Let's Wrassle

The Boy loves to wrestle. It's amazing how rowdy he is, without ever really having been taught to be rowdy. It sure is fun, I love it. Of course, it's not all that helpful when I'm laying on the floor trying to fix the sink. And it's even less helpful when The Wife goes to get the camera instead of getting him off of me. But I'm not complaining, especially since I would've done the same thing.

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Search This

What's a baby gotta do to find a search engine that works?

Hat Trick

We know Detroit couldn't manage to beat St. Louis in baseball. But did you see that they can't even beat them in crime? Now if The Blues can get their shit together and start whipping the Red Wings - that would be the icing on the cake. I don't recommend holding your breath for this.

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Here's Your Sign

The Boy has definitely picked up on some of the sign language we've been working on. He knows "eat" - which isn't surprising since that seems to be his favorite thing to do. Within a couple minutes of waking up in the morning, he's giving the sign for "eat", and saying "na-nana. This kid is banana-crazy. Although I haven't seen him use it in a while, he used to know "more". He definitely knows "out", except he made up his own sign for it that looks more like an "I don't know" shrug. Along with his sign for "out", he gives a little grunt that actually sounds a little bit like "out".

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Steppin' and a Chuckin'

So it seems I've lost some interest in blogging. But here are some blogworthy events.

It's his birthday today. That's blogworthy.

For quite a while now, we've been giving The Boy things to hold and tempting him with items to get him to take a few steps. We've had very limited success. Last night, we were getting ready for bed and he had a binky in each hand and one in his mouth. We stood him up and leaned his back against the chair and put the big stuffed "riding" elephant in the middle of the room. His eyes kind of lit up, he used his butt to push off and stand on his own, and then took about 5 steps all on his own to get to the elephant! How fun! He did this about 5 separate times, and we managed to get one of them on video. Although we thought he was going to pull his "no trick pony" act, because once we got the camcorder out, it seemed like he wasn't going to do it. We felt kind of silly that we hadn't thought to try binkys before, he's always seemed more comfortable, safe, relaxed, and confident when he's holding binkys.

Speaking of binkys, this is pretty cool. When he wakes up and we get him out of the crib, if he still has a binky, about half the time, he takes it out on his own and throws it in the crib. The other half we just have to say binky a couple times and then he does it. He pretty much never gets or wants a binky except for sleeping.

He got a lot of cool stuff for his 1st 1st birthday party (with family). And I expect he'll make a decent haul at his 2nd 1st birthday party (with friends). Don't ask why we did it that way. Or if you really want to know click here.

He vomited for the first time last night in the middle of the night. That sure is a bummer. I woke up to him crying about 12:30am and knew something was wrong because that's so rare. I went to check on him and couldn't see very well. As I am feeling around for him so I can pick him up, my hand goes *mush*. Hmmm, that's not good. Hey, what's that smell. Oh god, that smells really bad. Oh wow, this stuff is everywhere. I'm going to need some help. So we went to get The Mommy for help, but she was already on her way. So we got him cleaned up. We started laundry. He puked once more. We cleaned him up again. We added more stuff to the laundry. And then I went to Wal-Mart at 1:00am to get some medicine, more sheets and another mattress pad in case there was more puking, and some other stuff. He slept through the rest of the night and was doing quite a bit better today, but still not 100%.

The Wife and I got to go on a date last week. That was nice. We went to a dinner theater. The play was so-so, but we had a great time. It was nice to be husband and wife for a while instead of mommy and daddy. I hope we get to do that more often. It's tough to lose your identity as a man/husband and woman/wife to the identity of mommy and daddy.

FILE UNDER: PARENTHOOD, THINKING

There's A Lion In My Shoe

You might think that's some kind of secret code and that the response should go something like, "The dog barks at the blue moon at midnight.".

You'd be wrong.

I was letting the dogs in when I noticed something stuffed way up in my shoe. Apparently, The Boy felt the need to stuff the "Little People" lion in my shoe. It's things like that sure make me wish I could know what he is thinking.

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Happy Place

The Boy goes bonkers happy when I get home from work. Sometimes he crawls over to me as fast as he can, screaming "DA. DA. DA. DA.". Sometimes he crawls to me until I start towards him, then he turns and crawls away, laughing as I chase him. It sure does help melt my stress to come home to that.

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Choo-Chooooooo

I was sitting in the living room tonight with The Boy and The Wife and I noticed he was making a new sound. I'll leave it at that because I can't do it justice in words and I don't have the time to attach a sound-bite. So I noticed this new sound, and thought it was kind of interesting because it wasn't like any other sound I'd heard him make before. A few seconds later, I realized he had just been playing with this toy train that makes a "Choo-Chooooooooo" train noise and then it occurred to me that he is mimicking the toy train! Sure enough, about that time, he grabs the train, presses the button to make the noise, and then makes it himself. Holy Shit! This is so cool. Of all the neat, new things he's doing, this one really strikes me as awesome. And makes me think I need to start watching my mouth.

He's starting to take steps around the room if you hold his hands and walk with him. He's just crazy about banana, he shoves it in with both hands as fast as possible. He seems to be able to say it. He mostly calls it na-na, but sometimes throws a ba- in there. Of course, he seems to be calling all food he likes na-na. Oh, and there is the fact that he seems to like all food. In fact last night he ate off our cheeseburgers and tonight he ate off our soft tacos. He's really starting to be against baby food and wants to feed himself by hand, or with spoon, or wants whatever is on our plate. He screams a lot at meal time if he doesn't have what he wants. That's pretty annoying and I'm not sure how to deal with it at this age. Reason doesn't quite seem to work yet.

