How the turntables...

Our little one is now 19 months old. In the first year, I was home with him and put him to bed about 90% of the time. It was always difficult and took a while, but it was a good time, just the two of us.

But for the past three months, he's been in daycare for about 6 hours a day. I take him there around 10 a.m., and his mom picks him up at 4 p.m. Over time, his mom started putting him to bed more often because I sometimes have meetings in the evening.

Now, only his mom is allowed to put him to bed. If I even hint that it’s bedtime, he runs straight to her. But it's still difficult and sometimes takes up to two hours. Sometimes his mom has had enough and calls me to take over, like today.

As soon as he realizes she has left the room, he starts crying terribly. None of my old tricks work anymore. Carrying him doesn’t help, holding him on my lap doesn’t work, cuddling is out of the question, and the pacifier flies across the room if I even bring it close to him. Drinking isn't interesting either.

Today, he screamed into my ear for 20 minutes straight until his mom couldn’t take it anymore and came back into the bedroom. But thanks to my effort in getting him to scream for 20 minutes, he fell asleep with his mom in the room within 5 minutes.

Being a dad is not always easy.