Favorites

I feel slightly bad that I’m already playing favorites with my children. Troy is already my favorite, and the others aren’t even here yet! That's probably why I'm so hesitant when my wife talks to me about additional children. I love this little guy so much, and I love getting to spoil him. I'm afraid that with another child, I will have to divide my time, and neither will get the best of me. I mean, he's my best bud. How can I have two best buds?! And I'd want to, because that's who I am. Which would cause me stress and angst. I'm just going to leave it up to God to take care of the time issue and the me inside issue. Who knows, maybe my heart will just swell to twice its size, and I'll have twice as much love to give them both more.

Alone

My wife took the day off today, and I came home early. We decided to leave Troy at the daycare for a few more hours, since he seems to enjoy it. Finding ourselves alone in the house for the first time in six months, my wife looked over at me, smiled, and asked, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” To which I replied, “I believe I am.” Laughing like little children ourselves, we hopped up from the table, threw restraint to the wind, and then we proceeded to clean the house for the next couple of hours.

Soothing Daddy to Sleep

Today, Troy and I were playing up in his nursery, and I decided to lay down next to him on the floor. He turned to look at me, and he smiled. I imagine it was because he appreciated that I would get down at his level. We stayed there for a minute just talking and smiling at each other. And then all of a sudden, he rolled toward me, reached out with both his hands, and grabbed my hair. Not hard, gentle and soft. He then proceeded to scratch my scalp, imitating how we do that to him when we are soothing him asleep. Not moving his hands around, just scratching back and forth in the same spot on both sides of my head. It was such a sweet gesture. So loving and kind. I reached over and scratched his head too, and we lay there soothing each other and silently showing each other that we loved them. It was one of my favorite moments with my son.

Miss Alicia

Well, today was Troy's last day at the Cadence Academy. Next week, he starts at Primrose School, which will knock ten minutes off our drive in both the morning and afternoon. It should also be a lot more engaging environment for him. I was hesitant to want to move him, because there is one teacher at his old daycare that has taken a special interest in Troy. She works a lot with him, and she's taken a great deal of time to get to know his unique personality. I have thoroughly enjoyed spending time each afternoon talking about what she did with him, and what he liked and didn't like. It's been nice getting to know a different side of my son through someone else's eyes. His new teachers may be great too, we just don't know. We will miss Miss Alicia, but we have to trust that God will take care of Troy no matter where he is. We also have to trust that Troy will find friends and fit in anywhere he goes. He's charismatic and easy-going. It's one of the things I love most about him.

So, goodbye to the known, and hello to the unknown.

Dialoguing

My son apparently has a rare trait as a baby. He will dialogue with you. This means he will “say” something, pause and wait for you to respond, and then “say” something in response to that. In this way, it feels like you’re having a conversation with him, and he’s acknowledging social protocol, and politely waiting for you to get into the conversation with him, instead of just talking over you.

The daycare teacher said the he’s the only baby that she can do that with, and he’s nowhere near the oldest in the class. She likes talking to him and having him respond. And she likes that he’ll wait expectantly for her when it’s her turn to speak. I told her that he’s been doing this since he was two months old. I used to talk to him like this in the mornings when I asked him about his dreams. It makes me proud, not only that he’s so smart, but that he’s so polite as well.

Dadadada

This morning, Troy started speaking his first sensical sound. He was sitting in his Gipsy Baby at the breakfast table, looking out the window, and he just started saying “da” over and over again. Dada, dadada, da. I’m sure he was just trying out the sound, feeling how it rolled off his tongue, and seeing what he could do with his mouth. But it made my heart warm to hear him say it. Like he was trying to communicate to me.

Chasing Shadows

I took Troy shopping with me today at Walmart. It was just a quick trip, but enough to get him out of the car and let him experience something different. It was so hot outside, that I ended up parking at the very end of the parking lot under the trees, so that the car stayed cool while we were inside. Of course, this also meant that we had to walk the entire winding sidewalk from one end of the parking lot to the other. I made up for it by walking fast, which made me laugh, because Troy was contentedly bobbing along in my arms as I speed-walked into Walmart.

