At 4.5 months, while she can't sit up on her own, she can sit and listen to her silly Dad encouraging her. Remaining upright, however, is still a work in progress. This video was taken today...
And maybe this is what she'll look like in a few years...
(Isn't youtube fun?!)
Monday, March 26, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
The Urban Dog Owner's New Pithy Maxim
Find a poop, pick it up, and all day long you'll have good luck.
After all, why should you have good luck for finding something that enriches you (however slightly)? It would make much more sense to think that the good deed of picking up the poop of someone else's dog would be good for your karma, resulting in your getting good luck. Besides, you've obtained immediate good luck by eliminating the possibility of stepping in it.
After all, why should you have good luck for finding something that enriches you (however slightly)? It would make much more sense to think that the good deed of picking up the poop of someone else's dog would be good for your karma, resulting in your getting good luck. Besides, you've obtained immediate good luck by eliminating the possibility of stepping in it.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Example #769 on How My Life Has Changed From Last Year, and #34 on How it Hasn't
Last year I took late and long lunches to watch some of the first round NCAA basketball games. This year I didn't watch a minute of them, even in the evening. That's not to say that I didn't even fill out a bracket, but still.
* * * * *
Wednesday evening the weather was sunny and 72 degrees. Thursday evening it was 48 and raining steadily. It therefore goes without saying that the DC United match against Chivas of Mexico was held on Thursday, and that I was pretty wet by the end of it. Chivas is one of the most popular clubs from Mexico, and it rarely makes a trip to the East Coast. So not surprisingly, Chivas had more supporters in attendance than United did.
The match was the first leg of the semifinals in the regional (North and Central America) club tournament that United qualified for by finishing with the best record in MLS last year. United advanced by clobbering Olimpia of Honduras by a 7-3 combined score. Three of the seven goals in the two matches were scored by our new striker, Luciano Emilio, a Brazilian who we signed in the offseason from, ironically, Olimpia. He's showing himself to be a strong finisher, something United has lacked for several years.
As for the game itself, Chivas looked like the team in the middle of its season, while United looked like the team still in preseason. Which in both cases was true. Chivas' speed/fitness/positioning (not sure in which proportion) made it look like we were playing a man (or two) down for most of the match. Chivas did an excellent job of smothering Christian Gomez, United's playmaker (and the league's MVP last year) to the point that he looked nearly invisible for most of the match. One of the reasons Chivas could bottle up our attack is that we had a defensive midfielder, Clyde Simms, playing on the wing, where he posed little threat offensively. It's the position that Freddy Adu occupied last year, and his replacement, a Brazilian ironically named Fred, hasn't been cleared to play yet (technically his former club has his rights until June 30, and the teams are negotiating on getting him released sooner). United did assert itself for some of the match, but for the most part they had to absorb Chivas' attack rather than dictate the pace. Fortunately, although Chivas dominated possession, it didn't do much around the goal. It scored in the second half on a deflected ball, and a 1-0 score would have been a deserved result. To our benefit, it didn't work out that way, as United scored the equalizer in the waning minutes off a free kick by Gomez that was headed in by Emilio.
The second leg will be April 3 in Guadalajara, Mexico, at 5000 feet above sea level, among a crowd that will be 100% for Chivas, so United will have its work cut out for it. I can't say our chances are good, but there's at least some reason for hope -- United will be training at high altitude for a week before the match, Fred hopefully will have joined the team by then, and the team should keep making strides as it approaches the regular season.
* * * * *
Wednesday evening the weather was sunny and 72 degrees. Thursday evening it was 48 and raining steadily. It therefore goes without saying that the DC United match against Chivas of Mexico was held on Thursday, and that I was pretty wet by the end of it. Chivas is one of the most popular clubs from Mexico, and it rarely makes a trip to the East Coast. So not surprisingly, Chivas had more supporters in attendance than United did.
The match was the first leg of the semifinals in the regional (North and Central America) club tournament that United qualified for by finishing with the best record in MLS last year. United advanced by clobbering Olimpia of Honduras by a 7-3 combined score. Three of the seven goals in the two matches were scored by our new striker, Luciano Emilio, a Brazilian who we signed in the offseason from, ironically, Olimpia. He's showing himself to be a strong finisher, something United has lacked for several years.