He has this really funny thing where he likes to go around the room and pull all the pillows off the couches and then flop down in the pile of pillows, roll around, and laugh, laugh, laugh. It's pretty entertaining.

We had fun at The Lake last weekend. He sure seems to love boat rides & swimming. He jumps in rhythm with the boat going over the waves and just babbles away. Sometimes he gets annoyed by the life jacket, but that's understandable.

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Update

The Boy can take a few wobbly steps across the room while holding onto his "walker" toy.

At times, it seems like he knows what "hello" means because he'll start opening and closing his hand when you tell him hello. Other times he just does it randomly like he has no idea what's going on. He gets so excited when I come home from work. He "waves" at me and then crawls to me as fast as he can.

One morning, he had been playing quietly in his crib for a while and The Wife decided to go get him up and start the day. She found him flipping through his plush "Pat The Bunny" book as if he was just reading all by himself. He sure seems to like books.

He still flips back and forth between favoring his right and left hand. Currently he seems to use his left a lot for eating finger foods. There was a little chunk of time when he was feeding himself from a spoon with considerable success, but lately not so much.

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Charge!

The Boy attacked me the other day. Crawling on me and grabbing me and slobbering on me. Giggling the whole time. It was so much fun. I'll never forget those times. Thanks, buddy.

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Is That A Plush Toy?

I have a picture of The Boy on my work computer. He's wearing a shirt that says, "My Dad's a Geek". It's a few months old, and he does look a bit chubby in it. It really kind of emphasizes his square head with rounded corners and rounder cheeks. His arms are stuck straight out and look a little padded. And the shirt is filled out quite well by his belly. It was "take your child to work day", today. The Boy didn't go for various reasons. One of my co-workers brought her 5 year old son by and he came in my cube and read The Boy's shirt out loud and laughed. Then he leaned in, looked real hard, and said, "Is that a plush doll?". Oh my gosh, it was just so funny.

He's crawling up on hands and knees pretty regularly now. Except he has his own little twist to it. He frequently has his left knee down, but puts his right foot down to push off. It looks pretty funny and awkward.

He pulls up on everything to stand and even makes his way back and forth across whatever he's leaning on.

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There I Go, Turn The Page

Welcome, Seger fans. ;-)

The Boy loves the board books. Recently, he's started helping turn the pages. He turns them in the right direction and everything. Sometimes he decides he wants to go back and re-read a page or two, but for the most part, he just likes plowing through the book. The only thing I really have to help him with is turning one page at a time.

He intermittently is able to hold and tip the sippy cup all by himself to get a drink. We've also started on some big people food. Lunch meat, potatoes, green beans, etc.

As always, there's more to report, I just can't remember what I wanted to write about. Q: How many ADD kids does it take to change a light bulb? A: I dunno, wanna go ride bikes?

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These [amps] go to eleven.

That was the other thing I forgot yesterday. The Boy is experimenting with volume. He has this elephant that honks? (what the hell do elephants do? trumpet? whatever, that noise elephants make - it makes it 3 times in a row) So we were playing with it the other day and he was trying to mimic it. Didn't sound at all like an elephant, but he was purposely adjusting his volume. It was interesting.

He also likes raising one or both arms, sometimes it's at the perfect moment and is really funny. Like tonight he had his jammies in his hands and he was raising and lowering his arms like he was playing peek-a-boo.

He's also been blowing raspberries on things like his plastic cups, and other odd objects.

Fun stuff.

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If You're Happy And You Know It

We went on a mini-vacation the past few days. We really just went to my dad's. He lives on a lake so there's lots of fun summer activities. And my half-brother met us there with his family, so that was fun. But vacations sure are a lot different when you have a baby. Overall, he was good, but he does have trouble adjusting to being in a different place. He had a lot of fun in the water and on the boat. We got him a little blow up raft complete with a shade to keep him out of the sun.

He's started clapping his hands together in the past few days, that's cool. And he's started sitting up in his crib.

I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting, and I could go into more detail, but I'm tired.

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Guilt

I feel like such an asshole when I leave the house for work and The Boy is crying/screaming/having a fit.

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Pull Up A Couch

The Family was watching Italy and Germany go at it today. The Boy and I were sitting on the floor and The Wife was on the couch. The Wife and I got fixated on the TV, when we suddenly realized the boy was standing up, using the couch to keep his balance. He apparently pulled up into a standing position all by himself! Wow.

The Boy discovered his penis quite some time ago, but tonight in the bathtub, he was pulling on his scrotum like he was stretching out a balloon in preparation to be blown up. It looked like it should hurt, but he wasn't screaming, so what the heck.

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Two Binkys. One Hand. No Problem.

Today, The Boy had one binky in each hand, and one in his mouth. He dropped the one in his mouth, looked at it, and let it be for a few seconds, and then calmly picked it up (and he was already holding a binky with that hand) without dropping the one he was already holding. Yes, I realize how silly it is to post about this, I just was impressed with his dexterity.

We're having a lot of trouble with the 2nd nap of the day. He just doesn't sleep very long, and it's pretty obvious he needs to sleep longer. Today it's worse and we're having trouble getting him to even fall asleep for the 2nd nap. We don't know if it's related to the cold, ear infection, teeth, or what, but hopefully it's just a short phase we're passing through.

