On to the next battle

Well, basically a month later the first battle has been won and I've decided to tackle another challenge. Perhaps I am a little crazy or perhaps I am a little over confident since my youngest son adapted real well to the toddler bed or perhaps both but I have decided today was a great day to put my two sons into the same bedroom.

I do not doubt for a minute it is too early to try this (the feet pounding on the floor above me instead of being silently nestled under covers is all the proof I need) but it took me far too much effort to move furniture around to change my mind now. It will definitely be a long few nights but hopefully by next weekend they figure it out. Let's just hope I am up for the challenge. Right now it isn't looking good.

The first major battle begins

I have discovered through my first son that choosing when to introduce kids to various monumental development items such as toilet training and transitioning to a toddler bed comes down to one thing, when parents are willing to do battle with their kids. Sure kids themselves will give clues as to when they are ready but no matter how much a kid may seem to be ready to move onto achieving a major milestone it rarely comes without a fight.

After a very brief discussion with my wife I decided that this past weekend was a great time to begin the war of getting my youngest son into a toddler bed. There was no dire need to start this 'adventure' now as he has not taken to daredevil stunts such as climbing out of the crib or anything else that would warrant this transition to start post haste. He seems to enjoy my older son's bed so I thought he would enjoy his own, which he does, just not necessarily to sleep on.

Saturday night was the night the toddler bed was introduced and it seemed to go rather well as he did not fuss much more than usual, a little but not too much. This was a good sign but when it comes to kids I always seem to be wary and the next day it proved to be warranted. Nap time in the toddler bed was difficult and in fact it never happened. After listening to my son stomp around the room and several resets, it was evident the crib was needed. Then at bedtime, he might have been put to bed too early and after about an hour of fussing and crying out, he finally fell asleep, not in the bed but at the gate in the doorway.

For at least a month prior the signs seemed to point to introducing a toddler bed but now that my son has it, he doesn't seem to like it, or at least, he doesn't like to sleep on it. We are hoping this will be a small battle and not a war but we have some tricks up our sleeves (i.e. some things we can try add or remove) and are ready for the fight if it gets serious. We have been through this fight once before, he hasn't and we have the biggest weapon on our side, his desire to be like his big brother.

The countdown is on!!!

A few months ago our second child was born and my wife started her maternity leave. Just like with our first child I will be once again sharing the parental leave portion. My leave has recently been approved at work making April 9th my last day.

With nothing else to really look forward to I have already begun my countdown. As of 11 AM today I will have just under 38 actual working days; 263 hours; or 15,780 minutes of ‘actual’ work left until my leave. With plenty of vacation time still to use my actual time here will be far less.

So what if I am a little too excited about leaving this place. Five months off work starting prior to the start of spring and lasting to just before summer officially ends. What a perfect time to not have to work. Even better than not working is not having to take the GO train at all for 5 months. I think I have reason to be this excited. The only downfall: with my countdown starting so early, the last 38 days are going to seem excruciatingly long.

Beaten into Submission

I absolutely detest telephones, both traditional land lines and cellular phones, and, other than a brief two year period, I have avoided using cell phones. I didn’t want to buy the cell phone when I did either but my situation at the time created a need for one. At that time I was separated from my wife, although we were not married at the time, and the cell phone made things easier, even though I rarely used it. When my wife finally moved to the area, I kept the phone active but I barely used it. Only about a year or so ago, I let my phone become inactive.

Now that I have a child in day care and I rely on public transit to get to and from work, the need for a cell phone is growing. Despite some train cancellations and delays in my first two weeks back to work, I refused to buy a new cell phone. Yesterday, after my baby’s temperature reached 103F (39.9C for us Canadians) and the day care was frantically trying to get him out of the centre, my wall of refusal has cracked. I was out of the office and did not get the message left by the day care so I was unaware of the situation when I picked my son up. This all occurred too late for us to pick him up any earlier than usual anyhow but it is a little disconcerting not knowing what is going on with my son.

On top of that issue, my wife and I do not see each other every day most weeks so it is hard to co-ordinate things and communicate any issues or share joyful events. She mentioned to me that I should have my phone activated or get a new one and at that time, I shot down the suggestion. Now, it is time for me to reconsider. ‘In the immortal words of the doors: The time to hesitate is through!’ (quote from Empire Records). Starting today I must commence my search for the best phone company and decide on the plan or prepaid service to use.

