It has long been my contention that Mr Woodhouse is not a father to Emma but an overgrown and uncommonly demanding baby, except that I assume he can attend to his own toileting needs. He has to be kept warm, he eats mostly pap and he can't be left alone for any length of time. Since there will be time in the remaining span allotted to him (according to what Jane Austen told her family) for Emma's first child to be conceived and born, I suspect he may be jealous of it, as a first child might be when the second comes along. He likes Isabella's children well enough, but they aren't living permanently at Hartfield distracting Emma's atttention from him.

I have often wondered how long it took John and Isabella to get Mr Woodhouse's consent to their marriage. Miss Taylor would not need it, luckily for her because I doubt he'd have given it, as she was well over 21 and his employee, not his daughter.