4/20/06: Tomorrow he'll be six months old with a nasty cold.  We had to switch from pureed peas to pureed sweet potatoes so that we could tell between the food and the boogers.  Poor guy, very fussy.

May 1, 2006 Hi.  I haven't stayed up this late in a long, long time.  I'm sure I'll pay for it tomorrow. A few days ago I was looking at some videotape (well, mpg's, actually) to make a follow up to the 2005 Hello Dash DVD.  I took one video on April 2, specifically to show how well he was balancing in a tripod position.  Over the course of looking at the videos I was pretty amaze at how uncoordinated Dash was with respect to his arms and legs.  Lots of energy but little control.  Wiggle city.  You don't necessarily see the progress day to day but looking back weeks it's astounding.   Right now he rolls but doesn't crawl.  He can't put himself into a sitting position but once there he maintains his balance really well, placing a hand down or whatnot to right himself (unless of course something is so interesting that he follows it with not just his eyes, not just his head, but his whole body.  Then wipeout. The hands and fingers are all his now.  Twirling the pacifier.  One recent morning I awoke with him between Leigh and me.  I thought I was out of his reach but he half rolled his body, extend way over and grabbed the end of my nose. He's getting over his first cold, one I gave him, which spread to Leigh and two nannies.  Today he got his first vaccination. He's a trouper.  Didn't cry. Happy so much, but really doesn't like to nap.  He still gets up every four hours.  Eating "solid" food.   Very late. Good night. -jeff

(note to people over 30 (hee-hee): most of these pictures are linked to really big pictures, clicking gets you to them and then a right mouse allows you to select "Save Picture As..." to save the pictures to your hard drive or print, etc.)

June 3, 2006.  

After a very fussy night, Dash finally got his upper teeth.  The right central incisor came in as was expected, but instead of a left central he got a right lateral.   Fussy today.  (Whoops.  A day later, upon closer inspection, he has three, both upper centrals and the right lateral).

It was REALLY good to see everybody back home.  Sorry I haven't emailed or posted pictures, been swamped.

As I was leaving for work on Tuesday, Dash started crying.  So begins the separation anxiety, I guess.  What impressed me was that after four days in Florida, he was aware enough to recognize that I was going to work.  Next day, he was fine, perhaps re-acquainted with his nanny, Sue.

Monday, June 12, 2006.  

Sorry about the lack of updates.  Dash still gets us up two or three times a night so we both are going to bed fairly early.  We've been heating cold formula when he awakes at night.  Tonight we just mix bottled water with pre-measured formula powder; hopefully we'll drop that bottle prep time from around five minutes to 30 seconds.  That should let one of us sleep through the feeding (he's still in the room with us.)

Crawling Report:

He's not crawling.  He's quite a roller and lunger, but doesn't quite "get" the cyclical nature of crawling.  He just recently will move a knee forward, one, the other, and then move the original, but then he rolls to a hip.  Saturday, I was lying on my back like a beached whale while he rolls around nearby (I don't consider this attempted napping, I consider it passive tactile bonding).  He crawled up to me and climbed my belly to get upright and then pushed off to balance out.  Very deliberate.  Did this a number of times, most of the time falling back onto my "airbag" but often falling against my hand on his back.  Leigh reports that he did a lot of free balancing today.

Sometime in the past few days, he figured out the footwork of walk, the left right left right thing.  So his feet know how to move, but not balance the weight (I think 4 and a half months old Zachary Gault inspired him with his footwork (which I leverage to shame Dash into picking up the pace)).  So far he won't go unless both your hands are under his arms.  If you hold his hands, he thinks he can't go.

Dash continues to be very comfortable with strangers as occasionally at the beach Leigh and I will get to play a volleyball game together as friends watch Dash.  We also hit a party Saturday night and Dash was passed around like hot gossip.  While he still seems to have that very good demeanor he seems to be becoming more demanding and he still hates to go to sleep.  He also seems to be losing interest in baby food and yesterday wanted a bottle every two hours, including all last night.  We're hoping that it's just the teething, but we may have to do the "Ferberizing."  Hope it doesn't push him over to The Dark Side.