By the way, my wife took my son to a clinic last night and had his eyes, ears, nose, and throat checked out. Nothing seems awry in any of those. The doctor’s diagnosis is a common cold. My son is going to see one of our doctors today to confirm the first opinion (our doctor works in a clinic with three other doctors so it is a crap shoot as to which doctor we get to see).

We Waited for What?

On Friday, my son had his appointment at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto regarding his hands and feet. Since the appointment took a year to schedule, I figured we would be waiting most of the day before we were actually seen by a doctor so I was forced to use half a days vacation for the appointment. Much to my surprise, we only had to wait 45 minutes in the waiting room and another ten to fifteen minutes in another room before the doctor and his shadow (a University of Toronto student) arrived. As I predicted, it took only fifteen minutes for the doctor to look over my son and come to his surprising decision. Nothing was to be done to my son's feet. For his hands, we need to see a plastic surgeon.

Looking Forward to Looking Back

As my time at home is only days from ending, I find it fitting that I should recap the past four months with baby my son so when the conscious memories of this adventure are replaced by the chaos and confusion of my workplace, I will be able to use this post to yank these memories back from the dark crevices of my mind and be reminded of the joys and triumphs we experienced together. I realize that not every person has been or will be afforded the opportunity I had with my child and that is a shame but unfortunately, that’s life. Even despite the recent frustrations I am experiencing, (to be discussed more later) these past four months have been great and I would have liked to spend more time with my son but since my money tree is not growing as hoped, I must return to work before they give my job to someone more competent.

I divided my time at home into eight separate stages: novelty, reality, routine, nothing changed except the time, the new routine, it’s okay to crawl, the more recent stage, leave the cat alone, and the upcoming, calm before the storm stage. Some of these stages are self-explanatory but I will elaborate on each stage, in my own special way, so no one has to guess at what happened during every stage. To keep with logic (for many reasons but mostly because in a few days logic might take a trip south not be heard from again for some time; I do work in government after all), I shall stick with the chronological time-line of things and begin my recap with what I like to call the novelty stage.

Like all new things, from toys to jobs to experiences, there is a period of ecstasy where one cannot think of anything but the new. I refer to this period of ecstasy as novelty. There is nothing more ecstatic than to not work but still be paid, even if just a percentage of the regular wage. Put that together with having the opportunity to spend some quality time with a son (or daughter) while they are solely dependent on you, and there are not too many things better than that. During this stage, every thing is new and is, therefore, fun and exciting, even changing diapers were exciting, that was until the real nasty, stinky poop reared it’s ugly head and I ran from the room retching.

Even with all the excitement, this initial two-week period was a nervous one for me as well, especially the very first week; I was, after all, responsible for another human being for the first time in my life. Lucky for me, my son still really enjoyed his sleep at this point so I was given ample time to spend by myself. At first I just prepared his bottles and relaxed while my son slept but after a couple weeks of ignoring the housework, the build up of cat fur and dust reminded me of my other duties.

Just in case I missed the message with the cat fur, the filth multiplying in the washrooms attacked my senses beating me into submission, forcing me to accept my new reality. The new reality was that I really needed to get into some sort of routine with my son so I could fit some housework into my days. He had an easier time adjusting to me than I did to him and my new role (leading to a bit of frustration on my part) but in the end, after a further week of struggling, we finally figured out our routine.

Once we entered the third stage with a set routine, things became so much easier for me. I was able to tell when my son was fine on his own and when he needed more attention so I could plan my day around his moods. I did most of the housework in the morning, usually when my son slept, but some days I could even do some cleaning while he was awake. Those days were especially enjoyable because I could spend my son’s two naptimes doing whatever I wanted, including joining him for a nap. It was during this phase when my son began his imitation of Keanu in his role in The Matrix. I found his mode of transportation quite humourous but my wife was not, and is still not, too fond of it. My opinion in this regard is changing to reflect that of my wife’s now. Looking back this was the best two weeks with my son; he did not move too far so he couldn’t get into trouble and he almost always had his two naps, even if one was short.