As we walked, Troy looked down and started staring at the ground. Curious as to what he was looking at, I looked down and realized that he had noticed our shadows racing along beside us. One a thin man wearing a backpack, and the other a smaller man bobbing along in the thin man’s arms. He became entranced with these two, watching them intently the entire way into the store. On the way out of the store, he noticed them again. This time racing along beside us in the opposite direction. You could see him trying to reason out what they were and why they were following us. I don’t remember the first time I saw a shadow or wondered what new fascinating thing this was. I have seen so many now that I take them for granted. I love experiencing the world through his eyes. Seeing things all over again for the first time. To stop and not take things for granted for a change...and to actually see them.

Time Codes for Life

At my job, we have to log time for every single task we do, whether it’s billable to a customer or not. We have to account for how we spent every minute of our day. With the hectic, fast-paced nature of the business, this can often be an arduous and laborious task. The logging of time itself usually takes quite a bit of time, which we of course have to also account for. After having done this for six and a a half years now, my mind is wired to automatically tie everything I do to a time task and to register how much time I spent on that task.

I have become to hate this aspect of me, because I have started to do it for non-work things too. For example, this morning, I found myself trying to reason out where I should log the 20 minutes I just spent making baby bottles. Is it billable or not? Is there an appropriate internal work rate task I can tie it to, so I still get credit in my quarterly bonus? What non-billable task would I record it against...“Manager Assigned Tasks,” since basically my spousal unit assigned it to me?

It’s gotten ridiculous, and I can’t seem to stop it or turn it off. I measure everything against time now. Which makes me constantly aware of time, and also constantly aware of how quickly it slips by without me being able to stop it or slow it down. I can’t ever just enjoy the moments in my life, because I’m internally storing them to log to my time sheet later.

I really think I desperately need a vacation, but then I’m worried I’ll spend the whole time doing the same thing. Maybe I just need a new job, a place where this isn’t required, and I can break the cycle. Whatever the solution, I need to change something, because life can’t go on like this.

Big Badda Boom

Well it finally happened today. It was bound to happen at some point, but we’ve been so lucky so far that we got complacent that maybe we were different. We put Troy on our bed to stretch out like he likes to do, and we left him to get him something to drink. The moment we walked out of the room, we heard a “thunk” and the baby started screaming these screeching wails. My wife raced into the room and found him laying on the floor next to our bed, which is a good three-foot drop onto our brand-new hardwood floors. I came racing from the other room a moment later to find both of them crying. I asked her to put him on the bed so I could look him over, but other than a small red mark on the side of his head, I didn’t see anything suspicious. We decided to take him to the urgent care anyway to get him checked out. They confirmed that nothing appeared to be broken or injured. We now have to monitor him for the next 24 hours to make sure he doesn’t start vomiting, crying excessively, or have any obvious swelling or bruising.

It's Toight!

When I laid Troy on the floor today to play with him, he started holding his legs straight out and pointing his toes. He held them like that a few inches off the floor for a solid half minute before putting them down again. Over and over he’d hold out his legs, like he was doing exercises. I started patting his stomach and telling him to tighten his core for maximum effect. He did it on the next round, and I started laughing and imitating Gold Member from the third Austin Powers movie, saying, “It’s so toight!"

Infectious Smile

Today, one of the women from the daycare said that our son has a beautiful smile and an infectious laugh. She said that every time she hears it, she can’t help but laugh too. It’s good to know that our son has a positive effect on other people, and that they get to see how amazing he is.

Daycare Chair

Every day when I drop Troy off at daycare, I end up putting him in this reclining bouncy chair thing. He likes it because he has discovered that he can kick his foot and make it rock. Well today when I dropped him off, I put him in the chair, and it lowered almost all the way to the floor. I don’t think it’s going to hold his weight for much longer. My wife doesn’t really like that he spends so much time in the chair anyway, so he will probably be out of it soon based on pure necessity!

Vroom, Vroom

Lately, I’ve been taking Troy on car rides after I pick him up from daycare. I call them our “adventures.” There’s never a specific destination. We just get in the car and go wherever the wind takes us. It’s always somewhere different, so we can see new things each day. But normally we head in the direction of Denton. Troy usually lasts for about 10-15 minutes before he goes to sleep. But that’s okay. It’s not about what we’re doing. It’s about spending time together. The nap is just a bonus!

