The Thrill-Seeker

I think Troy is going to be a thrill-seeker. For some reason, he gets the biggest kick out of being scared. I pop out from behind a column or from behind the couch, or I just turn at him unexpectedly and yell, "Boo!" At first, he jumps, his whole body jerking in surprise, and then inevitably, he starts giggling. If I do it again, same thing. If that's what it takes to get him to smile and laugh, then I predict that he's going to be seeking bigger and bigger thrills through life to get that same high. Skydiving, bungee jumping, cliff diving, white-water rafting, zip-lining over crocodiles...who knows. What I do know is that it's going to drive his mother and I crazy with worry.

Milking the Cow

They’re teaching Troy sign language at the daycare. It’s supposed to help the babies communicate when they still can’t speak. The other day, my wife was giving Troy a bath, and as she was drying him off, he lifted his hand and was opening and closing it in a grasping motion. This is the sign for milk, like milking a cow. She immediately understood, and she replied, “Ok.” He blinked at her and put his hand down. My wife was so excited that they’d had their first “conversation,” and that each had seemed to understand the other one. I guess they had a breakthrough.

He’s got krabs...Mr. Krabs

My wife bought Troy some rubber bath toys; an octopus, sea turtle, shark, fish, crab...that sort of thing. The crab is by far his favorite, I think because it’s flatter than the others and he can comfortably get it in his mouth and chew on it. I’ve named it Mr. Krabs, after the character on the children’s tv show Spongebob Squarepants. And whenever he picks it up and puts it in his mouth, I yell out, “The baby has krabs!” It makes the baby laugh, and my wife roll her eyes and groan. It’s funnier for me and worse for her when I do it in front of people. Context is everything!

Butts in the Air

So in addition to always rolling onto his face in the middle of the night, Troy has started pulling his legs underneath him. This of course makes his butt go up in the air, so he looks like he’s trying to do a downward facing dog yoga pose or something. It makes my wife laugh every time she sees it. It’s like watching the evolution of sleep. Back to side to stomach to butt in the air.

Makeshift Baby Monitor

Today, my wife and I were in the kitchen eating lunch.  Troy didn't want to sit with us, preferring instead to go stretch out on our bed, where he could flip over and roll.  We couldn't see him from the kitchen, so we ended up walking in there every two minutes to make sure he was still okay.  Getting tired of this, I came up with a brilliant idea.  I took my phone into the room, set it up on the bed in front of him, and I FaceTimed my wife.  This way he could watch us, and we could watch him.  He was laughing and talking to us like it was a game.  It was a great idea, if I do say so myself.

Met Everyone...and Got a Glove

Today, we applied for a passport for Troy. I was extremely stressed out about trying to capture a decent photo of him and meet all of the guidelines. It's not easy with a squirming, doesn't-want-to-sit still-at-all baby. You have to meet all of the same criteria...white background, face toward the camera, no shadows, no movement, etc. The only good news is that it's for five years, so I have a while before we have to try this again. Luckily, they accepted it without any issues at all. It seems weird to get a passport for a six-month old baby, especially since I didn’t get my first passport until I was twenty-two! Maybe this means he’ll be more of a world traveler than his daddy. Which is fine, just as long as he takes his daddy with him!

After that, we took him by my wife’s work to meet her coworkers. Apparently, he’s a celebrity, so he needed to make an appearance. He met almost everyone, and he scored himself a sweet rubber glove to play with too. So all in all a successful trip. We did learn that apparently he doesn't like Germans for some reason. He met two of them and started crying uncontrollably both times. I told my wife it has to do with his Greek roots. They have never forgotten the atrocities that the Germans doled out on the Greeks during WWII. So, we probably won't be using his new passport to travel to Germany!

Six-Month Shots

Today, Troy got his six-month exam and shots. Clean bill of health. The shots weren’t so bad either, now that we know the system. We time his next bottle for right after they’re over, and the food is a distraction to the traumatic experience of the shots.

Before the doctor came in, Troy was being a rebel by standing on the exam table...even though there was a sign on the wall that clearly stated that nobody should be standing on the table. I blame his mother for this mischievous streak!

Parent's Night Out

The daycare did a Parents Night Out, so my wife and I went out for pedicures and couples massages. This will be a first for us in our marriage and our first date since before Troy was conceived.

After the pedicures, I asked her what type of massage we were signed up for, in other words was it a full body or just a back massage. She said that she opted for a Swedish Massage. I deadpan looked at her and asked, “Isn’t that where they massage your pubic area?” She looked at me in stunned disbelief, and it suddenly occurred to me that I had it all wrong. I said, “Never mind, I was thinking of a Brazilian Wax. We’re good.” To which she lost it laughing hysterically in the nail salon. She asked, “What exactly do you think happens at the massage parlor?” To which I replied, “I’ve seen enough movies where people get sexually satisfied to think that’s how it goes. Wait, so I’m not going to be sexually molested?!” She just laughed harder and managed to squeak out a “No!”

UPDATE: My first professional massage went off without a hitch. In case you’re wondering, I did not get sexually molested. Not sure if that’s good or bad. Well, I did get my touchis rubbed, sort of, but I don’t think that counts. Besides, it can’t be considered cheating if your wife is in the room, right?