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Chuck

The Boy visited Chuck E Cheese's for the first time tonight. We attended a birthday party there. It was actually fun, and despite not napping enough this afternoon, he enjoyed himself. He rode a couple little rides, a bulldozer and a Clifford dog, and I got some good pics & video. And, The Mommy took one for the team by putting aside her fear of mascots and actually took The Boy to see Chuck E up close and personal.

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2 Hands. 2 Binkys. 1 Mouth. No Problem.

The other morning, The Boy had 2 binkys in his mouth at the same time. It was quite amusing and made for some great pictures.

He can crawl up stairs now. Closely monitored, of course.

He likes to chase and be chased, and he just laughs & laughs when he pops his head around the corner and finds me.

Work and life have been busy, so I haven't posted much recently.

I got a new phone (with Sprint) and I love it.

There are at least a dozen other things I've wanted to post about recently, but I can't think of them now.

EDIT: He's learning new sounds. He's got the "D" down and he's getting "M", too. It's fun to pretend like he's saying da-da and ma-ma.

FILE UNDER: PARENTS, GEEK

And The Nominees Are

Well, It's been a busy weekend and a busy few days since my last post. But I just now discovered my blog was nominated for a Mix Pix Father's Day Blogger contest. Here is the review. Thanks, Margie! I'm honored.

The Boy got to go on his first boat ride this weekend. Which was quite a treat for me since I'm such a lake rat. Just like his dad as a baby, the boat lulled him to sleep and he napped up in the cabin while we enjoyed the boat ride. Babies always look so uncomfortable in those life jackets, and he was no exception. However, he didn't protest too much. We also swam in the lake which was a blast.

I got a great photo album/scrap book for father's day. It's really cool and I proudly display it at work. I've had several people look at it and it gets a lot of compliments. I also sort of got a grill. Our old grill shot craps a few weeks back and since I grill so much, we bought a new one and called it a father's day / birthday gift.

Oh, those teeth are really busting through! He has two little incisors on the bottom. They're cute, but sharp! I have a feeling the first time he accidentally uses those on the boob, his breastfeeding days will be over! The Wife told me that she gave him a little piece of frozen bagel the other day and that there were little teeth marks in it.

Separation/stranger anxiety seems to be kicking in. I hear this is just a phase, but I'm wondering how to best deal with it to make sure it's a short term thing.

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Dinner Conversation

I really love that The Boy enjoys exploring his voice. His ba-ba-ba's, la-la's, raspberries, etc. are all very fun. But I really could do without the screaming in-between bites at dinner time. Especially in a restaurant. But, I won't complain too much, it could be something worse.

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Tooth Fairy

Apparently, The Boy has sprouted the tiniest little bit of tooth on the bottom left. The Wife discovered this tonight during bathtime (we "brush" his teeth every night). I was not present for the discovery, so I'll have to check it out in the morning.

Good job, Buddy!

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Stubborn Bastage

I'm sitting next to my dad at Missouri Baptist. We'll be headed back to Barnes West soon (Hospitals).

He's had recurring pancreatitis (sp?) for a long time now. His doctor recently noticed something and had him go in for a CAT scan. They noticed some issues and sent him in to have some endoscopic procedures done. There are more details, but that's not the point of this post.

He drinks 8-10 drinks per week, that's a conservative guess. It's actually probably quite a bit more than that. He smokes 2 packs per day. He says he wants to quit, but it's not really true. If he really wanted to, he'd at least try. I know these are both addictions/diseases (depending on your point of view) and are very difficult to quit. My mom died from drinking at 52, and went through several "clinics". So I've seen these things destroy people. But he doesn't even try, so he doesn't really want to quit.

Case in point. He's got a couple stints in his heart because of the blockages due to smoking. His pancreatitis is from all the drinking and the pancreatitis caused diabetes. So now he's in the hospital to figure out the latest deal with his pancreas. The first chance he got to get up and walk around - yup, he went out to smoke. Had 3 or 4 yesterday. And I guaran-damn-tee he's going to have a drink or two first chance he gets.

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Rotten

It seems like there's a pretty strong potential for The Boy to be a bit spoiled and/or shy with The Wife being a SAHM. Anyone got any advice and/or read any good books on this?

On a different note, I've seen hockey series turn around in the flash of an eye. But if the Oilers don't get their shit together, they are done. In their favor, they do go back home for the next two games. Of course, if Cam Ward keeps playing so strong in goal, I don't know how anyone will get a puck past him.

FILE UNDER: PARENTHOOD, SPORTS

You Over-Estimate My Sneakiness

The Boy let out a little fuss around 5:50 am this morning. Earlier than I'd like, but it could have been worse. I let him fuss until about 6:10 or 6:15 when it was clear he was not going back to bed. I got up, turned off the monitor so The Wife could sleep in a little longer, went to the bathroom and then went downstairs. When I got to his door, it was quiet, so I stood there for a few seconds. I knew if I went back up to bed and laid down, he would immediately start fussing. So I decided to crawl into his room and lay on the floor until he started fussing again. I got to the spot where I planned to lay down and I heard him babble. I glanced over and he was on his stomach, with the crib pad pulled down so he could see over it, and he was looking at me as if to say, "Hi Dad! Whatchya doin' down there on the floor?". I just laughed out loud. Outwitted by a 7 month old!

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An Open Apology To The Boy

After posting about how cranky The Boy has been, I come home to a gleaming, gold star report card about how good he was today. To top that off, it was The Mom's night off so it was just me and The Boy tonight and he was such a good boy. Sure he fussed a little, but he was really a very good boy. Thank you, Boy. And I apologize for the previous post.

