I was really please to get a text from Lisa this morning. I met Lisa at the trial Music Makers class, she decided not to enrol but we exchanged numbers and talked about going for a coffee. I had invited her for a coffee two weeks ago and not heard anything so I presumed it wasn't going to work out. It was very nice it did.
Lisa has a daughter about the same age as Leo so we could discuss all sorts of baby related things, but also just have normal conversations. We walked around the neighbourhood for a while then went for lunch. She said again how nice it was to talk to a Dad for a change.
It made me realise how few Dads I've met. I'm almost always the only Dad at the classes, in a kindercafe or in a playground. I didn't expect it to be 50/50 but I had expected that by now I would have at least met one Dad doing paternity leave. The only guy I've spoken to is the one at swimming, but he's only ever there on a break from work and he's always accompanied by his wife (plus his main task is to inform her when her boob pops).
I told this revelation to a friend recently and she said there are actually Dad only classes organised. I'm going to look into this... out of curiosity more than anything. Am I missing out in a whole world of Dad stuff?
Lisa's daughter was asleep the whole time we were together, which was a shame. We talked about meeting again so the babies could get to know each other. After lunch I rushed to German class and Leo slept the entire time. Waking right at the end just in time to flirt a little with Karoline.
This evening I went to a baby first aid class. I had not done any CPR training for about fifteen years and then it had only been about adults. It was a nice refresher, I probably could have done with it compressed into two hours. The whole class was four hours long and most of it was sitting listening. The guy running the course was great, but had some funny mistakes in English. For example, you must expect your baby to "chuck" when eating solids for the first time.
This class was mostly men whose partners were a few weeks away from giving birth. Maybe the helplessness of those last few weeks drove them to sign up, or maybe it was a primal instinct (or social pressure) to protect, I'm not sure. Either way this was the first time men out numbered women.