As for the game itself, Chivas looked like the team in the middle of its season, while United looked like the team still in preseason. Which in both cases was true. Chivas' speed/fitness/positioning (not sure in which proportion) made it look like we were playing a man (or two) down for most of the match. Chivas did an excellent job of smothering Christian Gomez, United's playmaker (and the league's MVP last year) to the point that he looked nearly invisible for most of the match. One of the reasons Chivas could bottle up our attack is that we had a defensive midfielder, Clyde Simms, playing on the wing, where he posed little threat offensively. It's the position that Freddy Adu occupied last year, and his replacement, a Brazilian ironically named Fred, hasn't been cleared to play yet (technically his former club has his rights until June 30, and the teams are negotiating on getting him released sooner). United did assert itself for some of the match, but for the most part they had to absorb Chivas' attack rather than dictate the pace. Fortunately, although Chivas dominated possession, it didn't do much around the goal. It scored in the second half on a deflected ball, and a 1-0 score would have been a deserved result. To our benefit, it didn't work out that way, as United scored the equalizer in the waning minutes off a free kick by Gomez that was headed in by Emilio.
The second leg will be April 3 in Guadalajara, Mexico, at 5000 feet above sea level, among a crowd that will be 100% for Chivas, so United will have its work cut out for it. I can't say our chances are good, but there's at least some reason for hope -- United will be training at high altitude for a week before the match, Fred hopefully will have joined the team by then, and the team should keep making strides as it approaches the regular season.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Have You Heard From Me Lately?
Yesterday we almost had a fallen baby. The changing pad was no longer squarely on the table it's sitting on, as more and more stuff was getting crammed onto the far edge. And Emelia likes rolling, so in a flash while I was reaching for the new diaper, she rolled toward me and both she and the changing pad went off the edge. I caught them both before they hit the ground, no harm other than a scared child. Kathy was relieved that I was the one that happened to, given my excellent reflexes. And for the future, we removed stuff off the far edge and the changing pad is once again squarely on the table.
But that was an unusual event. Most days are pretty routine, with little to distinguish them from each other, which is why I haven't been posting much lately. I've been enjoying being home with Emelia -- there have been challenges, but there have been lots of joys as well. I've settled into a comfort zone of knowing what to do during the day, and am fully capable of adjusting to whatever comes our way (assuming she doesn't get into the habit of falling). She's learning new stuff every day, as am I. She currently thinks she's a rooster, crowing to her heart's content. Her big milestone on Friday was not stopping when she rolled from back to stomach -- she kept rolling until she was back on her back. I've discovered that her latest favorite thing for me to do is lift her in the air, and wiggle my nose into her belly. She has started teething, with occasional associated fussiness. Everything checked out fine at her four-month-old checkup this past Thursday. But I can't imagine people who aren't her parents (or perhaps her grandparents) really care about such things, or to the extent that they do, they wouldn't want daily blog entries devoted to such trivialities. And even if they do, I'm not sure I want to discuss such minutiae regularly -- I don't have much interest in babbling endlessly about my child doing things and reaching milestones that all children do and reach.
I can say that the weather's gotten better (in fact this weekend was fantastic), and that's meant we're getting outside a lot more. That makes me happier, and it gives us lots more to do. Ok, it gives me lots more to do, seeing as how most of the time she's still in her stroller.
The big thing that's going on in our lives is the making of a decision. Namely, what are we going to do with Emelia in seven weeks, when I go back to work. Kathy's considering staying at work full-time, going to part-time (or if that's not ok with her work, finding a part-time job), or being a full-time stay-at-home-Mom. Of course it's a big decision, and not an easy one. And if she ends up choosing to work part or full-time, we'll need some sort of child care, likely a nanny share (which is a very common arrangement where we are). The day care facilities in our area don't seem to have vacancies at the moment (we applied at the end of August), and they've indicated that it's likely to be August before they'd have an opening.
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But that was an unusual event. Most days are pretty routine, with little to distinguish them from each other, which is why I haven't been posting much lately. I've been enjoying being home with Emelia -- there have been challenges, but there have been lots of joys as well. I've settled into a comfort zone of knowing what to do during the day, and am fully capable of adjusting to whatever comes our way (assuming she doesn't get into the habit of falling). She's learning new stuff every day, as am I. She currently thinks she's a rooster, crowing to her heart's content. Her big milestone on Friday was not stopping when she rolled from back to stomach -- she kept rolling until she was back on her back. I've discovered that her latest favorite thing for me to do is lift her in the air, and wiggle my nose into her belly. She has started teething, with occasional associated fussiness. Everything checked out fine at her four-month-old checkup this past Thursday. But I can't imagine people who aren't her parents (or perhaps her grandparents) really care about such things, or to the extent that they do, they wouldn't want daily blog entries devoted to such trivialities. And even if they do, I'm not sure I want to discuss such minutiae regularly -- I don't have much interest in babbling endlessly about my child doing things and reaching milestones that all children do and reach.