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Calgon, Take Us Away

It seems (at least to me) like The Boy has been more cranky than happy for around 3-4 weeks now. We keep blaming it on teeth, and they do seem to be right there at the surface, but it's starting to feel like that's just a scapegoat. He's going to bed fairly well. And he's sleeping through the night, he's just been waking up early. Of course, a couple times it's been because of a diaper leak. I don't think he's nursing all that well (The Wife would have to comment on this). I mean, I think he's getting enough, he just doesn't always go for very long and still seems to have frequent fits when nursing. He still eats from a spoon well, it's just that he screams between bites. Sometimes he seems cranky, other times it just seems like he's exploring his voice. He's started to hate (scream when) having his clothes and diapers changed. Is it teeth? Is it something else? Is he just a cranky baby? Is he a good baby and I'm just a wussy? Is it going to get better? If so, will it get worse first?

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Blog Name

I was trying to help The Wife come up with a name for her blog and I had two great ones, but she didn't agree.

giggleswhensquished

pterodactylhiccoughs

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Janice

Sometimes, when The Boy laughs, it sounds just like Janice from Friends. We're really, really, really, really hoping that's not his permanent laugh.

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I Think I Can, I Think I Can

It seems like The Boy is just seconds from crawling. If you put him down on his hands and knees, he can sustain that position for some time, he just can't get moving. He can hold himself up with his hands. He can army crawl (drag himself). He spins and rolls. Today he had his butt up and his legs going in the right motions, he just couldn't get his front up off the ground.

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Buzzword

I've got to do something with my computer cables. At least I think that's the problem. I have this erratic, obnoxious, all be it barely audible, buzz in my speakers. It's associated with mouse movement, CD activity, etc. It's annoying as heck.

FILE UNDER: GEEK

Baa-Baa Black Sheep

The Boy has started opening and closing his mouth when he babbles and also repeating noises. Like ba-ba-ba-ba and such. At first, it seemed like his jaw had a "catch" or a "pop" to it every time he opened and closed it, but that doesn't seem to be happening as much now. It was kind of odd. He also seems to have abundant energy. We were all hanging out last night and he was just rolling and rolling and spinning and pulling and trying to crawl and babbling his brains out the whole time.

Now that the pursuit for Lord Stanley's Cup has been narrowed to 4 teams, our INHD channel is carrying more games. I'm finally getting my hockey fix.

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Subject Not Related To Post Topic

Went to a BBQ last weekend in St. Louis. It was fun. Good to see KD & Not A Slacker, which doesn't happen often enough. The hotel stay was a bit rough. We got a suite, but it was one bedroom and one living room. The bedroom was furthest from the door, which is a great design to keep out the hallway & lobby noise. But we were too paranoid to let the boy sleep in the living room since it was closer to the door than the bedroom. So he slept in the crib in the bedroom with us. So we didn't sleep much because we could hear every little noise.

Apparently, The Boy rolled and wiggled his way about 10 feet across the living room today. No crawling, but it's still kind of neat.

He has started having fits when we wipe off his hands & face after mealtime. That's quite annoying. Sponge baths have become quite a chore, too, as he wiggles, rolls, & screams during them. I think we need to move to regular baths since he seems to enjoy them more.

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And Knowing Is Half The Battle

We had boys night in tonight while The Mom took a little break. I set him down on the mat and there was something a few feet in front of him that he apparently wanted. He leaned forward and up on his knees, quickly collapsing and launching himself forward at the same time. Then he proceeded to do a little G.I. Joe Army crawl, pulling himself forward primarily with his arms while his legs flailed around trying to help.

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Gimme' Five

The Boy likes to flail his arms up and down as he is figuring out that he owns them and has some degree of control over them. Sometimes, he'll hold his hand flat when he's doing it and if you hold your hand out flat, palm up, it's like he's "giving you five".

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Buttnanas

All the baby fruits and veggies we've been feeding the boy have tasted (for the most part) like mashed up fruits and veggies with water added. Which makes sense considering that's the ingredients. But curious minds need to know so we've tried pretty much all of them. Then there's the bananas. Wow. They have some extra ingredients, presumably to keep them from turning brown, but I don't know for sure. Well, they taste and smell like butt. So I'm officially renaming them to buttnanas. So far, The Boy doesn't care for them much. We'll have him try them a few more times, but I can't blame him if he rejects the buttnanas.

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What's That Ringing?

We had our first weekend away from The Boy last weekend. It was our 5 year anniversary and we went to Hermann, MO. It rained all weekend and there wasn't a lot to do, but we had a nice time. All the green grass & trees were nice, as was getting away from the city hub-bub. We visited some wineries and learned interesting things about their history. As much as we enjoyed the weekend and each other, we couldn't wait to get back to him.

The Wife came up with this great analogy. Imagine there's this thing on your desk at work that just rings and rings and rings VERY loudly and VERY frequently and you don't know how to make it stop. A lot of other people have this thing on their desk, but they have other problems with it, like it just flashes all the time. And there is no expert with the answers on how to fix it. People can say, "oh, I've got one of those, and it does this. but I don't know how to fix that ringing problem". So that doesn't help much.

The Boy is having fits during mealtimes and diaper changes. We don't know if it's gas, teeth, cold, allergies, etc. We just know it's painful, stressful, and 3 solid days of it is really starting to take it's toll.

But he sure is cute when he smiles & laughs & spins himself around to get to things & coos & lays his head on you when he gets worn out & stuff like that!

