Archives for posts with tag: Baby Milestones

Wait, I Have a Toddler?

May 14, 2012 //
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I’m not exactly sure how this happened, or, frankly, when it happened. Last thing I remember, Grayson was just a little fellow who could barely muster a few words. Sure, he was kicking a ball around, thinking he was going to be the next (only?) savior of US Soccer. But, today? Well, today he’s kicking the soccer ball with gusto. Celebrating by yelling GOOOOAAAL and throwing his hands up, or lifting up his shit to reveal his belly (a soccer goal celebration as good as any). Today, he’s starting to say complete sentences (“I kick,” counts people.) He knows all the sounds animals make, and letters and numbers, and just random shit like that.

Can he tell us after he’s pooped? Yes. I’m not sure what good that does me after the fact, because the smell more than let’s me know what has happened, but it’s important people say.

His development is rapid, and it’s pretty mind-blowing that he (and kids this age in general) can soak up so many things. At some point, we need to stop cursing in front of him, because I’m pretty sure he already says shit.

He definitely gets frustrated, though, not being able to vocalize the things that he wants. Yes, he knows sign language, but that doesn’t really help with things like, “Dad, this sandwich sucks. Can I get some chicken?” Really, the sign language is good for getting girls to think he’s blowing kisses at them (when he’s actually saying “thank you”).

I do generally like to talk about things that he likes, so I can give friends and readers a heads up on what they need to be buying their kids. The problem here is that for the most part, as long as he has a soccer ball around, he’s perfectly fine. It’s the damnedest thing, but 70% of the time, he’s perfectly content with having a ball. The other 20%, he wants a book. And, the other 10% it’s a complete crapshoot.

His reading list consists of, all of the Brown Bear, Brown Bear series, Goodnight Moon still, the Dr Seuss hits (Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, Fox in Sox, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Mr. Brown Can Moo), Where the Wild Things Are, and a couple of really random books. If I hear “Elmo can use the potty!!” one more time…

While I’ve allowed him to sneak Arsenal matches, and football, baseball, basketball games since he was old enough to lift his head, we’ve just started to introduce actual TV. Perhaps this is because of laziness, or perhaps our hippie San Francisco ways are almost completely drained, I’m not sure. But, he’s started watching this show Chuggington on Disney Whatever It’s Called Now.

And, really, that’s about it right now. The kid is just awesome. We cannot get enough of him, and I think he feels the same way.

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Categories Fatherhood, Milestones, Parenting, The Dad Life, Toddlers, Toddlers in Public

What A Difference A Year Makes

August 22, 2011 //
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Gray’s 1st birthday was last weekend. We were in San Francisco to celebrate. Well, fine, we were in San Francisco for the Ben and Mira’s wedding, which so happened to coincide with Grayson’s birthday. But, it was good to be back in The City for his birthday, considering a year ago we were there… you know… having him. We’ve discussed making that an annual tradition, so we’ll see. Grayson, if you’re reading this at 18, and are currently wondering we didn’t make this an annual tradition… um… ask your mother.

I started this blog so that one day I could have it printed to eventually give to him. Just to let him know that Dibs and I are truly awesome, and that, like most parents, are sort of winging it as we go.

There have been some interesting surprises, like being pooped on multiple times, a few trying times, like dealing with a non stopped, crying baby, and a whole lot of highlights, like Gray’s first Giants game. We’ve seen the Giants win the World Series and the Mavericks win the NBA Finals (to this day, I still point to Grayson as the reason), we’ve moved from San Francisco to Texas, we’ve changed jobs and we’ve had a lot of fun adventures as a family all in his first year.

But, I’ve basically talked about all of this when I guest posted on Mommybeta (A Look Back at My First Father’s Day). (By the way, you guys should read Mommybeta if you’re a new, or old parent. Natali and friends do a great job of coming up with offers for parents, keeping parents up-to-date on trends and product reviews/recalls, and writing quality posts.)

As Grayson rounds the corner of his first year, he’s talking nonstop. Sure, it’s mainly his trademark, “bacca bacca bacca.” But, every now and again he tosses in a few gems (swear he said “thank you” the other day when I called him handsome). He regularly says “book,” which is friggin’ insane to me. How he can say book regularly, but still won’t repeat “mama” is beyond me. Of course, that’s not to say that he doesn’t say mama, he just doesn’t say it when Dibs wants him to. Granted, it’s pretty hilarious that he’s already rebelling.

He’s also now, finally, going through some separation anxiety. I don’t want to admit that she’s admitted it, but there’s a bit of Dibs who is kind of happy he cries for her when she leaves him at the daycare in the morning. I’m sure he’d feel the same way if I dropped him off at daycare, too, right? Right?

He’s on the verge of walking, but it seems like he’s been on the verge of walking for a while. He’ll push his stroller around, and will stand behind his little car and push it around. He walks holding our fingers with ease, but he’s lacking in full walking confidence. Poor kid falls down more than anyone I’ve ever seen. Honestly, we can’t help but to laugh every time.

He also loves to play with anything other than his toys. Seriously, if you’re thinking of getting Gray something, just get him a box. He’ll play with it for days, and eventually eat it. Or, maybe you should get him a TV remote control to throw around, or if you’re feeling generous, an iPhone to throw.

We’ve added a lot more regular food to his diet. Clearly he has Mexican in his blood, as he really only likes burritos and tamales. I’m not joking, he’ll eat a whole burrito.

Every day since his arrival has brought something new. His daycare daily reports are usually filled with things like, “Grayson fell today,” or “Grayson bumped his head trying to crawl over something,” or “Grayson rolled off his mat while sleeping today.” The kid is pretty clumsy, but he’s also not scared to do anything.