I thought things were going along smoothly, I had finally figured out a routine and my son was very rarely getting upset, but then daylight savings began and threw the routine into turmoil. Thankfully, I finally realized that my son’s internal clock did not miraculously change with the clocks so I was able to restore the order and this period did not last past the one week. In essence, nothing changed except the time.

After the time change incident, I synchronized my routine with my son’s once more and created what I like to call, the new routine. The word routine is synonymous with mundane and boring (they really are, check a thesaurus) and this stage really did not change that association at all. Looking back on it now, this stage was perhaps the most relaxing of them all, despite the boredom. The boredom became a non-factor, as I was able to defeat it before it consumed me by reuniting with my Sony Playstation 2 and the accompanying EA Sports games. My son liked to get in the action from time to time as well by trying to grab hold of the cord, the life line of my enjoyment, but I quickly found a solution to that before he could damage something. By the end of this five-week stage, the longest of them all, my son was starting to move around quite well by rolling and thumping about on his back. Midway through the new routine stage, my son started to mess things up by altering his routine slightly each day. (I must teach him the cliché that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it). These constant changes caused more frustration for me because I lost all my free time and I rarely got through a meal without hearing his relentless cries. I solved this issue quickly by stopping all other activities and focusing solely on him. On the down side, I was unable to play Sony in the waning weeks of this stage. I even had trouble keeping up with the housework but the house was there to remind me of my duties again by throwing fur balls at me from around the corners and from under the furniture. Luckily, I married Superwoman and she came to my rescue during the harder times and helped not only with the housework but also with restoring the house’s good nature.

The house continued to stay clean, relatively speaking, and that was a good thing because my son began moving around the house a little more. During the next three weeks, my son progressively became better at getting around the house but despite our encouraging words, it’s okay to crawl, my son continued to use his head to move about. Somewhere along the way, he decided to try this crawling bit but, even with our attempts to help him, he did not quite understand the principle. Instead of being on his knees, using them to help propel him, he left his bottom extremities limp and dragged himself along with his arm as if swimming along the ground.

My son eventually figured out that using his legs would help him move faster and has since started to use them to crawl. After weeks of what seemed like futile attempts to teach him, my son began to crawl, well somewhat anyhow. Instead of being on his knees with his stomach off the ground, he holds his knees to the side of him, belly on the ground and slides on the ground more than crawling. The view from above is rather amusing as he looks like a frog when he stops moving. Unfortunately, now that he can move around fairly quickly, he does not want to stop and I am constantly trying to refrain him from going where he should not go or to leave things alone that he should not be touching. My cries of leave the cat alone go unheeded. Up until now, the cat has been quite gentle with my son and scampers away when he approaches instead of lashing out with his hind claws. Chasing after my son has been going on for about two weeks now and every day by lunchtime, I am completely exhausted.

The first sixteen weeks have been fun, amusing, and frustrating but, like all things, it must end. To my displeasure, my time with my son has almost reached its end, as Tuesday will be my son’s first day at day care. For me it will be like the calm before the storm. I will have three days all to myself to rest, give the house one last full cleaning (oh boy I can’t wait for this!) and prepare for work. I imagine that I will enjoy being alone Tuesday but by Wednesday, I may start to miss my son and by Friday, I am going to wish I were back at home.
These past four months have been great, even with the challenges involved, but the moment is over and I must return to work. The only bright spot in all of this is that I still have seventeen days to take off work. I am definitely going to make the best out of each and every one of those. Even though my time at home is ending, I am glad I took this time to spend with my son and I look forward to the days to come when I can look back on this moment and truly understand how special this time was.

The Little Giant

We had planned on getting a crib for my son once we moved into our new house, setting it up and having it ready for him when he got home from the hospital but since my son entered this world way too early, the crib was not even purchased let alone set up. Being as small as he was at birth it ended up not mattering anyhow; he spent the first month or so sleeping in his playpen (and he looked dwarfed in that even). In fact it he was almost a month old when we did finally get him a crib.

Ever since we bought the crib and set it up, the mattress was left at the highest setting. Today that all changed. My son has grown so much in the past eleven months that he would be able to climb out of the crib if he got it in his head to do so. Because of that, we had to move the mattress down today. We put the mattress right to the bottom setting so we will not have to move it again until we have to transform the crib into the next stage. He is still a bit on the small side but he is catching up quickly so when he goes to day care Monday, he should not be bullied around by any of the other babies.

