My students were very impressed today because I let them work unsupervised with dihydrogen monoxide.
The common substance has many remarkable properties but it's also a little worrying to see how many dangers it's associated with.
Consult the dhmo faq for more information.
Peter turned over from tummy to back for the first time today. He's 5 months and eight days old. The baby book says most babies do this by pushing up with their arms and use the weight of their head to torque them over. Peter gets his legs up underneath him and pushes off.
xkcd is "A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language". What's not to love? Go check out some of my faves here.
I figure I better start writing this stuff down before I forget-- though, I'm not sure this is interesting to anyone but me.
Yesterday, Peter played with bath toys for the first time. This week was the week he started playing with his feet. His binocular vision and ability to reliably grab the things he wants to grab happened in the last couple of weeks. This week he started showing a real interest in toys. He’s having more fun with them and also being frustrated with not being able to do what he wants with them. Before I could get him to hold a toy, but he just didn’t care. He loves “The Wiggles.” He’s started to kick a lot. He enjoys kicking things that make noise – this probably started last week. I started putting him on a bolster to make tummy-time more enjoyable (see video) about 3 weeks ago. Since then, he’s been less fussy about tummy time in general and seems to be better at playing in that position. He wants to practice standing all the time now. He’s been practicing since he was maybe 2-months-old (see, I’ve already forgotten) but now he’s really keen on it and wants to be able to do it on his own. He can sit by himself for a very short time, sometimes. He stood for a microsecond by himself, holding on to his crib the other day. He doesn’t like the Johnny-Jumper yet.
Two things I want to remember if we have another child: wear Chris' flannel pajama top with the top 2 buttons buttoned for winter night-time nursing to protect boobies from fingernails and cold. I can file the child's nails while he watches The Wiggles.
For some reason we had a long weekend off at school, so the D'Amato family took a very exciting trip to Philadelphia. We stayed overnight in a hotel in the city center, next door to the Reading Terminal Market.
The trip included many firsts for the child: first long car ride, first time sleeping away from home, first swim in a pool. All these challenges were met with aplomb and every sign of enjoyment.
Mom and Dad enjoyed the change of scenery and the hustle and bustle of the big city. Philly is great, and the market is like an amusement park for us. Great fresh food and ingredients and interesting things and all kinds of people. We planned our visit around our meals, of course, we had soul food in the market for lunch, then a late dinner (for us) in Old City, and breakfast at the market again.
Our evening out in Old City is worth telling about. We went back to the belgian bar we stumbled into last summer. Back then, my heavily pregnant wife could not manage the moules and frites but this time we made up for the missed opportunity. I had a great sour beer, Duchesse of something or other.
The boy, of course, came along with us. Now that bars and restaurants in NY, NJ, and PA are smoke free it makes the whole adult world a lot more family friendly. The kid loves to get out and look at new places, and be admired by strangers, and when he gets tired or hungry it's easy enough to hide him under a blanket. We're pleased with ourselves that we manage to get out and about, showing him a good time and taking care of him while doing some of the things we enjoy doing.
This little picture came from my phone and it shows how much fun we were all having. Maybe G will write more about our trip later.
On Saturday we went to see Andrew and Farah, we had a great time hanging out and talking about babies and fussing over Himself, who was very well behaved.
So here is the summary of our trip:
Lunch: Ribs & collards at Delilah's in Reading Terminal Market
Dinner: Moules and frites, some beer too, at Eulogy in old city
Breakfast: Egg and pepper sandwiches, coffee, croissants at the market
Lunch: Pho #36 (beef eye round and brisket), avocado smoothie, iced vietnamese coffee at Cafe Viet Hoang at 11th & Washington
Afternoon snack: Cupcakes from Flying Monkey and an Amish organic cheese pastry that we brought from the Market
Dinner: Quesadilla and a goat burrito at the Caballitos Cantina on Passyunk
Breakfast: Andrew's white boy bacon and egg breakfast
And on our way out of town, a quick cheesesteak at Jim's on South St.
And since every cup of coffee I have ever had in a vietnamese restaurant has been exceptional, I bought a couple of the little brewing doodads they use and I've been experimenting with them this morning. This is possibly the last coffee-making apparatus I have not previously owned. Watch this space for updates.
Today Peter and I went with his Grandpa Nick to have lunch with the Sisters of Christian Charity.
The good sisters gave Peter many blessings and our Peter gave them many smiles.
Peter's Nun visiting costume includes a sweater knitted by my yoga student, Pat Zimmerman, a shirt from Grandma Paula, khaki pants from the Rob & Molly collection, socks from Anne Klein --the yoga student, not the designer, and shoes by Kim Kash. The terrific chair came from Aunt Pat.
Click here to see another picture and a very short video of Peter in his Nun visiting costume.
Last week we had a visit from my dear friend Gretchen Jacobs. In these pictures Peter is sporting an outfit that Gretchen got him in the South of France.
Click here for more pictures of Peter and Gretchen.
We have 2 grey cats: Stretch & Stumpy. 90% -- maybe 99% of the cat pictures on the blog are of Stretch. There are two reasons for this: one, Stumpy is shy and, two, as much as you don’t like to talk about “favorites” in a family, Chris is Stretch’s favorite and I am Stumpy’s favorite. Chris does more blogging than me, so you’ve seen lots of Stretch.
