I admit it. I’m a drooler. When I sleep that is. It’s not unusual for me to wake up in the morning with some saliva creeping out of the corner of my mouth, especially if I have a head cold or if pollen counts are exceptionally high. I do not, however, just go about my day drooling at will. Good thing I suppose lest people call 911 on me thinking there’s a new rabies epidemic. It’s a totally different story when it comes to my son.

Ted loves to drool. Well, at the very least he’s indifferent to it, not knowing or at least not caring when his lips, chin, cheeks, neck, and anything else in range is covered in a warm slippery layer of spit. That’s the mild stuff. There is also the post-feeding milky regurge and sometimes the post-post-feeding “perhaps-bounced-up-and-down-a-little-too-much” cottage cheese ooze. It would be nice to think that all of these baby bodily fluids stay on him, but of course that’s not the case. It also ends up on the furniture, the carpet, and dad’s (and mom’s) clothes.

In those early weeks of Ted’s life whenever some baby spit ended up on my shirt or pants, I changed my clothes almost immediately. It seemed like the reasonable thing to do and also was the reaction of someone who wasn’t necessarily feeling 100% fatherly. In my defense, I did not have the 9 months of womb-time bonding like mom did. It sometimes felt more like a small alien was invading the condo and exerting his will over the indigenous population. Resistance was futile.

As the weeks passed I began to feel as if I was really entering true fatherhood. I made a transition of sorts when it comes to all that drool. No longer do I change my clothes just because of some baby spit. It’ll dry, and if I’m out in public, it’s a sort of badge of honor.

“That’s right, I have a blob of baby spit-up on my shoulder. I’m a dad. What’s it to ya?”

And if the shirt is otherwise mostly clean and just has a little spot of spit, I’ll even wear it again. It’s hard enough to just keep up with all of Ted’s laundry; no need to make things worse. I assure you, however, that those same rules do not apply to squirts of baby poop… yet.