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Take Me Out To The Ball Game

We took The Boy to his first baseball game. And the Royals actually won a game! We had a blast and he was pretty good. He fell asleep in the 7th & slept through the fireworks at the end of the game.

The other morning when I was changing him, he wasn't done pooping and with his diaper off, he actually made two turd shaped turds. (As opposed to the wedges of poop that get formed because of the diaper.)

He's starting to move around in the crib while he's sleeping. It's our fault. We were with friends who have a son 5 weeks younger than The Boy. They were telling us how he moves around all the time in his crib. We said how The Boy never moves an inch - wakes up exactly how you left him. Two or three days after that comment he wakes up once on his stomach with his head at the foot of the crib and once sideways.

There's been a couple times in the past few days where I've been able to sooth The Boy when The Mom could not. It's kind of nice to be able to sooth him, but I do feel bad because I know how terrible it feels to not be able to sooth him.

He likes to roll from back to front, front to back, back to front, etc. etc. etc. But so far he just does it back and forth and stays in one spot. As soon as he realizes he can keep rolling in the same direction - look out!

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On The Charts

6 month check -
Damn near 21 lbs., which puts him at 93rd percentile (as opposed to >95%, which id what they've written every other time)

About 29 inches long, >95%

His head is about 17 inches, moving him up to 65th percentile

So we still have a giant baby, but he is averaging out some.

He had a different nurse that was slow with the shots. Not at all like the regular nurse that does all of them so fast that it's over before you know it.

We're embarassed to say his circimcision was stuck in one small spot. The doc fixed it with a little tug, but now it's irritated. Baths & diaper changes will be painful for all of us for a bit.

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Scrub Scrub Scrub

Bath time is getting harder. The Boy gets a bath pretty much every night before bed. Usually it's a sponge bath. He only gets a full tub bath once or twice a week. He just loves to roll over and wiggle and move and try to go, so the sponge baths are quite a challenge.

At tummy time, he really pushes himself off the ground with his arms. Sometimes it makes him go backwards. And he loves to spin spin spin in a circle. He even lifts his butt up sometimes and gets his knees part of the way under him. But when that happens he usually topples over onto his face. I'm sure it's still quite a ways off, but there is definite progress towards crawling.

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6 Months

The Boy is 6 months old today. Sometimes it seems like it's flown by. Other times it seems like he's always been here.

He's getting quite a bit of hair, relatively speaking. It's still very short and thin, but it's definitely filling in. But he really does still have that bald baby look going.

He loves to eat from a spoon. He seemed to be getting used to the green beans. He definitely loves the carrots & sweet potatoes & such. He likes the oatmeal cereal, too. He loves to scream at the top of his lungs inbetween bites.

He started shaking his head back and forth a little bit. I read that is normal, but it kind of bugs me for some reason.

Last night, we realized we've had The Dogs for 4 years.

Time's fun when you're having flies.

FILE UNDER: PARENTHOOD, DOGS

Toast and Jam

While giving The Boy a bath tonight, he managed to get his foot in his mouth before I washed it off. Then I noticed he had quite a bit of toe jam. Yummy! Then I think he must have kicked himself in the mouth or something, because he got red in the face and started crying.

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Ravenous Savage

Like most babies, The Boy loves to put things in his mouth. But he does it with such excitement that it's a riot. He'll get done nursing and be sitting up with The Mom to burp and he'll reach out, grab whatever he can (usually a cheek and hair) and just shove her cheek/chin/nose/face/whatever in his mouth. And then he shakes his head from side to side like a wild animal feasting on prey.

The Boy tried green beans tonight. So far, not a big fan. But he wasn't real excited about the oatmeal at first, and now he loves it. So we'll try it a few more times and see what happens.

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It's Not Easy Being Yellow

I parted ways with The Family for the weekend, but apparently he went to sleep very easily and slept through the night. Sunday & Monday he also did well and tonight he went to sleep pretty easily. It seems like we've made significant progress and things seem to be going well. I hope it continues that way. I know teeth are coming soon and that will interrupt things a bit. Hopefully it will be limited impact.

He tried sweet potatoes over the weekend and he loves them. He's also pooping more often, so thanks for the advice to ditch the rice cereal. That may have played a part. The Parents As Teachers lady says she can tell when babies primarily eat "yellow" foods because the tips of their noses get a yellow tint to them. So I guess we'll try a green vegetable next, just in case she's not insane.

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Baby Steps

Well, let's see. He woke up at 5:30 and fussed and kicked for a while, but didn't actually need any attention. He fell back asleep about 6:30 and slept until about 7:20, at which time I left for work so I don't know what time The Wife actually went in and got him.

Seems like we're making positive progress. Slowly

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More About Sleep

He woke up at 4:45 am and put himself back to sleep fairly quickly. He woke up again about 5:45 am and only made it until about 6:15 or maybe 6:30 before he needed attention. But once The Wife fed him, he crashed back out for a while.

Tonight The Wife went to play volleyball. I was hoping he'd stay up till 7:30 pm, but he could only make it until about 7:20. He cried really hard for about 20 or 25 minutes and then went to sleep. It was harder for me to not pick him up with The Wife being gone and knowing I was the only one around.

I feel like we're making positive progress. I hope that trend continues.

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What's Your Sleep Number?

Well, he slept till 4 am last night. He fussed for a bit and then The Wife went and helped sooth him (just for a minute) and he slept again until 6. At that point, he was just giving a little fuss now and then, kicking his legs now and then and falling back asleep for a bit. He finally got up about 6:45. Overall, I'd say it went fairly well.

