Sinner and Saint

Last night I ate dinner alone. That's nothing unusual given the fact that Big Daddy travels away from home a great deal and I sometimes eat later than Critter. The different between last night's dinner and other nights is that I listened to the repetitive screaming and crying of my son for the ENTIRE meal and then some. Over and over he screamed what would have been some hurtful things if we didn't understand the way O works.
You see, today was another day in a long week of no naps for the critter - seems you just can't force someone to sleep no matter how hard you try. Even though he appears to be getting plenty of sleep during the night, exhaustion overtook him this afternoon and he fell asleep on the couch around 4:30 pm. I debated as to whether or not I should wake him up, but decided to let him sleep. It was pretty obvious by his sudden deep sleep that he needed the rest. Six o'clock rolls around and Big Daddy decided to take the task of waking O up upon himself (what a brave brave man). I can tell you, it certainly wasn't a task that I wanted - I KNOW what that kid is like if you wake him up before he is ready. He's a bear; a great big, mean, surly, grouchy bear! Hence tonight's "episode".

Now Big Daddy is a man of very little patience. He has less patience than I do when it comes to our son and that boy can frustrate me like no tomorrow! So I have no idea what he was thinking when he took on the task of rousing our son from sleep, but that man deserves some sort of award for what he endured. Of course I too had to listen to O's antics but I listened on from the comfort of the kitchen. B.D. had to deal with the hour long screaming session from Critter face to face. Not once during Critter's tirade did Big Daddy lose his temper. He remained calm and in control. He handled everything perfectly, it was textbook. After a week where these melt downs have happened so frequently, each one a little worse than the one prior, even a more patient man then B.D. would have lost his cool.

I was so proud of Big Daddy for the way he handled things. And not that I haven't thought it before, but today I'm giving voice to the fact that I sometimes don't give Big Daddy enough credit. Last night he truly proved that he deserves every bit of it (makes a note to self to include giving B.D. more credit as one of my New Year's resolutions). He may not have the patience of a Saint, but last night Big Daddy became one to me.