Not in front of the the baby…

I had it instilled in me when I was a kid and I still believe that you’re not going to fight with someone or about something unless you care about he/she/it. At least I think this is what my parents told me after they found me sitting at the top of the stairs by my room when I was five years old and listening to them fight. And I’m pretty sure they were right; plus, it’s allowed me to not completely overreact when I get into disagreements with other people, including Kim. And I won’t lie… there have been some doozies.

So yes, Kim and I have definitely had and continue to have our share of emotional bumps and bruises, and there seem to be at least a few that pop up on a regular basis. And I fully expect this to continue as times change and as Kim and I (and Lena) continue to grow as a family. For one thing, Lena was like a two-ton weight on one end of the balance that Kim and I had established in the first two years of our marriage. A waft of that first poop-filled diaper was like being buried up to your neck in the smelling salts of parental responsibility. “What do you mean I’ve got to do something? I thought this was a Teddy Ruxpin with no batteries?” So along that vein, how and why do I swallow a burgeoning argument around Lena? Well, for one thing, I’d like to avoid this –

(Disclaimer: this reaction/face was due to a 20-second delay in Lena’s meal… not a disagreement between Kim and me)

And for another, part of the new parental responsibility that I feel is trying to keep our baby singing the old Toys ‘R Us jingle until she’s 30. As I’m sure you’ve read on Kim’s blog, Lena’s a pretty happy kid. So how do we have those disagreements/arguments without upsetting her and without letting them bottle up so much that it turns into a much bigger explosion than it should’ve been in the first place?… … yeah, I’ll get back to you on that. For now, I’ll keep doing my best to keep things light in front of Lena so that I can keep getting reactions like this…