We expected Stretch to get on well with the baby and Stumpy to be afraid, but it turned out to be the other way around. Stretch will have nothing to do with the baby, and Stumpy loves him. Even when Peter is screaming or crying (Stumpy is terrified of loud sounds and usually hides under the nearest piece of furniture), she will sit by him to make sure he is OK.
At first Peter couldn’t see the cats. Babies see mostly contrast and because the cats are grey, they just blend in. My mom said that she can’t even see my cats most of the time. A couple of weeks ago he saw Stumpy without my telling him that she was there. He pointed at her and laughed. Last week he pet her by himself without my guiding his hand. This morning he reached out and grabbed her fur. Poor Stumpy is no longer safe!
Click here for more pictures of Peter & Stumpy.
Now, as a rule, young Peter has NO interest in standing still. He wants to be walked, strolled, bounced or danced. But he was held in rapt attention by this display -- so much so that if they sold a year’s pass, I’d get one.
This sort of display is not for everyone, but Chris and I love this stuff! We spent much of our honeymoon collecting places like this. The fact that Peter is interested shows, if there was any doubt, that he’s ours.
It got up to 40 degrees F this Sunday. So, I took the boy into the yard to model some of his new duds.
Hat is courtesy of Grandpa Nick and jacket from Uncle Dairy. Overalls by Pat Charney and shirt from the Rob & Molly collection. And tho you cannot see them, shoes by Kim Kash.
I've started putting shoes on him because he's learned to kick his socks off. I just turn around and the socks are gone. So, in the interest of not having to buy more socks, he's got to wear shoes.
He'd wear nothing at all if I would let him.
Sigh. Maybe we'll move back to Florida...
Click here for more pics.
I am blogging from my thinkhole this morning. A wiggling baby is on my lap, a jealous cat is giving me the hairy eyeball, and my main computer is churning its way through a third attempt at a windows reinstall. Yes, the computer with all my schoolwork etc on it. It crapped out midweek for reasons obscure and slightly worrying. Any other week it would have been a complete disaster but the kids at school had just begun to present their biography projects.
My work and data are safe but this means hours and hours lost to reconfiguration. On the other hand, this is a good opportunity for me to start training my son. If he can do XP reinstalls by the time he's 6 I can start making money off him.
I've started teaching my weekly class down at Rutgers, Demonstration and Technology for Science Education. That's been fun but preparation is a lot of work. I'm trying to get the students to do as much of it as possible -- conveniently in line with modern pedagogical best practice, don't you know.
I made this logo for our class website, which I am very proud of, based on the Rutgers football logo of which we've been seeing a lot lately.
Check out our class website if you are desperately bored sometime. Click on the logo to visit dtse.org.
Here are some pics from January that'll have you reaching for your hankies. Click on the picture to see more. This is a raw pile of pictures, non-grandparents are advised to wait for the highlights.
Or click here for a slideshow in your browser.
There are not many posts on this blog about mothering, because mothering happens all the time. Mothering happens instead of blog posting I guess. Fathers make posts on this blog when they have schoolwork to avoid. Or to be charitable, when father is warming up for schoolwork.
This is how the boy has been going off to sleep at the end of the day lately. I put him around my neck after dinner and walk laps until he falls asleep. I feel proud of myself for being such a useful father, but then of course G takes care of him for the next eight hours or so.
Otherwise the locals are fortunate for many reasons, but the latest good thing about Greenbelt is that our friend Kim has founded a studio of yoga there! She and husband Michael have been great pals of ours for ages. We just wanted to give a shout out to them and wish them the best of success and satisfaction with the new undertaking.
You can see more about what they are up to at GreenbeltOm.com
I'm back in my work-hole in the early hours of the morning, preparing my first lessons on work and energy. The child is asleep in his carseat by my feet, where I hope he will remain for another hour until I have to get in the shower.
G has been up a lot at night to feed him lately. He was sleeping soundly through the night but we seem to have entered a growth spurt which means more feeding. Although G can top him up without getting out of bed, constant feeding means the difference between deep sleep and a night of dozing. It's been hard on her, but she continues with patience and loving kindness. Thank crap for moms.
(oops, a noise comes from the basket at my feet. cross your fingers.)
We all had a great break together, our little family and our extended family and friends. I even felt closer to my absent friends across the big pond, thanks to Christmas cards and blog posts. For me it was a much needed recharge after an extremely busy few months.
The other teachers tell me that this time of year is easier. Even though we are facing an uninterrupted stretch of school, they say that by now you know your students and they know you and you should be in a more comfortable groove -- if not a rut. I'm starting with a positive attitude, and I'm going to try to be a little easier on myself and on my customers in the weeks to come.
Here's a couple of random kid pics from the vacation. In this one he's wearing the blue bear outfit from Aunt Pat. Not sure what he is looking so alert about, but these days he is getting a lot better at seeing what's going on.
We sat him on the floor and propped him up and he sat, very wobbly, for much longer than we would have expected. He seemed to enjoy the new perspective. I think the pose gives him a certain air of mysterious wisdom.
Well, the basket remains quiet so your crossed fingers must have helped. I gotta get back to work. Grey wants to write more posts so keep your eyes peeled if you're a blog watcher.
Love and good wishes from me, and the rest of the family, to everyone else going back to the real world today.
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!
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.
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.
