself with more mental energy around the house. I'm generally happier at home and the kid and I have been allies a lot more than enemies (I should note, we've always had our special things together. We didn't have a bad relationship before but we did have a lot of trouble communicating which caused problems).
The thing is: it's still a work in progress. And man does complacency come back to bite me in the ass sometimes.
It's amazing the extremes the kid and I can reach on any given day. Take last weekend — the long weekend here in Ontario. We'd planned a Daddy-Daughter overnight camping trip for the Sunday night but after three complete and total meltdowns before noon I couldn't imagine even having another friendly conversation with her, let alone spend a night in a tent. But we went. And, low and behold, we had an amazing time.
Then this weekend we spent the day together, just me and her, at a puppet festival. It was great. Then we got home and had two shouting matches before dinner.
The kid and I are hitting our stride, big time. In large part because we're a lot alike. But that also makes us a giant pain in each other's asses.
Why can't she just inherit my good traits, not my bad ones?
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