Question: The last sentence above got me thinking about a somewhat silly thought. When does a baby cease to be a baby? All other age groups have clear markers as to when they progress into the successive group but I am unaware of the evolution out of the baby stage. I must admit I have never really given this much thought before but the question now seems relevant.

Beware the Fountain of Youth

For fourteen weeks I have been changing diapers and feeding my son without any incidents but my clean, dry record came to an end so early Saturday morning that I thought it was still Friday.

I took my son to the Jays game Friday night but he was not having any fun, nor was he allowing anyone around us to have any fun, so I ended up taking him home halfway through the fourth inning. For those who do not recall the game, Friday’s game was the one that stopped the Jays losing streak at nine games and was the first of two wins in a row. Anyhow, he was so tired when we got home he did not wake up so he went straight to bed. Unfortunately, a short time after I crawled into bed, he decided to wake.

At this point it was around midnight and I was extremely tired but I went to deal with the screaming kid. First order of business, changing his diaper, no big deal, I had changed countless diapers in my time at home that it is almost second nature. This morning was not going to be just a normal morning though. I took off his dirty diaper and reached for a clean one. That is when I heard a strange noise and when I looked down, I saw a yellowish stream projecting from my son. It took me some time to register the event but I finally did and threw a diaper on him and immediately gave myself a once over. To my sheer pleasure, there were no wet spots on my clothing; I escaped the attack unharmed.

Of all the times for this to happen, my son had to pick a time when I was in a zombie like state. I finished changing him, wiped down the change pad and put a sleeper on my son before heading downstairs to feed him. Finally, at two o’clock, I was able to crawl back into the warmth of my bed and sleep with my clean record shattered. I guess it was inevitable so I should just be glad I came out of the incident with a dry shirt.

Almost…But Not Quite

The days of putting my son on the floor to play and leaving him to his own devices is over, he is now on the move. Until recently, he would thump around on his back, using his head for leverage, but now he is crawling…almost. He still uses his head a lot but now he rolls onto his stomach and quasi-crawls everywhere chasing the cat around.

I say quasi-crawl because my son does not use his knees at all when he moves. At times he uses his feet but never his knees. Occasionally he does get to his knees and we think he is about to crawl properly but then he just rocks. Instead, my son pulls himself forward using his arms as if his legs were not a part of him at all.

Before too much longer, I am sure he will figure out how to use his knees when he crawls and then he will definitely get into trouble. Until then, he is still able to move around and look for trouble. I have lost my freedom either way and have to make sure I keep an eye on my son to prevent him from getting into too much trouble.

Put Me In Coach...

Same Old Same

It seems I have been more focused on updating my sports blog lately but looking on this blog, it seems I have updated one week ago. Still, I felt I should write something here today anyhow.

Nothing new is really happening here. We had to take my son to Buffalo again on the weekend to see the Bandits play their first playoff game. My son was not too co-operative during the first half of the game so my wife had to watch the game from the concourse. She came back during halftime and was able to stay for the rest of the game. We got to pass my son off to some fellow season ticket holders, who have three children of their own, so we could actually enjoy some of the game.

Saturday we were able to get out and enjoy the warm weather. Did some work around the house. I cut down an ugly dead tree (I figured it was okay since we will be planting another tree to replace it later this summer) and was able to rake the backyard. Next step is to get some grass seed and fertilizer in hopes to eliminate the ugly brown patch this summer.

That is about all that is going on here. Hopefully, I will have some more interesting things to share soon.

Great Success!

My son’s first road trip was a great success. For the most part, he seemed to enjoy himself and did not give us much trouble. Friday night during the game he did cry a bit when the Bandits scored and everyone was cheering but he settled himself with the rest of the crowd. By the fourth quarter of the game though, my son was likely getting tired and would not settle so my wife had to take him to a quiet sanctuary. Luckily, she could still see most of the action from her new vantage point so she did not miss much (not that she would have anyhow, the Bandits didn’t play well).

After the game, we drove to Rochester for the night. My son woke while we put his sleeper on and cried for about an hour after before falling back to sleep. That was the only real trouble we had with him and it was our own fault. Once he fell back asleep, he did not bother us until the next morning.