The masseuse wasn’t exactly gentle with me. She spent the entire session digging her elbows into my back, hips, thighs, and calves. In fact, I’m not sure she actually used her hands on any part of my body at all! I was actually in an extreme amount of pain, and it wasn’t relaxing at all. But having never done this before, I just took it, thinking this was part of the process. But every pass hurt more than the last. I was relieved when she finally stopped, that is until she told me to turn over! Luckily, she only rubbed my feet. But based on how bad my back felt, I think it’s good I didn’t get molested, now that I think about it. Based on this experience, I doubt I’ll ever get another massage.

Apparently, my wife’s session was more relaxing than mine because at some point she fell asleep and started snoring loudly. I found it hard to relax after that because I couldn’t stop laughing, and neither could her masseuse.

We arrived back at the daycare at 7:30 p.m., which was only an hour into the three-hour window we had. The owner saw us walk up and started shooing us away. I said, “I know, we don’t really understand the rules. But technically we’ve already been on a three-hour date, we just had to start early to make our appointments.” She asked us what we ended up doing, and we described the evening to her. She laughed and said that she and her husband, the other owner, had gone for their first couples massage recently too. He said that it was terrible. They were too hard on him, and it hurt the entire time. We concluded that masseuses must assume men like it and can take being massaged harder. He said he wouldn’t go back either. At least I’m not alone!

The Comforter

I took Troy up to his nursery today and laid him on the floor. Then I laid down next to him. As soon as my head hit the floor, Troy reached over and patted me on the shoulder, as if to say “There, there, daddy. Everything will be alright.” It might have been coincidence or it might have been intuition, but I’d had a really rough day today. That comforting gesture was exactly what I needed. He’s such an awesome boy.

Baby Pokey

Today, when I was buckling Troy into his car seat, I was singing to him to entertain him. He was fighting me and being uncooperative, which was making me late for work. The song went something like this:

I put your left arm in...you pull your left arm out...you slap daddy’s hand...and you shake it all about

You do the baby pokey...to keep from heading out...and that’s what it’s all about.

Stomach Bug

Troy and I both got a stomach bug this week. Apparently, there’s something going around his daycare and my office at the same time, oddly enough. He hasn’t been his usual energetic, happy self. He’s more lethargic, and he doesn’t smile or laugh as much. He’s also been throwing up almost everything he eats, so we’re trying to give him Pedialyte to keep him hydrated.

I have also been throwing up, and have had terrible stomach pains. I’m constipated, whereas he has diarrhea. Several blowout incidents and almost his entire drawer of onesies later. Mine has led to some terrible gas that smells like rotten death. It is so bad that today while I was holding Troy, I had to pass wind. He turned, looked at me, reached down and grabbed his burp cloth, and covered his nose and mouth with it. I couldn’t blame him. I almost wrestled it away from him so that I could use it instead.

But through it all, Troy does try to smile. Despite feeling bad, he still tries to find a spark of happiness. And despite me feeling bad, I keep trying to find a way to make him smile. We’re both giving it our best shot, and we’re both appreciating what the other is trying to do. I love him for that.

Carrots

We introduced carrots into Troy's diet today.  We're working our way through the yellow/orange vegetables.  I believe squash and sweet potatoes are still on the horizon.  He wasn't an overwhelming fan, but then again he usually isn't with new food.  He seems to need to try something a couple of times before he makes up his mind about it.  I'm not sure why he always assumes that we're going to give him something bad.  He scrunches up his face like we gave him a lemon, and then most times his eyebrows go up and his eyes get big like, "Hmmm...that wasn't that bad actually."

Barrel-Rolling Babies

 

Just yesterday, I was telling the nurse that I was concerned with Troy rolling onto his face in the middle of the night. And she asked if he could roll back again, to which I replied “No.” Challenge accepted. I laid Troy on the bed today while I was folding laundry, because he normally likes to talk to me and keep me company. Today, he immediately rolled onto his face, and then onto his side, and back onto his back again. And just to prove it wasn’t a fluke, he did it again. And again. Over and over again, all the way across the bed. I drug him back to the end, and he repeated the feat. Once he learned how to do it, he didn’t want to stop!

Face Plant

Well, now that Troy has learned to roll over into his stomach, he’s decided to start doing it in the middle of the night. We’ll wake up to find him spread eagle on his face, head turned to the side and snoring. He freaked me out the first time I found him like this, because I went to lift him up, and he was completely limp. His body flopped across my hands, seemingly with no life at all. I quickly turned him over and laid him back down, to which he sighed heavily and rolled back to his side. But in that moment all breath left my body, and my heart stopped. We now wake up every 30 min to make sure he’s not on his face. We’re both exhausted, but the doctor told us to watch it until he's nine months old, so we have three more months of sleepless nights ahead of us! Nobody told us that we'd spend half the time as parents trying to make our baby laugh and the other half worried sick about him.

Standing

Troy has started to stand on his own...well, sort of.  He still kind of leans on me, but he's holding his weight completely on his own two little legs.  He can't pull himself up yet, but he'll get there.  Funny, because he still hasn't figured out how to push himself up onto all fours and crawl, but he's working toward standing.  I guess he doesn't have the time or patience to waste on this crawling stuff.  He's going straight for the gusto!