new year’s wish

The New Jersey Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary near our house has a holly tree. One of the naturalists there told us that one winter day a particular species of bird will come at eat every berry on that tree. It’s supposed to be something to worth seeing – but because it happens so quickly, you have to be very lucky or very diligent to catch it.


Last night Chris and I watched a documentary on ABBA. At the height of the band’s popularity, Agnetha Fältskog, the blond vocalist, decided she wouldn’t tour anymore because she wanted to stay home with her baby. Her husband, Björn Ulvaeus, the band’s guitar player totally didn’t get it. He figured, they had a Nanny, what difference would it make if they left the kid with her for a few days here or there?

The thing is, you don’t know when the birds will come to eat the berries – or when baby will take his first step. The only way to be sure to be there, is to always be there.

So, here is my New Year’s Wish: May you have the luxury to be there for all of next year’s unmissable moments. And may you have the serenity to be fully present for each of them.

Happy New Year!

christmas with cousins

On Wednesday we had a great Christmas visit to Aunt Pat's farmhouse. My cousins Beth and Craig were visiting from distant North Carolina with their kids Thomas and Molly. Now, the actual relationship between their kids and ours is somewhat more distant, but at this point I am going to officially designate them as cousins, in the theory that you can't have too many cousins, certainly not when they are as sweet as Thomas and Molly.

Here's our little sausage with the lovely Molly.



Thomas was very pleased with the circuit-building kit we brought him, even after I told him that I am a teacher and the toy was probably educational. We promptly built a light-sensitive alarm. The kid is so smart and so quick it's a little scary.



We all had a swell time together. Our child was great. He seemed to have a great time being mauled by his cousins, who thought he was loads of fun. Me and G went away feeling very wealthy in the family department.

modern dad skills

OK, now that I no longer travel and my workday schedule is completely predictable, I have become the owner of one of the most advanced communication tools that will fit in your pocket. I finally replaced my beloved but aging Nokia cell phone with a shiny new Treo 680. It's a combination phone and Palm Pilot PDA which I bought in order to help organize my busy life. NOT to watch South Park and play solitaire during meetings.

But incidentally it does play excellent solitaire and thanks to the efforts of many smart people I have also got it to play the same videos we download.

Now, I can make full use of every second of the 9 unoccupied minutes that I am currently wasting each day.

This morning, while walking the child in a darkened room in order to soothe him, I was able to watch a whole South Park episode. Not only is this entertaining, but it's important to my professional development that I remain up-to-speed on popular culture so that I can relate to my students. So you see, I really have my students' best interests at heart.

Talk to me before you decide to buy a Treo though, there are issues.

first christmas

He's not old enough to decide which holiday to celebrate so I guess it'll be the one with the tree and the holly which we celebrate in the middle of winter.

The boy has displayed every sign of great enjoyment during our holiday season together. Below is a picture taken in a sleepy moment, with the bear that his Aunt Sarah sent from London. He's still very much working on the grabbing-and-holding skills, but he latched right onto the bear.



His looking-at-things skill set is developing nicely. In the picture below he is also enjoying the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium with swimming fish and bubbles in a real water-like fluid.



The aquarium was a very welcome gift from Mark and Lauren and Allie and Joe down in Tampa. Last night it enabled us to enjoy a nice meal while His Majesty gazed enraptured.

If you are interested in uncovering corporate conspiracies, please look into collusion among Fisher Price, Energizer, and the makers of Advil. The new generation of infant toys consume vast numbers of D cells, and moms and dads must get tons of headaches trying to change the batteries. Maybe it's just because of all the lawyers we have here, but the batteries are sealed behind multiple phillips-head screws. From what are we protecting the precious flowers of American youth? Batteries haven't leaked for decades, and even when they did, the result was scarcely more toxic than mayonnaise.

my other baby

I’ve always wanted to learn to play the accordion. So, I’m just home from the hospital taking care of the baby and I think, “Perfect! I’m home with all this time on my hands and no one but baby Peter to annoy.” So, I call my friend Andrew Krystopolski and ask him to teach me.

I met Andrew when he brilliantly created music for a play I directed called Silent Lives. Andrew is a polka enthusiast. Andrew is so Polish he has a pierogi hanging from his rear-view mirror. Andrew studied accordion at the Acme Accordion School. (I’m not making this up.) Andrew is just the person to teach me accordion. He says yes.

Problem: You don’t really have any time on your hands when you are home taking care of the baby. I consider it a good day when I’ve found time to brush my teeth! Also, you can’t hold the baby and the accordion at the same time.

So, it is going very slowly. I’m playing scales and exercises from a book from “Ernest Deffner, Inc.” Chris notes that it is no coincidence that my accordion book came from someone named Deffner. Sigh. But I am learning a song from my favorite new band The Decemberists. Their accordion player is also a chick.