Tonight has been similar to last night so far, except he cried for a shorter period of time tonight. He seems to be asleep now, so I guess we'll see what happens tonight.

Oh, I've been meaning to share this. He has a little booster/high chair that straps to a regular chair. We usually pull him up to the table and he eats about the same time we do. The other night I pulled him up near the corner and when he kicked his leg he actually moved the kitchen table about 6 inches! Nearly spilled my glass of milk. It was pretty amusing.

I wish I got more than 2 - 3 hours a day with him during the week. It's just kind of a bummer to think about all that time I miss.

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Tough Love

The Boy had a massive diaper blowout yesterday. It was the first major blowout I've encountered since we started the rice cereal. We're really getting into some new textures & smells. And from what I understand, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm embarrassed to admit I couldn't get through it without gagging (maybe dry-heaving would be more accurate) several times. Maybe I'll eventually get used to it. I think I'd be okay if it was diaper contained. But this one was well over halfway up his back. I actually didn't know what to do at first. I was just coming up with a plan on how to deal with it when, thankfully, The Wife swooped in to help. The hard part was figuring out how to get his shirt off without spreading poop everywhere.

Then there's the sleeping. He hasn't ever consistently slept through the night. He's done it a few times, just not consistently. I'm no comfort to him at bedtime and in fact he usually gets more upset if I try to calm him than if I just leave him by himself. So they wife pretty much always puts him to bed. We've tried "Good Night, Sleep Tight" and "Sleeping Through The Night" and both have had limited success. He's seemed more cranky than normal lately (teething, perhaps?) and The Wife was at her wit's end last night so we got to a point where we decided we needed to let him cry it out. So he cried for a few minutes and then slept all night. We knew that was too easy. He was a bit off schedule today, and ended up falling asleep while nursing. So he woke up a little later and we thought he might need a burp. We got a couple small burps out and put him back down. He cried for a few minutes and quit. He woke up a few minutes later, cried hard for about 10 minutes and quit. He woke up a few minutes later and cried really really hard for about 15 - 20 minutes and quit. I'm sitting here now and he seems to be asleep, but he's rustling now and then. So I don't know what the night holds for us. It doesn't seem right to just let him cry, but we did check on him once or twice just to make sure he wasn't stuck or something. It's hard to do, and in fact, The Wife gets to a point where she can't listen. We know he's capable of doing it and it's just a matter of helping him learn how. None of the other options have worked, so I guess we'll try this. Sorry, buddy. We love you. We just don't know what else to try.

Luckily, I don't have enough readers to worry about too much hate mail.

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Just Keep Swimming, Swimming, Swimming

Yesterday, The Boy attended his buddy's One Year birthday party. There were a ton of people there. I think there were more kids than adults. It was fun. No, he didn't get cake or ice cream.

Today we went swimming at the YMCA for the 2nd time since he's been out of the womb. (He went several times with mommy in utero.) I think the best way to describe it is to say that he doesn't dislike it. He kicks his legs some and splashes a little, but not near as much as in the bath tub. I think he's kind of overwhelmed because it's loud and it echoes and there are a lot of people. I think it will just be a few more times before he really starts to have fun. He wears those "Little Swimmers" diapers with Nemo on the butt and he's got these little lifeguard shorts with a matching hat. And his life jacket just kind of swallows him up and if you couldn't see below the surface, all you'd see is his cute little face floating in the life jacket.

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MIRACLE!

We were hanging out with The Boy when he rolled over from his back to his stomach, got up on his knees like he was going to crawl, and then just stood up and took a couple steps towards me! It was amazing.

P.S. Check the date of the post

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Ask And Ye Shall Receive

I apologize for the lack of posts. I got a promotion and also was out of town for 3 days, so I've been busy.

I felt really bad about leaving The Boy & The Wife, but they did fine without me. Although they were quite happy to have me back.

It seems like The Boy does new things every day. He rolls over from his back to front all the time. He clearly wants to move when he sees something he wants to get. Sometimes it makes him pretty frustrated, but most of the time he spins in a circle, or scoots an inch or two. I've got to start baby-proofing soon. He was on the floor in the bathroom with us the other day and he spun himself around so he could reach the drawers and started trying to open them.

Oh, and he's sitting up like a champ. 30 seconds or longer at a time! The Wife is brilliant, she brought up one of our thick exercise mats and he practices sitting up on it. Most of the time we catch him, but when he does crash all the way over, those mats make for a cushy landing.

He eats at least 8 tablespoons of cereal (from a spoon) for dinner every night. We've got some fruits & veggies we're thinking of trying before too long.

A couple nights ago, we were giving him a sponge bath and he had all this goop in the folds of his neck. And he did NOT like having it cleaned. He just cried & cried. We felt bad, but it was so disgusting, it had to be done.

He's really slowed down on the weight gain. He's been hovering at 20 for almost a month. Yesterday he was 20.5. I think it's because he's so active now. Rolling over & wiggling & such. Still, he's a big boy for his age. I haven't measured his length, but darn if he doesn't even fit in the rocking chair. His head hangs over one arm with the feet hanging over the other.

He took a full bath last night. He kicked & splashed & had a blast.

We think he's teething some more. He has a bit more diaper rash than normal (although it's not too bad). He's drooling like crazy. And he chomped down on The Wife's finger and immediately started crying like it hurt.

He's only been pooping every 3-4 days. It has us a little worried, but we think maybe it's just because he's eating more cereal.