Monday, June 19, 2006 As of yesterday, Dash is officially a crawler.  He had been doing the short left-right-left then pivot to a hip.  But yesterday he seemed to get over the mental block and go into the "unlimited" mentality.    Yesterday evening he used the high chair tray (and toy) which was sitting in the middle of the floor (don't ask) to get to a crouching, and then standing, position, unsupported throughout.  Very deliberate.  Leigh and I applauded vigorously.  He did it again for another three or four seconds and then did what was no doubt a victory dance.  I was most impressed by his purposefulness and realization of the significance of the event.   The picture to the left is from our trip home to Orlando.  This may be something of a relic as he has decided he no longer wears sunglasses or hats.   He's less tolerant about a number of things and I'm not sure how much leeway to give him as I can't really explain things to him and I haven't done the stern/hostile (but definitively attention-getting) voice yet.  I suspect once that barrier is broken thus begins the battle of wills.  I better start reading the parenting info.

I was very sore today as I am getting old and very out of shape.  It used to be I'd have to do something very athletic to be useless the next day.  Now apparently a couple days of running all over the house bent over with my hands under Dash's arms is enough to make me crotchety.  

But it was an excellent weekend.  Dash, while more expressive in his demanding, seems to be over the pain of teething and seems back to his good demeanor.  As he likes to "walk" around the house (today at a "run") babysitting doesn't involve much sitting.  As much as I have always enjoyed watching animals and bugs, and love my cats, he is orders of magnitude more interesting.  

Oops I hear crying.  I'll cut this off now.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Saturday, July 1, 2006.

Dash is napping.  We'll head to the beach when he wakes up.  He's babbling a lot.  Very cute.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Lot of new stuff lately: Leigh made her first overnight business trip (two nights) this week.   Dash was fun, but, boy, the house falls apart VERY quickly without help. Thursday morning as I was pulling out of the driveway for work, Dash ceremoniously shook his arm at me.  So his first (clearly intentional) wave.  I yelled at him that mowing the lawn was dangerous and that he should keep both hands on the mower (ha! Sue (our Nanny) was holding him). Doctor visit:  21 1/2 pounds, 29 1/2 inches. Leigh and I had our first night out together in more than nine months Friday.  We went to dinner and a concert (Muse!) with our friend Frank.  Very hot show (record temperatures in an overcrowded warehouse).   Took Dash swimming yesterday (see picture).  He sure enjoys it. Dash is starting to do "interactive" play.  A few nights ago at a restaurant with Cary and Anja (and Emma and Joshua) Dash actually took the lead in the sure-fire ALWAYS-delightful Peekaboo game, ducking his head above and below the table (right up until he didn't quite clear the table with his chin (whack!  waah!). Last night down the street at Mehdi's house for the monthly dinner group party,  Dash figured out the chasing thing.  I was on the floor with him and he started crawling away fast (towards danger, as usual).  I chased him, crawling demonstratively and loudly.  He paused, looked over his shoulder, squealed, and bolted.  We did this around Mehdi's house for a whole five minutes, Dash crawling, stopping, rotating around on his butt to "cue" me to chase, and then pivoting/shooting forward, laughing hysterically the whole while.  This continued right up until the sudden, slightly out-of-control, pivot/crawl-launch move drew to it's inevitable result (hard face plant.  whack!  waah!).   But oh, what fun!  Joy joy.

Monday, July 24, 2006

I'm not sure what Dash's thoughts on the Giraffe Feeding were, but I sure as heck got a thrill out out of it.  I plan to keep feeding the giraffes until we get a very good picture out of it (this is a frame from a movie). Leigh tried to get some photos but by the time she was ready with the camera I had used up all my biscuits.  Reminds me of something, but I can't remember what. Dash enjoys the people more than the animals. They pay him more attention. He's a flirt. He also seems to spend more time closely observing the fences and the pavement textures more than the animals.   The past couple of times, he's enjoyed the stroller ride back to the car most of all.  He balances his butt at the edge of the seat waving his arms, babbling and exclaiming, wobbling all over the place.  Very much like Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic. I hope he continues to enjoy the zoo cuz I plan to drag his poopy little butt there a lot.