I was warned that mockery never stops when you play the accordion. Already the baby cries when I take the instrument from its case. Last week, the cat even started eating my sheet music.

christmas in high school

Isn't it great to see young people enjoying themselves and having a good time with each other. Maybe someday I will see this in my classroom!



My last unit on momentum & conservation went fairly smoothly, and it certainly was a cause for celebration when it ended.

grandparents

Here's a couple of pics from thanksgiving that I just found.

My mom and the kid with a hat


G's dad


G's Mom and the boy with the cool giant bug thing
 

hop on pop

We got a bunch more baby pictures I am going to get up soon but right for now here is a picture of domestic bliss at the end of the day.



Last night we had a bit of a family adventure. First, we went to the wilds of western NJ to get fingerprinted at the mental hospital. Yeah, really. I needed to get printed for the school. The hospital was an attractive place actually, at the top of a hill with a beautiful view over the lakes and valleys, pretty even in December. The complex was large and old-fashioned, quiet and only a little creepy, and I easily found the room where they did the fingerprinting. There was a little guy with a giant humming machine, obviously developed with homeland security spending. It looked like something from Torchwood. There was a glowing red window on the front and when I touched it my fingerprints leaped up on the screen, and presumably were instantly beamed to Dick Cheney's bunker.

Then we drove off toward a nice little country pub where we had a good burger a few years back. We found it transformed into a nice little country bistro with jazz and a fancy menu. We had moules and frites, and the boss rode the whole dinner in the sling on my chest and was as good as pie.

On the way home, in the pitch dark of the country roads, I braked hard to avoid a deer and we heard another one thump into the side of the car. We were probably going 35mph at the time. I felt really bad but since I am a physics teacher I know that the deer only hit us at the speed of a running deer so it's possible it limped off. There was no sign of trauma on the side of the big old sedan.

OK now I gotta get back to work on practice questions for tomorrow's Circular Motion exam.

in black and white

These wonderful pictures are by our friend Darlene, ably assisted by her daughters. We had a great night out last Friday socializing with them and other physics teacher families.



So, my test on dynamics yesterday produced a certain amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth among scholars at the high school. I workshopped it down at Rutgers last night and the expert consensus is that it's a great test -- in fact, it's great enough to be three tests. So I will cut it down a little for next time I suppose. I may have erred in my judgment of how much students enjoy physics tests.

up and running

If you couldn't see pictures on this page yesterday it should be OK now.

If you've ever thought about running your own blog I can't recommend Picasa highly enough. It's easy and free. Just download the free Picasa from google and use the Blog This button to post.

And if you ever wondered why you should bother, I can tell you from personal experience that your family and friends will really enjoy your efforts.

I am in my thinkhole this morning, took the kid down at 6am to give G some alone time. It's 8am now and he's just stopped fussing for the first time. Oh wait, here he goes again. Bye.

smiley baby

Like I said before (below) we've been cooking a lot in the evenings. The boy will often sit in his bouncy chair thing while we do so and watch the goings on with evident enjoyment. We got a couple smiley pics on Monday this way.



He seems to smile at me a lot. This seems like a sound evolutionary strategy for the young of the species: gotta charm dad. Mom'll love you no matter what, but in the jungle you better get dad on your side.



We've been reading the Sears baby book lately and this seems best suited to our particular style of scientifically-informed pragmatism blended with our desire to raise an organic free-range human with a healthy balance of humours.



OK now I really gotta get to work on lessons. You wouldn't believe some of the lab reports I have received.

a night out in ... mendham?

Before I get to the baby pics, here's a nice one of my mom from our last Friday night out in Mendham. A new cafe opened up across the street from the library and Nick and a pal were providing music. We trooped out en famille (with Kim from Greenbelt too) to try the fancy evening prix fixe menu. My mom was happy because she was sitting next to her grandson, who was in a basket on the floor and didn't make a peep all night.



Grey was happy because she got to eat an entire meal without someone attached to her!



The restaurant staff were very anxious on their first big night (it felt like being an extra on Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares) but the food was much better than on most of those shows. I had sweetbreads and a steak and a nice creme brulee. Oh that reminds me, I have to call up the doctor's office and get the results of my cholesterol tests. 

slinging hash

This is a picture of G peeling carrots with the boy in his sling. We've both been having good luck with the sling. It takes a little while to get the hang of it, pun not intended, but it's comfortable for us and the kid seems to love it. I raked all the leaves in the back yard while wearing him.