The Family joined the YMCA. The Wife has been going pretty regularly. They have baby sitting services for The Boy. The first time, the wife only got about 20 minutes into her workout before she got paged. On her way to the room, while she was still quite a way from the door, someone opened the door to leave and she heard him screaming. She was like, "That one's mine.". I guess he just screamed the whole time. But he's been doing great ever since. We got a family pass so we can use the pool.

We got new ear molds for his hearing aids. The old ones were so small they were just falling out. The problem is, I guess it's a common practice to "double-dip" ear molds for kids so they're a touch big and will last longer. But they're too big and don't fit well. I can tell this ear mold thing is going to be a pain.

I'll try to post more often, thanks for the comment.

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Roll Over, Beethoven

I really, really, really, really, really hate to post this because it seems like Murphy watches my blog. But heregoes anyway.

The boy has rolled over from back to stomach 3 or 4 times now. It's taken some bribery with a toy or a slipper or whathaveyou, but still, it's very cool.

Also, he is beginning to awkwardly sit up by himself for very brief periods. This is neat stuff but also very amusing when he goes careening over onto his side or completely clam shells like a little contortionist.

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Doggone

The Boy has discovered the dogs and is quite interested in them. The looks on his face are like, "Hey, those things move around and make noise, but they're not like mommy or daddy."

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Funny Bone

He's gone from slight giggles to full-on laughter when we wash his neck. What a great sound.

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Shit Happens, Finally

The Boy hadn't pooped since Monday, so we were a little worried.

[12:39] TheWife: Houston - we have poop!
[12:39] *** Auto-response sent to TheWife: I am currently idle.
[12:40] TheWife: well you can be idle
[12:40] TheWife: I'm still going to send you a message
[12:40] TheWife: cuz I know you're thrilled to read about poop
[12:40] TheWife: :)
[13:00] Me: this is Houston
[13:00] Me: Was the poop contained withing the designated containment unit?
[13:15] TheWife: yes
[13:15] Me: That's good news
[13:16] Me: good, I'm glad he pooped. i dind't want to go into the weekend without poop
[13:16] Me: ummmm
[13:16] Me: did I just type that?
[13:16] TheWife: yah. welcome to parenthood

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Poo Pants

Be careful what you wished for never rang so true. The Wife did not realize The Boy had pooped on Sunday, so Monday morning when there was still not poop, she explained to him that he needed to poop so we knew everything was working okay.

Fast-forward to lunch. The Wife is making a sandwich. The Boy is in the swing (which, BTW, barely has enough power to move him in all his monstrosity). She thinks she hears something, looks over, and the boy has spitup. She hears something again, but isn't quite sure what. She finishes making her sandwich and sits down to eat when she notices the smell associated with the sound. So she scarfs down lunch and takes him in to change him. She just whips off his pants like normal, only to discover there's more poop in the pants than anywhere else. Oh, and now it's everywhere else, too. While keeping The Boy's legs under control, he figures he can help by grabbing a handful and making handprints on the wall. So, half a stack of wipes later, everything is under control.

Oh, and not swaddling him at night is going just swimmingly. He only woke up about 5 times Sunday night and about 4 times last night. I hope we all survive this transition.

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Pancakes

Well, the fenugreek seems to be improving the supply of boob juice. Of course, now both The Wife and The Boy smell like a stack of pancakes soaked in maple syrup. It's the weirdest damn thing. Yes, I'm exaggerating some, but there truly is a distinct maple syrup smell.

We tried that baby cereal/rice stuff with a spoon again tonight. He did surprisingly well.

We're also going to try not swaddling him tonight. Being unwrapped and not having binky seem to be the primary problems when he can't put himself back to sleep. So we'll see how this goes.

The Boy has taken to burping loudly in public. Geez, kids these days have no manners.

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iiiiiiNSTUnttt 444444 meeessSSSSUgginnnnG

The Boy is quite helpful with IM, as you can see:

[14:54] TheWife: you
[14:54] TheWife: gO to happy h
[14:54] TheWife: our tonight?
[14:54] Me: well, I do kind of want to make a brief appearnace
[14:54] TheWife: r1
[14:54] Me: but if not, that's fine too
[14:55] *** You have been disconnected. Fri Mar 10 14:55:00 2006.
[14:55] *** "TheWife" signed on at Fri Mar 10 14:55:08 2006.
[14:55] Me: I was wondering how your day had been going. If he's been a pill and you need a break, I'll just come home
[14:55] TheWife: CRAZY KID

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Hair

The Boy is actually starting to get some hair. Well, he's still bald as a cue ball, but his peach fuzz is getting a little thicker and a little darker. There may even be a few hairs that are an inch long. And it's almost light blond instead of light clear.

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Hi

The Boy rolls from his back to his side, just can't quite get all the way over.

He reaches for everything you hold out in front of him. More often than not, he grabs it. But sometimes you can tell he hasn't quite mastered that hand-eye coordination thing and he completely misses. But when he does grab it, this is for sure, it's going straight to his mouth. Unless of course, he misses and rams it into his forehead. Which is usually followed by a look that can only be, "HEY, Who the HELL hit me?".

Speaking of coordination, he's getting better and better at getting that binky in his mouth. Yah, I know, some of you think binkies are bad. Well, fuck off.

He doesn't usually find much comfort in me, especially in the evenings. I'm learning to deal with it, but it kind of sucks. I know it will pass, but that doesn't make it suck any less. I just want to be a comfort to him and I want to give The Wife the breaks she needs and deserves.