Saturday started off as a lazy day for us, after all there is not much to do in Rochester. We went for breakfast and then took our time getting the day started (lucky for us checkout wasn’t until noon). After lunch, we ventured out to find something to do to waste the day away until the lacrosse game. We took a wrong turn so we missed the zoo but we did stumble across a baseball game. The Minnesota Twins AAA baseball team plays out of Rochester and just happened to be playing that day. My son let us enjoy the game as he slept through several innings. A great way to waste the day in my opinion!

My son was equally as good at the lacrosse game that night as he slept through a quarter. The game was even worse than the Friday night affair so we left early to start our 3+ hour cruise…sorry that is something else, it was a 3+ hour drive. Halfway between Rochester and Buffalo we stopped at a service centre and coincidentally ran into Jay Dee, who was returning from a day trip to Syracuse. My son really enjoyed that chance encounter though as he was all giggles. The rest of the drive was uneventful and my son eventually slept the night away.

Our First Solo Outing

To continue from my previous post, I realized that yesterday was a first for me; until yesterday I had not been ‘on the town’ alone with baby Alan for any length of time. Sure, I had been out of the house on several occasions but for the most part, I was without Alan, with Alan and my wife, or I went to a relative’s house where I could pass of the baby and relax. However, yesterday I was on my own with Alan in the big city.

The journey started with a short drive into Toronto for lunch and eventually ended when the Blue Jays beat the Royals 7-4. After lunch, there was about one and a half hours to waste until I met up with my sister for the game and a slight break from the baby. I ended up sticking around work and bugging all the condemned souls suffering in cubical hell. Much to my surprise, it was a rather pleasant visit but then again my bosses were not there and I was able to dodge the worst of the bunch (unfortunately some others were missing so I may need to return with Alan).

Alan didn’t seem to mind being tossed around like a beach ball from person to person and he seemed to particularly like the ‘cool kids’. He was quite the happy baby for the entire day, even late into the ball game when he should have been sleeping. It seems the nap he took while walking from the office to the dome (excuse me, the Rogers Centre) helped prevent him from getting cranky at the game. Since this outing was such a success, I should not be so nervous prior to the next big outing we partake in and as soon as the weather warms up, we will hopefully go on more outings.

Another First for My Son

As every child grows, they will inevitably experience many firsts ranging from evolutionary firsts like a first tooth to character firsts like a first smile to calendar firsts like first Easter to first activities like the first trip to the zoo. Being a little better than nine months old, my son has already experienced many firsts. He has been smiling for several months, giggling almost as long; he has already been to his first MLB game, his first NLL game (albeit an exhibition game), his first OHL game and his first MSL (Major Series Lacrosse) game. My son has gone through his first Christmas and his first Easter (see picture) and many other first calendar events. He has even been to the Toronto Zoo once already. He has yet to join us to a Buffalo Bandits game though.

Through the majority of the National Lacrosse League season, we have been lucky enough to have a babysitter to look after my son while we made the long drive to Buffalo for Bandits games. Our luck has finally run out for this weekend though since we decided to stay in the US for an extra day and we will have to bring my son with us. This trip will be my son’s first trip south of the border and his first real road trip.

Warning: Sports Content
To end the season, the Bandits are playing a home and home series with the division leading Rochester Knighthawks. This weekend is set up to be a very exciting one too. If the Bandits are able to sweep the weekend series then they will tie Rochester for the division lead and due to the better head-to-head record, they will assume first place in the East division. To add to this excitement, the season points leader could be decided in these two games as John Tavares of Buffalo and John Grant Jr. of Rochester are tied for league lead with 97 points. (Dan Dawson of the Arizona Sting has 95 points and could surpass both Tavares and Grant for the lead). Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this weekend is John Tavares’ quest to be the NLL’s all-time goal leader. Tavares need six goals to tie the record and seven to surpass Gary Gait who currently has 596 career goals.

I am a little concerned at how my son will be at the lacrosse games though since he has not faired well at recent sporting events. In December, at the Toronto Rock exhibition game in Oshawa, my son cried from the second quarter on and more recently, in February at an OHL game again in Oshawa, my son cried throughout the first two periods causing me to leave prematurely. It is possible that he just didn’t like the new arena in Oshawa, the GM Centre (or should I say the mini ACC) but I am sure it was the loud noise that he did not like. This weekend we will be prepared though. We will have something to cover my son’s ears with, whether it is actual ear plugs, tufts of cotton, or just ear muffs, we will do what we can to minimize the noise for him.