This week we have been mostly cooking our own meals from our new favorite cookbook. So far we have made baja fish tacos, pan-roasted chicken with chipotle-orange glaze, pork stew with plums, and a bunch of other things. We love this book. It's real cooking with real ingredients but you can get the meal on the table in time to have a few minutes of socializing before you fall asleep on the couch.



By the time you read this I will probably get up another post with the latest baby pictures. I am up early this morning because himself was not kind to his mom last night and I am taking the 3am-6am shift while I work on my lessons.

grandpa nick et al

By popular demand I am finally publishing a better baby picture!



We've been short on pictures for a week or two but I snapped this one yesterday when dad visited. The kid is now estimated at about 11.5 pounds.

Me and G have been enjoying two days of teachers' convention. I should be catching up on a lot of schoolwork but so far, not so much. 

high school halloween

Here's a picture of me, in 6th period, discoursing learnedly on Newton's 3rd law. A student snapped this with his camera phone.



Yesterday was Halloween and G loaned me her old punk jacket and dressed me up out of the 80s. I found an old Billy Bragg concert T from a million years ago. The kids got a kick out of it and it was fun for me too. I even snuck in a lesson: punk bands took over the world because they said anybody could make music, you didn't have to be an expert or a genius. I told them science was the same way: sure, you need experts a geniuses but anybody could do it and enjoy it and get something out of it if they try.

I've had the hardest time making them think and evaluate for themselves -- most of the time they just want to give up an answer and be left alone. But yesterday in my punk persona I got a rise out of them with a problem about Newton. "Are you just gonna believe what the establishment says is true, or are you gonna figure it out for yourselves? Do you trust the man even though his laws contradict your common sense? Well?"

It worked good. We had some fun.

It's 4:30am and I am working on a lesson about universal gravitation. The boy is down here in the basement with me this morning because he was fussing all night and G needs a little sleep before I abandon her for the day.

child and dad

Every day there is another outfit I have not seen before.

why we work

Most of the weekend was delightful around our house. I didn't get caught up on my grading or on my parent contacts but we had lots of quality family time together. We took the child on a shopping trip and did very well on an expedition to a local family-friendly restaurant where we got a hearty breakfast for overworked and underslept mom and dad.

The child continues to develop in personality. He likes the car, fortunately, and most of the time he will ride happily as long as the car is moving. He likes being rocked in his car seat. He likes to be laid across my lap on his belly and to be played like bongo drums.

quick snap

Just a quick entry on my way to the shower. Started the new unit on dynamics and so far it's going a lot better. I get to spend more classes on rollerblades anyway. The school has put in a purchase order for the first shipment of equipment I requested, which is very encouraging.

The boy is thriving. G needs continued rest in order to get back to normal, say the midwives, but in general she is doing very well. We continue to more or less cope, and even made a homemade dinner this week!

Here's another picture by my uncle, from our visit to my folks this weekend.

more grandmothers

Me and G had to weasel out of a family dinner on Friday because it was scheduled for the late hour of 6:30, which is about 10 minutes before I usually fall asleep after a day of high school.

As a result, the child has been grandma-deprived which is a shame. Grandma Paula, pictured, has also been invaluable to the new parents. Last weekend she left us a pot of homemade stew that kept us going through several hungry nights.


But we are going to make up for that this afternoon with our first trip to grandma and grandpa's house, over the river and through the woods to Mendham. Mom's making manicotti.

But for now I really need to concentrate on a unit plan for dynamics.

lifestyle notes

We are about to take our first family trip to Wholefoods to buy grownup food and eat at the cafe. We have packed our first diaper bag.

At the moment the child is asleep next to me in my basement office, lulled to sleep by the dehumidifier.

In house news, nothing much. Grey selected a nice bed for us, which my father and uncle heroically delivered and set up for us this week. It's from Indonesia but we think it looks real nice with our old American house. Now the co-sleeper is a lot easier to use in the middle of the night too.


OK, now we are off to Wholefoods.

all the pictures

I am going to maintain an album of all the baby pictures. Don't worry, nothing graphic!

Peter 2006

Click above to view the album.

the pumpkin outfit

One of the child's grandmothers has remarked on the dearth of recent baby pictures so here I am on the case. Photo credits in all cases go to Richard D'Amato.

Grandpa Nick has been of exceptionally good value lately, taking the kid for many walks in the beautiful autumn weather. In addition to painting the dining room while I was working.


Grey's mom Jill was a lifesaver in the first week after we were home from the hospital. She was a huge help with all the new logistics and provided a lot of moral support to clueless new parents.


Me, I've been faking my way through fatherhood with about as much success as I've been faking it as a high school teacher. In both cases there are plenty of things to enjoy.