We fed him some cereal from a spoon. It wasn't a tremendous success, nor was it a complete failure. It made for some great pictures.

We're trying to figure out how to get The Wife to produce more milk and/or get The Boy to drink some straight formula. We have trouble leaving him with anyone because we don't have a way to leave him with much food.

At times I don't think the hearing aids are doing a damn bit of good, but we have him wear them. He doesn't mind them. The fact that the loss is only mild and not any worse is great, but that's what makes it difficult to know if it's helping. We won't really know until he can tell us. So we'll keep wearing them as much as possible.

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Binky Master

The Boy took the binky out of his mouth, pulled it away several inches, and then slowly navigated it back into his mouth. I can't say it was entirely on purpose, but it wasn't accidental either. He's definitely gaining control of his hands and arms as well as eye-hand coordination.

Oh, and beware of flying binkies! As I was tucking him in tonight, he sneezed while binky was in his mouth. Man! It shot across the crib like a rocket and hit me in the arm. I feel lucky that my arm isn't broken. That thing was really moving!

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Magic Ears

A shot of The Boy's hearing aids.

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Mooey Dearest

In an impressive stretch of one's imagination, The Wife has claimed the boy said mommy. In reality, it was more like "Mooey", but hey, you take what you can get.

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16 Weeks (Does Not Equal 4 Months)

Tomorrow will be 16 weeks. The Boy is asleep in his car seat next to me as The Wife drives us to see some friends. Snow Patrol, Dido, and Phil Collins are in the shuffle. He's pretty dang cute. He's 19 pounds and 27 inches. Most people assume he's at least 6 months old.

It's possible that the teething process has begun. There's a lot of drool and he's seemed cranky.

He had fun today watching daddy dance and listening to me sing Led Zepplin.

We're not sure if the magic ears (hearing aids) are helping, but we've only been using them for a week or so.

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Abs Of Steel

The Boy is working his abs like crazy. He can't sit up by himself or keep himself balanced for very long. But he is definitely trying. In the swing. In the carseat. In the bouncy chair. He's always leaning up / forward.

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Baby Got Back

We went to look at convertible car seats yesterday. At just over 3 months, The Boy is about 18 pounds and 26 inches. He only has about 4 pounds or 3 inches before he outgrows the infant seat specs. Geez, what a tank. We have a hard time getting any kind of jeans or pants over his thighs. They fit fine once we do, but getting them there is a chore.

Unless I slept through something, which is unlikely, he slept from 9 or 9:30pm to 4am without needing any attention at all! We put him down about 7 or 7:30, and he woke up an hour or so later. So The Wife fed him and he was only partially awake. He went back to sleep pretty quickly and was out for the night. Maybe we can get him to start repeating this. Or maybe I just jynxed us.

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Now That's Funny, I Don't Care Who You Are

The Wife started a new game with The Boy that involves "beeping" his nose and chin and "ringing" his cheeks. It evokes the closest thing to a laugh that we've heard. I can't quite call it a laugh, but it's damn close.

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The Art Of Sh-Sh-ing

His body facing in to mine, which helps hold the binky in. His head in the crook of my left arm, my left had keeping his left arm from flailing. His butt in the crook of my right arm, which also supports his torso and keeps his right arm from flailing.

Then the rock&bounce back and forth, left and right. Like so:

Sh-sh Sh-sh Sh-sh Sh (no sh on 8, I have to inhale at some point)
1----2 3----4 5----6 7----8
Le--ft Ri-ght Le--ft Ri-ght

(repeat chorus)

Most attempts to NOT stand will only work for a few seconds or minutes if I'm lucky. And although this has worked several times, there are times when this just seems to make him angrier.

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12 Weeks

Oops. 12 weeks was Monday.

The Boy is over 16.5 lbs & over 25" long (it's been a week & a half since we checked). He's off the charts.

He is smiling a lot and babbling. This week, he hasn't wanted to go to sleep. Not even mommy has had much luck comforting him. He basically screams until he passes out from exhaustion. We're hoping it's a short phase. The good news is, he's still going for some long stretches before he needs to be re-binkied, re-wrapped, or fed.

He's been fitted for the hearing aids. We'll do the trial and see how it goes. They are over the ear models. We got blue hearing aids and clear ear molds. We thought a color would be a little more fun than the standard beige. If he still needs them when he's older, he can pick his own colors.

I feel like I should have a lot more to say, but I can't think of anything right now.

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ILLIN'

The Boy has a slight fever and is fussy. The Wife may be developing a cough. I've had a sore throat for a day or two.

Not good. Someone call quarantine.

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New Year's Prediction

The Blues' win on Monday was the turning point in their season. Now they're really gonna start winning some games!

(What? It's supposed to be a Resolution, not a Prediction??? Eh, close enough. You know what they say, POE-TAY-TOE, TOE-MAH-TOE.)

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Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

I like changing The Boy's diaper. For one because I'm pretty good at changing his diaper, and also because he's usually in a very good mood and very talkative.

I'm also good at swaddling him.

We have good times in the mornings when he wakes and during the daytime.

He's been a bit picky about taking bottles. He's taken a few here and there, but more recently we haven't had much luck. We think it's a matter of catching him before he's too hungry and making sure the milk is fresh enough. He took a bottle this morning. That was nice. He even let me feed him, that was cool. It was freshly squeezed boob juice, never even been in the fridge!

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Bubble Boy

The Boy sure makes a lot of spit bubbles with his mouth. Sometimes his chin is just covered with them like a soap suds beard.

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