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Ken Ortiz
Hello all,
It’s interesting that when you become our age, you can make observations and then see how they have come full circle throughout the years. As a recent new Grandpa, I had an interesting observation and I am wondering if the other 76’er grandparents have noticed this.
When I first got to meet and hold my new grandson (he was barely a month old and it would have been sooner, but for COVID), I was thinking thoughts like “He’s so tiny” (he wasn’t), “I haven't held a baby in so long, how do I hold him?" (I was fine, it came to me). So I realized that all those baby raising skills I developed when I was raising my own children were still with me.
So I have had a few opportunities recently to spend some time with my new “little dude”, feeding him, playing with him, diaper changing, etc. But here is where my older age (and previous “baby raising” experiences) got me to notice a “FCP" (Full Circle Phenomenon).
To celebrate my completion of classes and because I had a short break before I became hostage to my place of employment, we decided to do a small family getaway for a few days at an Airbnb, which was in a historic old house in Wisconsin. So it was my Daughter, my Grandson, my Sister, my Mother and myself. An old family friend also joined us for one of those days. My Daughter joked with me that essentially I was only there to babysit my Grandson while the others got to have fun and shop, tour, etc.
So, here was the funny thing about that. I did spend some time taking care of my grandson there, but with my Daughter watching me and making sure I was doing things right. I got a lot of “you are not feeding him right", “why did you remove the bottle, he is not done yet", “he is not going to fall asleep if you hold him like that", “you need to do this and that when you change his diaper", etc.
Did my Daughter forget that I raised her and her older sister just fine as babies and I know how to do things? And her older sister was 6 weeks premature and really tiny and needed much more attention in the beginning and I got through that okay. I even have a picture of me and my older daughter “chilling" when she was a month old (June 1988). (See?)
And I can definitely do diapers. Did my Daughter forget that I successfully changed her diaper while bringing up a cellular network from the dead? I posted that memorable story here.
But I can't really blame her as that is where “FCP" (Full Circle Phenomenon) comes in. Because when my first child was born (my Daughter’s premature older sister), I was the same way. Well, actually I was a whole lot worse. There is even an old family event I attended when my older daughter was an infant and that day will live in infamy because even to this day, my family gives me grief about it.
We were together with a few of my aunts, uncles, cousins and other family members a few months after my older daughter was born. To say I was an over protective/helicopter Dad and a Dr. Spock know it all about babies at that time was an understatement. So my Aunt Pauline was there and she is seeing my baby for the first time and she has her arms out, waiting for me to give her the baby. But I was hesitating and giving her rules and directions on how to hold my baby. Then she comes out with the line that has now been known among my family for over 30 years:
“(God's name in vain) + (my childhood nickname)!!!! I raised nine friggin kids! I know how to hold a damn baby!!!”
Everybody jumped! My Aunt Pauline is barely 5 feet tall and she NEVER swears! But leave it to me to set her off and thus that line is a family classic now.
Another funny thing, the only person that did not react was my baby who didn’t fuss when I gave her to my aunt and loved having my aunt hold her.
And there you have it! FCP (Full Circle Phenomenon)
My present for my Daughter's first Mother's day tomorrow is a Mother's Day card from her four month son that I helped write for him. (hehehe)
Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers, Grandmothers, Greatgrandmothers, etc!
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when I see those classes again. Hope all is well with everyone. 
