If truth be told, my bond with Katherine came about slower than Glenda’s. In my defense, she had ten months of bonding while Katherine was in utero (whoever said it was nine months is a liar). And, if Katherine’s own childhood is any indication, Glenda also had a lifetime of practice nurturing baby dolls, changing their diapers, dressing them, feeding them and tucking them into bed with sweet kisses and “night-nights,” groundwork for this specific mother-child bond.

As for me? Well, before Katherine, I had zero experience changing diapers, dressing, feeding or holding an infant. My “doll” experience consisted of Mego Hulk smashing Mego Superman over the head with my sister’s doll house in an epic battle for the ages – or at least the most epic battle since yesterday’s.

As far as the pregnancy part of fatherhood was concerned, I spent it with a feeling of complete uselessness and “getting-in-the-way-fullness.” Then, suddenly (or so it seemed to me, though an eternity to Glenda) there Katherine was, screaming at me.

She seemed so small and fragile – except for the screaming at me part, which seemed large and dangerous. She quickly let me know that my ten months of uselessness were not ending with her birth, just taking on a new form.

It seemed wholly irresponsible of the hospital, but after a day or so, they sent this little stranger home with my recovering wife and me. I hoped that “rear her to be President and Nobel-laureate” was the standard Glenda was setting for her care of Katherine, but my personal standard of care at this time was “just keep her alive.”

Don’t get me wrong, I would have run into a burning building to save Katherine from the moment she was born, but, as I said, our true bond had to develop. At first, we were strangers looking at each other; me trying to figure out what to do, and she trying to figure out where mommy went and why mommy had left her with this well-meaning boob (and not the kind that then dominated Katherine’s thoughts).

I cannot tell you when the bond was formed, but I can tell you the moment I realized it had. I was changing Katherine’s diaper and making funny faces at her, hoping for a grin.  Then she laughed.  Not an “is it gas” smirk, but a full-on belly laugh. The kind of laugh Glenda has (for the record, Glenda does not have an “is it gas” smirk, only a full-throated laugh). I literally jumped in the air out of excitement (I use “literally” correctly here, as I did, in fact, jump). I had heard and made an angel laugh. I called my wife, who didn’t understand my excitement. It was just a typical day to her, but I was struck by the knowledge that at some point during those early sleepless nights, between diaper changes, while soothing tears and dodging projectile vomiting, I had fallen hopelessly in love with this little girl. At that moment, I became “daddy” — and to the most wonderful girl who has ever been or ever will be, no less.

Since then, our bond has only grown.  I find myself rushing home from work with barely contained excitement at getting to see and play with her. The best part of my day is when she hugs and kisses me when we put her to bed. The second best part of my day is when she greets me coming in the door from work with her hands in the air like she is signaling a touchdown, screaming “Daddy’s home!” When she refers to herself as “Daddy’s baby girl” I am filled with joy and pride.  When she leans against or rests her head on me while watching Daniel Tiger, my seconds stretch to infinity; in those moments, all is right with the world and I am calm.

Katherine nurtures me. When she eats, she takes a bite, then offers one to daddy, feeding it to me by hand.  Katherine offers me blankets and her beloved stuffed bunny named Bibi to hold (she has a many stuffed bunnies, all of whom are named Bibi: Bibi; Other Bibi; New Bibi; Itty Bibi; Other New Bibi; and Other Itty Bibi).

Katherine takes comfort from me when upset, frustrated or hurt, and listens to me when I tell her she needs to do something. But Katherine also orders me around like a trained pet. “Daddy fix it!” “Daddy get wawa!” “Daddy throw ‘way lady bug!” (she has taken an aversion to the lady bugs that occupy our house and thinks I throw them away in the trash).  And, most often, “Daddy sit!” (pronounced in an exaggerated southern drawl as a two-syllable word, “see-it”) followed by her pointing to some location where I am supposed to do so. On “Daddy days” (when mommy sleeps in and daddy takes the helm for the morning), she likes to comb my hair and put bows in it, she tells me what she wants to wear (usually something Glenda has told her I would like) and tells me which items of my own outfit need to be changed.

My days are filled with tea parties with that warren of stuffed Bibis and a baby doll named “Baby Blue Eyes.” I am a jungle gym. We play hide and seek and peek-a-boo. She hides her toys then asks me where they are with an exaggerated hand gesture, palms up and shoulders shrugged, followed by us looking frantically in places they obviously cannot be, acting mystified that they are not there. She wants me to chase her (crawling, not walking) and lift her up when I catch her (preferably upside down), over and over, cackling with laughter the whole time, until I give out (I need to do more cardio and curls — and by “more” I mean “any at all”). I am audience to her first choir performances.

And my days are filled with dance. I hold her hands for the support she cannot give herself, and then she crouches and stands, crouches and stands, her head bobbing up and down. Sometimes it is to music we both can hear. Sometimes it is to music only she hears. These are bursts of pure joy, accompanied, music or no music, by her laughter. And always it comes with screams of “Dance! Dance!” and, of course, orders of “Daddy Dance!”

