\nMy absence was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up–and had actually asked for. My employer was organizing a pilgrimage to Rome<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> and I had snagged a spot as the digital media maven who would document the online version of the pilgrimage<\/a> for interested parties who couldn’t join us.<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Unfortunately, this also meant leaving my 3.5-month-old daughter for a full week. She and my wife would travel down to my in-laws\u2019 house while I would travel to the Eternal City.<\/p>\n
My trip was incredible. It was my first experience of Europe and my first religious pilgrimage. My inner Catholic nerd was completely blown away by larger-than-life basilicas, holy relics, two Pope Francis spottings and much more.<\/p>\n
![\"Rome!\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dadhasablog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Rome2016-0273-copy.jpg?resize=1000%2C667\")
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But when I got home, there was an even greater marvel to behold: Madeline had evolved. I had gotten glimpses of this in some of our brief FaceTime catch-up calls from Rome, but seeing her in person was like meeting a new baby. In just a week\u2019s absence and now nearly four months into her life, Maddie has become a full-fledged miniature person. She started grabbing her feet. She started rolling halfway over on to her side. She started tracking objects and faces with her eyes. She advanced in her ability to imitate smiles, laughter, cooing and talking. She gets distracted by loud noises. She looks at people when they start talking.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s glorious.<\/p>\n
After months of one-sided interactions that yielded nothing more than the occasional gas-induced smile, it\u2019s a wonderful feeling to see her exhibit emotions beyond despair and to watch her interact with the world more and more every day.<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n All that said, she\u2019s still very much a new baby. Our nighttime routine for the past two months or so goes like this:<\/p>\n From here, the story can change, but it always ends the same way: After an unpredictable amount of (too short) time, Maddie wakes up and starts yelling. We wait a few moments to see if she will soothe herself back to sleep, but this is a pipe dream. For all her development, she has yet to learn the art of self-soothing.<\/p>\n At this point, I will run back to her room\u2014floor creaks be damned\u2014and swiftly pick her up out of the cradle before the screaming reaches a wide-awake critical mass. Thus begins our post-feeding formula for getting her to sleep. We hold her out in front of us, head cradled in one hand and body stretched along the length of our arm, and walk laps around the cradle in her room, chanting a mystical incantation of \u201cMadeline\u2026Madeline\u2026Madeline\u2026\u201d and rhythmically patting her backside, as the endless roar of rain sounds emanate from the white noise machine.<\/p>\n\n