Sunday, Aug 6, 2006

Quick Note:  Leigh and I are both scrambling to master new jobs (me a new position with a new group in a new building at Caltrans District HQ (3 miles from home!)) and are putting all our time into either Dash or the jobs.  He's doing well (actually slept 8 hours straight last night (but was up at 4:30am and stayed up)), chattering, crawling, climbing, playing the chase game (my favorite).  We've been hitting the zoo once or twice a week all summer.  The only unusual thing happened a couple of hours ago: the volume on the baby monitor was turned down and the visuals turned away from the family room, so we didn't notice that he had been crying for a few or several minutes.  We'd always responded in a timely manner.  Mark this as the first time that he didn't get immediate feedback.  He was doing that kind of hiccuppy-cry indicating he'd been at it a while.  A little extra soothing and he was back asleep, but now I'm curious if he'll be a little panicky upon waking for a while.  Hope this doesn't push him to the dark side...

He's very fun, and we both love him to death.  It's like being in (romantic) love but without that inevitable comfort/complacency (so far).  Best part of my day,  every day.

Ciao, I got some work to do before going to bed...

Ooh, I almost forgot.  Here's a benefit of a website or blog.  A moment that touched me almost forgotten, saved:  Yesterday feeding Dash a bottle ("milking" him) on the southwest couch, his head cradled in my left arm, sun getting low to my left, he was looking up at me.  My sunlit face reflected in his pupil, framed by bright blue iris.  It looked as if I were the center of his world, if only for a moment.  Special moment, almost forgotten.  Saved for a bit.

"Before my child, I thought I was the center of the universe.  Now I know that he is."   (I forget who said that).

Tuesday, August 14, 2006

Leigh and I are both pretty frazzled, trying to catch up with new jobs.  I've been putting weekend hours in and my weekdays consist of a shift at work, three or four hours with Dash and then back to the office.  I'm exhausted but am spending a lot of good time with Dash. The boy is really getting to be a lot of fun.  He is very interactive, liking to initiate peekaboo and make us guide him around the house (two hands, one hand, he seems not a nitpicker for quality as with one hand helping him he tends to veer wildly astray (to no dismay)).  He likes to climb on us, which is convenient as flat on my back is easy to climb and my natural position anyway). His laughing escapes from "Mommy's gonna GETCHA!" is something we really need to catch on film; he crawls like mad or tries to hide by climbing over Daddy's shoulder. We've been able to make it to the zoo for the past several Fridays after work.  It's a highlight of the week and very relaxing.  I can't say there have been any special animal moments lately, but Dash had been eyeing the Skyfari for some time, so we went on it.  He wasn't bothered by the height at all.  Everyone knows about the San Diego Zoo's reputation, but the layout and landscaping are pretty underrated.  It drapes across a couple steep lush canyons. By comparison Sea World is wide open flat  and more spacious.  Dash likes the sea lions because they're active and noisy and the Shark Encounter because these big things seem to float right over head apparently in midair (nearly invisible plastic and water). I took Dash to see the Shamu show.  He watched the action 100 yards away, but when the crowd clapped the first time it scared him.

After feeding him half a jar of Sweet Potato and Chicken he said "Da."  I said "DaDa." He said "DaDa." I said "DaDa."  He said "DaDa."   I tried other things but he only repeated "DaDa."  Wow.  You know these moments will come but you don't think something so simple (and potentially vague and/or accidental) will move you.  Heck I've known I'm his Dad for months now and he's known I'm his whatever a Dad is for some time, but to here him say it (or parrot it or babble the syllables) really is memorable (equivalent to, like, when he was born or when I first saw the Whirlpool Galaxy in my telescope (that one may sound trivial, but it really was a profound moment whose emotional impact I'll probably never forget))).

He also seems to have a nocturnal tooth.  The lower left lateral incisor seems to come out at night but go back in in the daylight.  First you think it's clearly erupted but then you can't find it.  But it any case it's a good excuse to drool.  A lot.

Dash may not be walking but his lunges are becoming longer and more controlled.  He can cross about three feet if he has a pair of hands waiting to catch him.  They say walking is just a forward fall caught by a sequence of footsteps.  His walking is more like a forward fall postponed briefly by footsteps.  I can still ride a unicycle better than he walks, but when he can walk for a bit then stand still and then continue walking, he will have me beat (as I have to be moving forward or I fall off the unicycle).

Okay, it's late.  I'm exhausted, but I wanted to share.  We really are loving this boy so much as he broadens how he charms and wows us.