I will be taking my son to the Toronto Blue Jays game tonight so hopefully he enjoys it and doesn’t cry through the entire game. Baseball, especially in Toronto, does not compare to the noise of lacrosse or even hockey so he should be okay with the noise level. There is a lot of room to walk around if things get out of control so hopefully I can enjoy the game too. It will be a long day for us; we will be heading downtown for lunch with the Canyon Creek Club (some people from work) and a visit with others. With luck, things go well this week and my next post (sometime next week) will tell of a great first road trip for my son.

Changing of the Clocks Ritual

Just over a week ago we turned the clocks ahead one hour to Daylight Saving Time, which, like every other year, has turned into a month long event. Why on God’s green earth do I have so many darn clocks??? (Why is it called God’s green earth anyhow, since the planet looks blue from space and the term ‘earthy tones’ generally refers to various shades of brown)? Now where was I? Ah yes! These time changes, other than being very annoying, do not affect our lives much at all. Sure, we enjoy the couple of months when we actually get to see the sun before and after work, but overall DST makes little difference to our daily life.

These time changes do take some time getting used to however, as we try to go to bed at our usual time only to stare blankly at the ceiling cursing the person who thought they could manipulate time and all the other people who agreed. The length of this adjustment period differs from person to person. I recently learned that not everyone suffers from DST fatigue, some people, as small as they may be, seem to be able to just ignore the time change altogether. That is right, baby my son has completely ignored the changing of the clocks ritual and has continued on his regular routine.

I have long since given up the effort of ignoring the time change so I adjusted my schedule immediately and continued to feed my son at his regular time intervals and he continued to eat, although not as much. I did find it odd that my son was not eating as much as normal but it was not until Friday, two frustrating days after my son started rejecting his food outright, that I realized why he was not eating. His body runs solely on its internal clock and not some abstract methodology like time. By not acknowledging the time change, my son has given me an extra hour of sleep each night and, since he does not eat dinner until after seven now, he has allowed me to eat before him every night without having to hear him scream.

This year the change over to daylight saving time has a very real, beneficial impact on my life. Maybe the person who convinced us all to take part in DST was on to something. On second thought, changing the clocks is still very annoying.

A Typical Day With My Son

07:00 – 08:00 AM --> Wake up and change diaper

08:00 – 09:00 AM --> Feed my son and eat breakfast while he digests his food

09:00 – 10:00 AM --> Watch The A-Team while my son plays

10:00 – 10:30 AM --> My son watches Sesame Street while I do housework or post a thought on my blog

10:30 – 11:30 AM --> Change my son’s diaper, feed him a snack and put him in bed when he falls asleep

11:00 – 01:00 PM --> Watch Kung Fu and when necessary, do more housework until my son wakes up

01:00 – 02:00 PM --> Feed my son lunch and find something for myself to eat while he digests his food

02:00 – 03:00 PM --> Watch Kung Fu while I spend time with my son

03:00 – 05:30 PM --> During this time my son usually naps for at least 30 minutes, sometimes as much as an hour and a half, while I either nap or clean up the kitchen (do dishes, etc.) or just watch tv, changing my son’s diaper when he wakes up

05:30 – 07:00 PM --> Make dinner, eat, and then feed my son his dinner

07:00 – 08:00 PM --> Clean up from dinner (do dishes, etc.), get a bottle ready for my son, and get my son ready for bed

08:00 – 09:00 PM --> Feed my son while watching tv and put him to bed for the night when he falls asleep.

09:00 – 10:00 PM --> If bottles need to be made, I make them, if not I just watch tv and relax

After 10:00 PM --> I either go to bed or just space out in front of the tv until I am ready for bed

* I really don’t spend all that time doing housework but instead spend the time watching tv. It just sounds better if I say I do housework.

My Worst Fear

I remember the day well; it was a cool sunny day, or maybe it was a cool snowy day, or was it just cloudy. Okay, so I don’t remember the weather on the day well at all but the weather is completely irrelevant to the occurrence that fated day; I still remember the day fairly well, it was a Friday, or was it a Saturday. I guess the day is even irrelevant to someone who does not have places to be or things to do in the outside world. Let’s just move on into the story now.

