LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – When Freddie Freeman arrived at spring training Thursday and a reporter asked what he did during the offseason, the Braves first baseman looked at him as if the guy must’ve forgotten Freeman’s wife had their first child in September.
“Keeping a kid alive. That’s all it was,” Freeman said, laughing. “Work out and keep the kid alive, and we succeeded.”
Charlie Freeman turned 5 months old Wednesday, and dad Freddie said the baby wasn’t keeping him and his wife, Chelsea, up for nearly as long every night as he did earlier. Initially, Freeman said the baby cried for about 30 minutes straight, and the first-time parents fretted and wondered what to do.
But 30 minutes became 27, then 22, and so on.
“Pretty amazing,” Freeman said of the dad experience thus far. “Five months yesterday. So we just started sleep training just in time (before spring training).”
The timing of the birth was fortunate, just before the offseason. Because, as Freeman put it, he and Chelsea “were zombies” in those first months with the baby keeping them up much of the night.
“We’re doing good, starting to get some sleep,” he said. “It’s pretty amazing.”
Credit: ccompton@ajc.com
Credit: ccompton@ajc.com
