Daddy's Just Right
By Tricia Christian

My husband is not color blind. He does have some issues distinguishing dark blue from black, but, other than that, he recognizes all of the colors of the rainbow. He is also quite proficient at putting together coordinating outfits for himself. Every morning, he leaves for work looking handsome and put together.

Because he clearly demonstrates good fashion sense on a regular basis, I am quite perplexed by the fact that my wonderful husband has absolutely no idea how to dress our baby girl. Whenever he has the opportunity to get our daughter ready for the day, Anna typically ends up looking a bit disheveled (to say the least). Allow me to paint a more specific picture. Imagine a little girl dressed in red striped socks, pink pants and a purple polka dot shirt. There is clearly nothing wrong with each of these wardrobe items on their own. But, put them together and you have quite an interesting, or frightening, sight to behold.

In addition to my husband's unique approach to dressing our daughter, he has an equally fascinating issue around changing her diaper. One might assume the primary problem is actually getting him to help out with the changes, but that is not the case. I am very blessed to have a husband who is fully involved in this sometimes arduous parental task. He is involved to the point that he approaches each change as if he were going into battle. No stink is too strong, no diaper is too dirty, and no change is too messy for our "Super Daddy!” Instead, the major issue is that our daughter, almost without fail, ends up missing a pertinent article of clothing after a daddy diaper change.

Recently, my husband offered to do a routine afternoon diaper change. As he began the task at hand, I couldn't help but wonder what part of her outfit would be MIA that day. Would it be a sock? A shoe? A shirt? Surely, it wouldn't be her pants. He couldn't be so clueless as to forget her pants! No sooner had the thought run through my mind than I saw our daughter toddle towards me wearing only her brown shirt, brown shoes and diaper. As I began to ask my husband what in the world he was thinking, he swooped over to pick Anna up and twirl her in the air. My mounting frustration at his "wrong" way of doing things quickly dissolved as our home was filled with the sound of our daughter belly laughing in her daddy's arms.

As much as I sometimes wish my husband would learn how to put together a cute matching outfit or complete a diaper change that only results in a clean daughter and not missing clothing, I am realizing those wants should be at the very bottom of my priority list. Instead, I should focus on what truly matters. I should be grateful for a husband who delights in reading our daughter stories, who provides for her every need, who makes her face light up the moment she sees him enter a room, and who takes great joy in playing with her for hours on end. I should be thankful for a husband who gets the most important things in parenting just right.