I can say that the weather's gotten better (in fact this weekend was fantastic), and that's meant we're getting outside a lot more. That makes me happier, and it gives us lots more to do. Ok, it gives me lots more to do, seeing as how most of the time she's still in her stroller.
The big thing that's going on in our lives is the making of a decision. Namely, what are we going to do with Emelia in seven weeks, when I go back to work. Kathy's considering staying at work full-time, going to part-time (or if that's not ok with her work, finding a part-time job), or being a full-time stay-at-home-Mom. Of course it's a big decision, and not an easy one. And if she ends up choosing to work part or full-time, we'll need some sort of child care, likely a nanny share (which is a very common arrangement where we are). The day care facilities in our area don't seem to have vacancies at the moment (we applied at the end of August), and they've indicated that it's likely to be August before they'd have an opening.
.jpg)
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Friday, February 16, 2007
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
I Sing
I started this post a month ago, forgot about it, decided to write a post about how much I sing to Emelia, and discovered that I'd already thought of the idea. Says something about both my mind, and how pervasive a subject this one is.
Everyone has different ways to soothe a baby, and chief among mine is singing. I rarely sing children's songs, in part because I don't remember most of them. Instead, I sing whatever tune pops through my head, and given my interest in music over the years, that can be almost anything. Indeed, one of the more frightening aspects of my free-association singing is that some of the time it's music that I don't particularly like. All the same, I rarely keep the lyrics from the original intact, instead automatically coming up with my own lyrics and rhymes. I do this partly because I'm silly, and partly because I have poor recall when it comes to lyrics.
Exhibit A: Cecilia by Simon & Garfunkel has become Emelia when I sing, usually at times when she's crying or won't go to sleep. "Emelia, you're breaking my heart, You're shaking my confidence baby. Oh Emelia, I'm down on my knees, I'm begging you please, go to sleep (or please stop crying). Woe woe woe."
Exhibit B: In the wake of Emelia's tendency to suck on her hands, I've taken "If I Had a Hammer" and turned it into the following:
But here's the thing: I sing to her constantly -- good tunes, bad rhymes, nonsense -- it doesn't matter, but I keep on singing. Now that I'm going to be at home alone with her, I worry that I'll forget how to speak without singing, sort of a very bad version of the Buffy musical (that's right -- singing until one spontaneously combusts is considered the less bad option). As frightening a prospect that it might be, at least Emelia generally enjoys my singing (for now). Whether I'm able to stop before she gets sick of it is another question entirely.
Everyone has different ways to soothe a baby, and chief among mine is singing. I rarely sing children's songs, in part because I don't remember most of them. Instead, I sing whatever tune pops through my head, and given my interest in music over the years, that can be almost anything. Indeed, one of the more frightening aspects of my free-association singing is that some of the time it's music that I don't particularly like. All the same, I rarely keep the lyrics from the original intact, instead automatically coming up with my own lyrics and rhymes. I do this partly because I'm silly, and partly because I have poor recall when it comes to lyrics.
Exhibit A: Cecilia by Simon & Garfunkel has become Emelia when I sing, usually at times when she's crying or won't go to sleep. "Emelia, you're breaking my heart, You're shaking my confidence baby. Oh Emelia, I'm down on my knees, I'm begging you please, go to sleep (or please stop crying). Woe woe woe."
Exhibit B: In the wake of Emelia's tendency to suck on her hands, I've taken "If I Had a Hammer" and turned it into the following:
- If I was feeling hungry,
I'd grab some green peppers,
I'd grab some onions,
Add them to two hands.
I'd take a big bun,
And some pro-vo-lone,
Add mustard and then I'd put it all together,
A great big sandwich of two hands.
But here's the thing: I sing to her constantly -- good tunes, bad rhymes, nonsense -- it doesn't matter, but I keep on singing. Now that I'm going to be at home alone with her, I worry that I'll forget how to speak without singing, sort of a very bad version of the Buffy musical (that's right -- singing until one spontaneously combusts is considered the less bad option). As frightening a prospect that it might be, at least Emelia generally enjoys my singing (for now). Whether I'm able to stop before she gets sick of it is another question entirely.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
A Disturbance in the Force
Congrats to my sister Rebecca and her family on the birth of their son Luke yesterday -- sounds like everyone is doing well. Luke's older sister is three, and going through a protracted princess stage, so I figure I might as well start referring to her as Princess Leynie. And they have two dogs, one of whom is named Wookie. But I'm not going there, and you shouldn't either.
