Page 57 of Full Strength

She sighed, leaning into me. “I know. I’m sorry. I just feel like I’m being too needy.”

I squeezed this silly woman. “I will do anything for you and Eli and it will never be a problem. Get that through your head.”

She nodded before stepping back. “I’ve got to get to work. I’m going to try to get off in time for the dinner tonight.”

“Okay, have a good day.”

She gave me a quick kiss before hurrying out the door. I looked down at Eli who was still sleeping. Perfect. I guess it was time to shower while I could. I’d learned from Addi and Emma to do everything I could while the baby was sleeping. I’d always heard you should sleep while the baby sleeps, but luckily my sleep wasn’t getting interrupted. I carried him into my bathroom and showered with record breaking speed. I was dressed and ready for the day all before he stirred.

As I brushed my teeth, I looked down at him. Hopefully the whole day would be this easy, but I knew from experience he would wake up and then all bets were off. He was generally a great baby, but he could be unpredictable.

I spit out the toothpaste and wiped off my mouth. “Take it easy on me, little man.”

I carried him back to the living room where I needed to watch game footage for tomorrow’s game. I made it through the next thirty minutes with silence before he started to stir and fidget. Once his eyes blinked open, I undid his straps and pulled him out. I loved when he was still sleepy and wanted to stretch. I laid him on my lap and ran my hands along his back helping him stretch and wake up.

“Hi little man. Did you have a good nap?”

He smiled at me with bubbles around his lips. Then a second later, a rip sounded through the room. I stared down at him. “No way was that you.”

He blinked back at me, looking a bit proud.

I shook my head and lifted him to check his diaper. Great. He’d left me quite the present.

“Just what I wanted, Eli. Thank you.”

I quickly changed him then made myself lunch and started eating all while holding Eli. I felt pretty proud of myself.

“Good job, little man.” He blew bubbles, pleased with himself “Can I have an easy day with you?”

He met my eyes for a second then looked around. I took that as a yes. At least I hoped.

This was the first time I was truly on my own. I was honored that Addison trusted me enough to let me watch Eli by myself. Since I didn’t have to go to practice for the rest of the day, I laid out a blanket on the floor in front of the couch and let him play on his back with some toys. We were good for about an hour before he started getting fussy.

“Are you hungry, dude?”

I picked him up and started making a bottle, assuming it was that time for him. When I offered it to him though, he kept turning his face and pushing it away for me.

“You’re not hungry?”

I was surprised since he hadn’t eaten since he’d been here. So, if that’s not the problem, what was it? I checked his diaper one more time but it was clean. I thought back to the night that I showed up to Addi’s house and he been crying until I got him to fart. I looked in the diaper bag for some of the medicine that Addi gave him when he got a sick stomach and gave him a few drops. I walked circles around the room bouncing him like he normally liked.

“Let’s see if this works, okay?” I was trying to calm him down but with each passing minute his crying got worse. He kept looking at me with wide eyes that were filling with tears. It broke my heart seeing him this upset but I wasn’t sure what to do.

“I wish you could just tell me.” I’m sure that he wished he could communicate, too. He looked up at me with big crocodile tears, like come on man, you’re the adult you should figure this out.

“Little man, I don’t know what to do.” I kept bouncing him and rubbing his back trying to see if I can get the gas bubbles out but nothing seemed to be working. His crying got louder and sadder. I didn’t know what else to do so I picked up my phone and called my brother.

He answered on the first ring. “Hey man, I’m at work what’s going on?” There was a pause “Oh boy.”

I could hear the laughter in his voice. “It’s not funny, man. What am I supposed to do?”

There was a silence for a moment before he answered. “I’m assuming you just tried all the basics. Bottle, diaper, gas?”

“Yeah. Nothing’s working.” I filled him in on the different holds I’d tried over the past half hour. I’d held him to my chest, football, facing out.

“Okay, the best thing to do is keep calm. Babies can sense your fear.”

I looked at Eli who seemed a lot more distressed than when I started the phone call. “I think time’s running out, Zach. What do I do?”