The day started like every other day during the past three weeks, except that this day was a Friday (I am really sure of it too I am not just making this up). My eight-month-old son forced me to wake up early to get him out of his crib and his wet diaper, and give him some nourishment. Once the feeding finished and baby my son was satisfied, I sat him in his bouncer in front of the television, which was tuned to children’s programming, and I continued on my usual routine.

This day I had to make bottles for him, as I do every other day, so I hid in the kitchen and began that slow boring process (luckily I was able to prepare the water before feeding so I just had to sterilize the bottles and mix the formula). As I continued the mind-numbing task, having my mind drift aimlessly through random thought after random thought, I began to hear noises from the other room. It took me some time to recognize the noise but I finally realized that my son was giggling so much I would swear he was actually laughing. I found this quite odd because he has never laughed like that before at the television. In fact, he rarely giggles much at the television period.

I continued making bottles expecting the ‘laughter’ to stop but to my surprise, the laughter continued. As a concerned parent, I decided I needed to find out the cause of the laughter so I stopped making bottles and went to investigate. As I got closer to the television, an unmistakable voice attacked my ears. I didn’t want to admit the voice indeed belonged to the character I despised but once I turned the corner, the dread enveloped me. My first instinct was to reach for the remote and change the channel but decided I could not deprive my child of the enjoyment he seemed to be getting from the show so I left the channel alone.

For the first eight months of my child’s life I was able to shield him from the idiosyncrasies of the big purple dinosaur and his so called friends but one day after he reached the eight month plateau, my hard work was wasted. My child has been exposed to Barney and, for some incomprehensible reason he actually really likes him. He doesn’t like the show because when Barney is not in view, no giggles can be heard but once Barney pops into view, my son just can’t stop giggling. I guess this is not really a bad thing though because hearing a baby’s laughter is probably the best sound one can hear, it sure beats crying and screaming anyhow.

At Home Update!

As promised, here is an update of my life at home with baby my son. For the most part things are going well at home; I have quickly got into a routine and most days my son lets the routine play out with little or no interruptions. He still eats 5 to 6 times a day so a lot of time is dedicated to feeding him but he is generally quiet then so I do not mind at all. He takes two (2) naps a day so I can usually get some work done around the house. My son is a quiet baby whom generally only cries or get cranky when he is hungry or after he has done the nasty in his diaper.

I have managed to find four (4) episodes of Kung Fu on TV every day with an additional episode on one or two days a week. The only downfall is that every station likes to run the same episode during the same week or 2-week period so I end up only watching one or two episodes a day. Since the show is on so frequently I do not mind missing an episode anymore, which allows me to get work done when my son naps through one.

Enough about me and back to my son. He seems to refuse to crawl no matter how hard I try to help him learn. Every now and then, it seems he knows how to crawl but just does not seem to want to. He is much happier scooting on the back of his head. He lifts his ass in the air and pushes off with his feet, dragging his head on the floor as he goes. He also likes the barrel roll technique for getting around too. I am almost ready to give up on him crawling but I just hope he starts walking soon so he can grow some hair on the back of his head, he looks funny with a huge bald patch there.

My son is currently nursing a cold so he is all congested and snotty. Since he enjoys putting his snotty fingers all over my face, including smacking my mouth, I have also become sick so taking care of him has become difficult. I can only hope the worst is over so he can clear his congestion soon and get back to normal. I was not going to add a picture to this post but decided I could not do that to y’all. I will try to update more frequently but I still cannot promise anything.

Pictures of My Son

July 10, 2006 vs. October 26, 2006

Baby Update # 3

Baby my son has once again returned from a doctor's appointment. This time he went to receive the remaining vaccination shots given to babies. He now weighs in at ten (10) pounds five (5) ounces and will not have to make an appearance at the doctors office for another two months now.

As you can see from the picture above, he is starting to hold his head up some and with a little help he can even sit up. Now that my son appears more human like, I have once again found the camera and the past few days have taken a few pictures. I imagine now that he is beginning to be more active and is beginning to learn new abilities I will be snapping pictures like a mad man again (but don't expect too many more pics to be posted). Before long the struggle of keeping my son from pulling the cat's tail or other such troublesome activities will begin so you can look forward to some entertaining stories in the future.