Monday, February 12, 2007
SAHDism for Beginners
The silence has been deafening, to everyone else -- I received a bunch of concerned calls and e-mails from people asking if everything was ok. Truthfully, most of those calls were from my folks. And the answer is that yes, I have survived my first week staying at home with Emelia. Here's a brief recap --
Monday: Kathy leaves us around 8:30, and she's at least as stressed as I am. No tears, however, and she's out the door. I have Emelia for a little while before she sacks out. Our plan to head to Kathy's work for lunch is spoiled by the cold weather (which was the issue for the entire week), but Kathy comes home for lunch. There were long periods of time that I have no idea how to fill with her, but I sing and carry, play and read. I never do feed her, because Kathy's lunchtime appearance provides ample sustenance.
Tuesday: After Kathy complains that she can't continue with the lack of sleep during the night and working all day, I take matters into my own hands and decide to try again with getting her to sleep on her own. After two hours in the morning, she goes to sleep (I went in every 10 minutes or so in an attempt to provide comfort). Kathy comes home for lunch again, feeds her, and after she leaves, I go through the putting her to sleep routine again -- this time it only takes 45 minutes. I'm not sure which of us is more miserable during the process. I feed Emelia only one bottle during the day, and she takes it with no problem. I'm still at a loss with what to do to occupy the time when we're alone together.
Wednesday: We continue the efforts to get her to sleep alone. Again it takes two hours in the morning, but only fifteen minutes in the afternoon. Kathy has a 1pm conference call, so she can't come home for lunch, so it's just Emelia and I for the entire day. Damn the weather stinks. But feeding her takes a good chunk of the day, and there's something wonderful about her looking into your eyes while she's eating. Of course she only does this about 10 percent of the time, as the rest of the time is spent moving around to look at ceiling fans or anything else that catches her fancy, or focusing on the bottle. She's trying to grip the bottle, though often she'll just hold onto my fingers that are holding it. It's quite a challenge to hold it still while she's hitting it or digging her fingernails into my already winter-dried skin.
Thursday: She's in good spirits for most of the day -- she doesn't begrudge me my efforts to get her to sleep on her own. Fifteen minutes in the morning, an hour in the afternoon (after Kathy nursed her at lunchtime). I learn to do things a bit differently with bottle feeding -- she keeps moving her head to look at the fan across the room better, but that means she's facing away from the bottle and me. I accommodated her on Wednesday, but after a day of that decide it's better that she have to turn to the bottle rather than vice-versa.
Friday: She sleeps quickly when I put her down for a nap, no more than 20 minutes in the afternoon (she sleeps until 10:30 so there isn't a morning nap) -- it's not that she's now in the habit of sleeping when she's put in the crib by any means (as Thursday night attested). What it means is that I'm getting a little better at judging when to put her down. Kathy again joins us for lunch, and all of us wish she had more time to spend.
Monday: And now it's the second week, and things start rather differently. She awakes at 9:20 and I can't get her to take a bottle. So rather than wait, I bundle her up and we take our first trip alone together, to the supermarket. She's pretty well behaved for most of it, though she does start to fuss at the checkout. When we return I have to make the judgment call -- leave her in the house or the car while I get the groceries in? I opt for the car, figuring she's all secure in the child seat. I get her to take the bottle once the groceries are put away, but she doesn't drink much. The weather's nice, so finally we're able to go to Kathy's office for lunch (it's ~1.25 miles away) -- Emelia falls asleep within five minutes of heading out, but she awakes when we carry her upstairs to Kathy's office. We get more time to spend with Kathy since she doesn't use up her time traveling -- Emelia eats, we eat, the co-workers coo, and then Emelia and I head out. Within one minute she's asleep, and stays that way on the walk back home, when I bring the stroller up the steps into the house, and for the rest of the afternoon. In fact she doesn't wake up until just before 6, i.e., moments before Kathy gets home. And so I get the first nap of my paternity leave (though it's much shorter than Emelia's), and when I awake I learn that my nap is a good thing.
Monday: Kathy leaves us around 8:30, and she's at least as stressed as I am. No tears, however, and she's out the door. I have Emelia for a little while before she sacks out. Our plan to head to Kathy's work for lunch is spoiled by the cold weather (which was the issue for the entire week), but Kathy comes home for lunch. There were long periods of time that I have no idea how to fill with her, but I sing and carry, play and read. I never do feed her, because Kathy's lunchtime appearance provides ample sustenance.