My wife has often commented that she never remembers me laughing like I do with Katherine. I didn’t. Katherine brings out laughter that I have never had. Not chuckles, but raise-the-roof, tears-in-your-eyes belly laughs — an echo of the laugh I first heard from her that day at the changing table.

Daddy is Katherine’s comforting plaything. I am her biggest Bibi. I am nurtured and loved, just as I nurture and love her in return. My love for Katherine is different than any I have felt before or knew existed. It is unconditional and boundless, life-affirming and life-changing.

I barely remember my life before Katherine and cannot imagine my life without her.

Then I got the call that told me I had no choice but to start imagining it; the physicians told me that Katherine was going to die. As I hung up the phone and went inside to tell all of this to my wife, my mind reeled with horrifying thoughts: Some day – it seemed soon — I would come home from work and she would be unable to raise her hands in that “touchdown” greeting; soon after, she would no longer be able to shout “Daddy’s home!;” no more crawling on me like a jungle gym; no more crawling away from me in chase; no more feeding me her food; no more eating it herself; no more peek-a-boo, or hide and seek; no more ordering me to “sit!;” no more night-night hugs or kisses; no more laughter;

And…no more dancing.

In a prior post, my wife told you that she did not express all of her fears to me in the months leading up to Katherine’s MRI. If this was to protect me from fear, it did not work.  I had plenty of fear. I knew something was wrong.  I saw a tremor in Katherine that no one else seemed to see or else dismissed. I saw the plateau in her development.  I saw the lack of balance.

My Google searches between Katherine’s first birthday and her MRI appointment a month and a half after her second were filled with things like “causes of ataxia and intention tremor in an infant;” “hypotonia;” “symptoms and causes of cerebral palsy;” “genetic causes of developmental delay;” etc.; and etc. I furtively searched the Internet, like a husband hiding something racy, but this was much worse. I was hiding my fear that Katherine had a serious medical issue. I hid it to shield Glenda from unnecessary worry, although – maybe because — I knew she already carried worries of her own.

Don’t get either of us wrong. We spoke of our concerns and fears. We just did not voice their full extent, if we even comprehended them ourselves.

By the time we went for that MRI, I had convinced myself that Katherine had cerebral palsy. If so, the underlying brain injury would not be progressive. With PT and OT, I hoped she would one day be able to “re-wire” her brain so she could walk…and dance.

During part of the MRI process, my wife was allowed to stay with Katherine, while I was kicked out to the waiting area by the doctors (only one parent is allowed to accompany a child). I wandered aimlessly, until I saw a little chapel.  I have always found such places peaceful, so I went inside. I glanced at a prayer book and read a couple of the fear-filled prayers of other families. This was a children’s hospital, so they were all from other parents about their own “Katherines.” Many were facing far worse than the cerebral palsy I was sure Katherine had  … maybe had … feared she did not have … please, let her have. My mind went to my year of late-night “Googling” fatal conditions. I wrote in the prayer book “Please take care of Katherine. She is EVERYTHING.” I turned to walk out, but couldn’t. My hands started to shake. I had to sit down, but the pews were too far.  I sat on the floor, my back against the wall and cried unsustainable, hysterical sobs. Cries I did not know I had in me until exactly that moment. Tears I had never before cried.

Then I said something that I had never consciously thought, “please let me dance at Katherine’s wedding.”

I calmed myself, dried my tears, and walked into the waiting area, just as Glenda was walking into it, too.  I spent the rest of the day trying to comfort and reassure her, until I got the horrible call and had to cause Glenda more grief than most people can imagine. “Glenda, she is not alright, they say she is going to die.” I then spent the rest of the night and many days since trying to console an inconsolable, grieving mother, while finding a way to get through my own days, working, playing with Katherine, breathing, eating, and trying to maintain my own weakening grip on sanity.

Katherine’s continuing laughter has made these things possible.

That first time I asked to “dance at Katherine’s wedding,” the thought seemed simple. I wanted Katherine to be on her feet, able to walk and to dance.

In the days since, I have uttered these words many more times. Usually, I do so when I am on my knees, again crying unsustainable, hysterical sobs. Other times it is just a whispered incantation, my mantra.

It now means something different than it did that day. It is not that I want Katherine to be able to walk and to do so easily enough that she can dance. I do want these things, but my perspective has evolved. I no longer need these things.

It now means that Katherine is alive. It means that she is happy. It means that she has found love. It means that she still has those things that make her so special. It means I am blessing her union with a person who sees them, too. It means that she has someone to love her after I am gone. It means that the proper order has been restored to the universe; one where my sweet, smart and beautiful child lives on after me.

And that dance?  I no longer care what form it takes.  I do not care if she is dancing on her feet, or in a wheelchair. I don’t care if it is a head bob. I just want to see her happy on her wedding day, squealing “Dance! Dance!” and ordering “Daddy dance” one last time before someone else takes her hands.

Katherine, my dear baby girl, I will hold your hands, support and dance with you all the days of our lives together. But, please, please, baby girl, let me dance with you at your wedding.

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