But I did realize something else about the adventures. I am dealing with an unhealthy amount of stress at work right now. It’s gotten so bad, I’ve come home with a migraine every day for the last week. I hate being there, and I dread getting up and knowing I have to go back each day. Home should be a solace for me; a place of peace and calm. But with the last eight months of our lives disrupted and torn apart by the never ending construction, it’s not. And I have added stress knowing that I have to deal with a contractor that won’t finish the job. I have to constantly chase him around, convincing him that there are still things that need addressing and that they’re his fault. It’s gotten to be where I hate being at home too. The only place and time I find peace is in the car with my son on an adventure. We can both relax, put all of our cares aside, and just be. And then...one of takes a nap. I cherish this time with my son far more than anyone will know.

The Man Behind the Camera

Whenever my wife calls her parents to FaceTime with them and the baby, I end up behind the camera making faces at him and dancing to make him laugh. They get a kick out of seeing him smile and laugh. I’m sure they think he’s smiling at them, but that’s okay. As long as they get to experience how wonderful he is, it doesn’t matter how it happens.

The Three Babies

My son discovered his reflection in the window today. Since our breakfast room is in the corner of the kitchen, it has windows on two sides. Moments after seeing his reflection in one window, he realized there was another in the other window. He spent the next several minutes looking back and forth between them, smiling and giggling. I guess he thought the babies in the windows were just as good-looking as he was!

Baby Translator

I feel like someone should write and app that listens to what a baby says and translates it into actual words. I’m not sure how the underlying code would know what a baby was saying, but then since nobody could prove it was wrong, it could technically say anything! I’m already doing this when I have a conversation with my son. He says something, and I respond like I understood him. To which he says something else. And back and forth it goes. So why not have an app that can help everyone to have that joy...even those with less vivid imaginations.

Baby: "Da da da da da ga ga glurp."
Translator: "DaDa, I take exception to you kissing me in public. If it happens again, I will be hiring someone to teach you a lesson."
Baby: "Da ga ga da da aaaahhhhh spft."
Translator: "Don't think that just because I'm a baby that I'm helpless. I know people. You make connections on the inside...of the daycare."
Baby: "Ga aaaahhhhh aaaahhhhh uuuuuuuhhhhh mmm mmm."
Translator: "In addition to the kissing thing, I have a list of demands that must be met, or I'm going to find another family."
Baby: "Mmm mmm mmm uuhh oohh da daaaaaaaaahhh uh uh uh mmm mmm eeeehhhhh aaahhhhh uh uh ah haaaay. Phfft."
Translator: "Moo juice will be delivered at the correct temperature and at the precise time specified in the handbook. Late moo juice will not be tolerated. Hugs and kisses will be accepted by mommy only, and sometimes grammy. There will be no more comments about my chubby thighs. I will henceforth be referred to as 'Your Highness' and addressed with the reverence that goes with it. Noncompliance will be met with raspberries and random explosive diapers."

Bohn Nodule

I took Troy to the doctor today because he had this concerning white protuberance on his upper gum. We weren’t sure if it was a tooth or something else, so we wanted to get it checked out. I say I took him, because it ended up being my first solo trip, due to my wife getting unexpectedly stuck at the DMV. Despite everyone, including the doctor, being concerned that I could handle this alone, I did fine. It’s easy when you have an amazing son that has your back!

The protuberance ended up being a Bohn nodule, which is basically like a white head on your gums. But instead of it being a clogged poor, it’s a clogged salivary gland. It’s very common, and should dissolve on its own.

Also, on a side note, Troy now weighs 23 pounds and 4 ounces, and he’s just shy of 30 inches long. This explains my chronic back pain now.

Blowout

We receive a daily summary report from the daycare that chronicles our son’s feedings, diapers, and nap times.  In addition to the times when each of these events occur, we also get some detail, such as how much he ate or what kind of diaper it was.  Today, however the entry on the report for his first diaper was different. Instead of the usual comment that says, “Wet” or “Bowel Movement,” it simply said, “Blowout.”  I guess that explains why he was in a new onesie and his hair was sticking straight up when I picked him up!