Tuesday: After Kathy complains that she can't continue with the lack of sleep during the night and working all day, I take matters into my own hands and decide to try again with getting her to sleep on her own. After two hours in the morning, she goes to sleep (I went in every 10 minutes or so in an attempt to provide comfort). Kathy comes home for lunch again, feeds her, and after she leaves, I go through the putting her to sleep routine again -- this time it only takes 45 minutes. I'm not sure which of us is more miserable during the process. I feed Emelia only one bottle during the day, and she takes it with no problem. I'm still at a loss with what to do to occupy the time when we're alone together.
Wednesday: We continue the efforts to get her to sleep alone. Again it takes two hours in the morning, but only fifteen minutes in the afternoon. Kathy has a 1pm conference call, so she can't come home for lunch, so it's just Emelia and I for the entire day. Damn the weather stinks. But feeding her takes a good chunk of the day, and there's something wonderful about her looking into your eyes while she's eating. Of course she only does this about 10 percent of the time, as the rest of the time is spent moving around to look at ceiling fans or anything else that catches her fancy, or focusing on the bottle. She's trying to grip the bottle, though often she'll just hold onto my fingers that are holding it. It's quite a challenge to hold it still while she's hitting it or digging her fingernails into my already winter-dried skin.
Thursday: She's in good spirits for most of the day -- she doesn't begrudge me my efforts to get her to sleep on her own. Fifteen minutes in the morning, an hour in the afternoon (after Kathy nursed her at lunchtime). I learn to do things a bit differently with bottle feeding -- she keeps moving her head to look at the fan across the room better, but that means she's facing away from the bottle and me. I accommodated her on Wednesday, but after a day of that decide it's better that she have to turn to the bottle rather than vice-versa.
Friday: She sleeps quickly when I put her down for a nap, no more than 20 minutes in the afternoon (she sleeps until 10:30 so there isn't a morning nap) -- it's not that she's now in the habit of sleeping when she's put in the crib by any means (as Thursday night attested). What it means is that I'm getting a little better at judging when to put her down. Kathy again joins us for lunch, and all of us wish she had more time to spend.
Monday: And now it's the second week, and things start rather differently. She awakes at 9:20 and I can't get her to take a bottle. So rather than wait, I bundle her up and we take our first trip alone together, to the supermarket. She's pretty well behaved for most of it, though she does start to fuss at the checkout. When we return I have to make the judgment call -- leave her in the house or the car while I get the groceries in? I opt for the car, figuring she's all secure in the child seat. I get her to take the bottle once the groceries are put away, but she doesn't drink much. The weather's nice, so finally we're able to go to Kathy's office for lunch (it's ~1.25 miles away) -- Emelia falls asleep within five minutes of heading out, but she awakes when we carry her upstairs to Kathy's office. We get more time to spend with Kathy since she doesn't use up her time traveling -- Emelia eats, we eat, the co-workers coo, and then Emelia and I head out. Within one minute she's asleep, and stays that way on the walk back home, when I bring the stroller up the steps into the house, and for the rest of the afternoon. In fact she doesn't wake up until just before 6, i.e., moments before Kathy gets home. And so I get the first nap of my paternity leave (though it's much shorter than Emelia's), and when I awake I learn that my nap is a good thing.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
In Four Days I'll Be a SAHD
It's hard to believe that Emelia is over 12 weeks old now -- I've got to stop thinking of her age in terms of weeks, and move onto months. Emelia has taken a keen interest in the world, checking everything out. Kathy's nursing is frequently interrupted by Emelia going off the nipple to take a peek at everything around her, just taking it all in. And sleep is hard to come by, because the world is so new she doesn't want to stop looking at it. She smiles and giggles all the time, and seems like a very happy kid.Kathy's maternity leave is coming to an end -- on Monday she'll be back at work and I'll start my 12 weeks of paternity leave. Kathy's more than a little apprehensive about returning to work because she's gotten used to seeing Emelia all the time -- if Emelia ever gets on a schedule, there'll only be an hour or so in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening. There'll also be lunchtimes, because I'll be bringing Emelia by several times a week for that (Kathy's office is just over a mile away). And I'm a little apprehensive myself -- I haven't spent all day alone with her yet, and I'm not sure how I'll be able to entertain and stimulate her all day every day. I'm sure I'll be able to pull it off, but those first few days, while Emelia is stressing about not seeing her mother and I'm developing routines, is going to be quite challenging.
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