Okay, seriously, how cute is my nephew? It’s amazing how a child can just absorb you. I love the way, no matter what is going on in my life, one of my nieces or nephews can make me forget all of it. I love this age (he’s 13 months) when they are learning so much and their personalities really start to become evident. This child, in particular, is a boy, through and through, and a daddy’s boy at that. It’s also awesome (in the literal sense of the word) to watch my siblings develop into parents. I love watching my brothers with their children. They change. They become childlike. Their rough exteriors melt as they spend time with their kids. And this child, in particular, has his daddy wrapped around his finger. Maybe it’s the way my nephew’s face lights up when my brother gets home from work. Maybe it’s the way he wraps his arms around my brother’s neck and grips his shirt for dear life when someone approaches threatening to take him away. Maybe it’s the way he looks just like my brother did at that age.

Whatever it is, this child has my brother completely spellbound and it is such a wonderful thing to observe.

And, while this cute little toddler has the same effect on me, it’s just not the same. I’m a girl and, well, it’s just different. We are born mothers. We are made to adore babies. We start from the time we are little girls with our baby dolls that we dress and feed and put in strollers for walks around the family room. We have it in us long before we ever bear children. Why else would any of us go through 40 weeks+ of fatness, followed by hours of painful labor (well…that’s changed with the epidermal, but the fatness and pain of pregnancy still happen)?

But it’s different with men. They (and yes, I’m happily stereotyping) play with legos and trucks and dream of becoming astronauts and firefighters.

Something happens when a man looks at the face of a child that he helped to create. He becomes a father.