G is continuing her recovery. She's having a hard time with a muscle in her leg which is making it tough to get around and even sit comfortably. The doctor promises slow improvement. 

today we are a week old

This one reminds me of one of my favorite Pogues albums.


This expression is a little more ambiguous.


We are having a nice day around the house. I am in my hole making a test for kinematics.

on the road again

And hey, guess what's on the road again? Believe it or not, my life has been so full and so exciting that the rehabilitation of my ultimate dream car has not made it to the headlines.


Thanks to Pete of Midnight Auto the old bomb is back online and breathing fire. Don't look for a link to Pete's website, he operates out of a barn in Sussex County. High tech communications for him is a phone with buttons instead of dial. But he can sure tune an engine.

Also major props to my dad and uncle who made the whole thing possible while I was finding a job, buying a house, rewriting curricula, etc.

The mini is now kitted like a real racecar with an engine that should be a lot more reliable than the one that it came with. I will get the tech specs up at some point, but suffice it to say that it is no longer a fast car. It's a seriously fast car. It's a little monster in fact.

These pics are from a car playdate with my father's 59 Alfa Giulietta.


Here's our backyard from the perspective of the garage doors.


Yes, we are doing what we can for the ecology of the planet. We all know that humans will not address the disasters caused by petroleum abuse until the world has reached a crisis point. We try to help bring that crisis point closer so that we can all get to work.

down in the thinkhole

Most of the pictures from Labor Day will never be seen on the blog of course, but this one is kind of special and perfectly suitable for public appreciation, I think. We weren't planning to document the labor and delivery but our doula brought her camera and snapped some wonderful shots. Ladies, when you visit you can ask G for the whole slideshow. Guys, we can go do something else.


Lots of these pictures will be useful in years to come as behaviour-shaping tools for our precious offspring. "Play quietly or we will show you pictures of your birth!"

Should be loads of fun on prom night when he brings his date around, too.

No seriously, the pictures are wonderful and miraculous but I find them too emotional to look at very often.

It's 8:30am on Saturday morning and I am sitting in my basement office (my thinkhole) with the boy in his car seat at my feet. I turned on the dehumidifer next to him and he is sleeping very peacefully with the hum in the warm basement air.

We all had a rough night last night, not much sleep. G has very kindly been letting me sleep on the couch on school nights, and last night I tried to return the favor and let her get some extra sleep, but the boy had lots of complex needs that we did not understand well. He rarely slept for more than a few minutes at a time. I emptied four diapers and bounced him a lot but still there was not much rest had by anyone.

But I've been down here since 6am and the boy is sleeping sweetly and I hope G is getting some well-deserved z's in the meantime.

Rough week at school. I have turned kinematics into a baffling ordeal for most of my students. But they are all very happy for our new little family, it is very touching. It makes me feel bad when I can't give my students an interesting and well-organized lesson, but I suppose it's an accomplishment if we just get through the day together and make some human connections.

four days old

There are a few updated photos on the online album.

It's 4am and I am going back to work today so I am up to make some lessons. Of course the boy has had me up for a while before this. So far I am coping fine but let's see how things are going around 8th period today.

It's been great to be home with G and the boy and I am sad to be leaving for the day. But G's mom is here so she will be OK and the boy has been a lot happier now that his milk supply has come on for real.

We've been receiving notes and good wishes from everybody. I hope I get a chance to follow up on these renewed contacts since it has made me so happy to hear from folks I was on the verge of losing touch with.

Well, I've got a cup of coffee and the cats are circling around my keyboard. I am ready to start the day's work, better get to it. Thanks for all the nice comments from emailers and visitors to the blog here, it really means a lot to us!

Peter Casmir D'Amato

Peter Casmir D'Amato 10/6/2006

Born by natural delivery 7:30pm on Friday 6 October. 9 pounds 0 ounces, 21.5 inches long. Mom and baby healthy and happy after 22 hours of labor.

Peter Casmir D'Amato

Oct 8, 2006 - 8 Photos

a week behind

This is the only picture of both of us (all of us?) from last weekend's baby shower. Thanks to Gretchen for the snap.

Last Saturday was G's blessing ceremony at our house, followed by a trad baby shower at Maple Ave on Sunday. Traditional in the D'Amato sense meaning tons of food, and a million things that people knitted. I think my mom made the blanket in the picture, and Aunt Zoe made the perfect bear. There is a little dinosaur outfit and Gretchen's mom Joan sent a Starfleet uniform. Watch this space for a picture as soon as he's big enough to fit in it.

I made it through another week of school. I was not the world's most interesting teacher this week, but to be honest how fascinating can kinematics be? Most of the time I had a good time with the students, which is what makes the biggest difference to me.

cat moment

Ilsa, Weehawken, 2001. Never got brushed enough.