Nesting instinct
All kinds of animals have one. Mine has been kicking-in in stages, with pulses of activity and sense of urgency. Instead of hunting for the best twigs to build the nest it's been purchases from IKEA, M&S, Amazon. I've been doing my version of clearing out the den – while we can't enlarge or dig a new chamber (not sure the landlord would approve of me taking the nesting analogy that far), we have moved around the living room, bedroom and kitchen.
Into the home stretch now, with baby coming next week. The Canadian is already off on maternity leave while I'm finishing up work and she has embarked on a flurry of final prep with new twigs/piles of stuff appearing, delivered by a different courier every day. The piles in turn are causing me anxiety so I need to go attend to them now, do my bit to finish getting our nest ready.
Birth is affected by the pandemic – how could it not be? Still, I'll get to be there for a chunk of it, meet my newborn and help with the name. I'll be sent away for a couple of days while mother and baby recover on the ward before being released – better leave a few last minute nesting activities for then to keep me occupied!
Then it's onto a new chapter in the circle of life (insert any other suitable cliche here). Babe will be raised Lion King-style in front of webcams and beamed to audiences around the world via Zoom, Skype and FaceTime:
Look at my boy/girl one-and-all for (s)he is the future and will be my legacy to the world! Also – isn't (s)he cute?
Nappy changing and middle of the night feeds await alongside all kinds of new adventures. I have 4 weeks off to embrace it. It'll all become real. Anytime now. Anytime.
Entry 15 of my participation in the “100 days to offload” challenge. Find out more and join in!
2020-06-24 #100DaysToOffload #Fatherhood