I. however, remain terrified.

 

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Categories Fatherhood, Parenthood, Parenting, The Dad Life

Did He Just Say?

April 25, 2011 //
1

You can never be 100% sure when it happens. It’s almost like he didn’t mean to say it, but he sort of did mean to say it. Did Grayson say Dada over the weekend?

I’ll explain…

On Saturday morning, before we leave for the horses races… wait… a side note: Grayson had two milestones over the weekend (the first would be if we agree that he said what I thought he said, which he may not have said). The second was he went to his first sporting event, the horse races. If you’re reading this, and we’re not friends, then you probably don’t know how funny and unsurprising that is. If you’re reading this, and we are friends, then you’re probably thinking, “Of course they took a baby to the horse races.” And, you’re right, we did hit a clutch Trifecta that paid for a nice dinner.

Back to the story… already in progress…

…before we leave for the horse races, Dibs has just left to get her hair trimmed. Gray is in his standup plaything-a-ma-jig in the bathroom. I’m getting dressed, and it’s clear he’s had enough of this toy. “Grayson, say Dada and I’ll get you out.” (Great parenting, huh?) He laughs… “Grayson… Say Dada and I’ll get you out.” And in the softest tone, I hear what sounds like, “Dada.” If you’ve been keeping up, not much Gray does is in a soft tone. Clearly I freak out, because that’s what parents do when they hear their kid say their name. I gleefully (only adjective I can find here) pick him up, encourage him for a painfully long time to say it again. No dice. I put him on the bed so I can put on my shirt, while continuing to encourage him to say “Dada.” Very subtly, Grayson again says, “Dada.” YEEEEEEESSSSSS!

At this point I’m feeling two emotions, one is a massive excitement that Gray has just said Dada, and the other is being terrified he didn’t say Mama first. See, Dibs has been trying to Gray to say Mama since before he was born. Rarely (when she’s around) do I encourage him to even say Dada, so maybe, just maybe I am dreaming this and hearing what I want to hear.

Dibs comes home, and I reluctantly tell her that I think he’s said Dada. Much to my surprise, she’s not stricken with tears and overcome with a jealous fit of rage, but she’s rather excited by it. She gets him to say it twice more, and I’m still so pumped about it.

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Categories Fatherhood, Parenthood, Parenting, The Dad Life

Is It Really Almost 8 Months?

April 8, 2011 //
2

Gray turns 8 months in less than a week. 8 months! How is this remotely possible?

Last night I was feeding him apples, and I just couldn’t get over how quickly he’s growing up. He looks old. I mean, old for an 8 month old. His facial features are developing, his facial expressions are amazingly similar to mine and he hates peas.

I really need to post the peas video on Youtube. I promise I will and will repost here.

Let’s talk about his milestones, shall we?

At his point Gray is sitting with no problem. He’s not sitting on his own (meaning he’s not going from back to butt), but he’ll definitely sit there for long periods at a time with no help. He’s also able to get up on all fours now, and is seconds away from crawling. He’s really good at scooting himself backwards. It’s hilarious to watch. He looks like a honey badger. He’s also good at taking toys with him as he rolls around the apartment.

Gray has this insane focus, perhaps this normal, but he’s the first baby I’ve ever been around for 8 months straight. We play basketball. He’ll lay on his back, and I’ll hold this little basketball above him. He’ll grab it, get excited, I’ll take it away and say something like, “Daddy stole the ball!” and he’ll go into fits of laughter, then try and get the ball back. We do this for long periods of time, and each time he’s just as excited to get the ball back. It’s amazing (I think there’s a photo a few posts back of him with his basketball).

We recently stopped giving Grayson the pacifier all together. We braced ourselves for the worst. And, nothing. I don’t even think he remembers he ever had it. I had heard horror stories about taking the pacifier away from the baby. Well, we don’t have those stories, which is awesome, but probably not helpful for you.

Dibs and I have now entered into the great race of whose name he’s going to say first. Will it be Mama, or Dada? He’s gotten a Da out, and he’s gotten a Ma out, but no definitive Mama or Dada yet. We’re so close at this point, but I’m not sure how to put him over the edge! I’m shocked Dibs and I don’t have some sort of a bet going on about whose name is first. (We all remember our Birthday and Weight Pool. Congrats for winning that, Eman.)

Grayson’s absolute favorite thing in world is reading. He gets read to after his bath, and before his last feeding of the night. He absolutely lights up when it’s book time. We read him lots of Dr. Seuss (Fox in Socks is his fave), Shel Silverstein, Where the Wild Things Are, and books like the Very Hungry Caterpillar. But, nothing gets him as excited as when we get Goodnight Moon. Man, he lights up with the biggest smile when we get out Goodnight Moon. We always save it for last.

So, that’s it. 8 months. I just can’t believe it’s flying by this quickly.

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Categories Fatherhood, Feedings, Humor, Parenthood, Parenting, The Dad Life

And He’s Mobile

January 31, 2011 //
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The first time Grayson rolled across the room, I missed it.

I’ll set up the scene:
Dibs and I are eating dinner, while Gray is in his activity gym playing. We look at him. Comment on how effin’ cute he is, then continue eating. Seconds later, Grayson was roughly 5 feet (the most inaccurate estimate ever) from his activity gym.
“What the hell, honey?!” I asked Dibs. “How’d get there?”
“He is mobile,” she replied.

Boy is he ever. He now rolls all over the place. It’s like he’s constantly rolling down a hill. If he sees a toy, like his Sophie, he rolls across the living room to get her.

It’s incredible to watch, especially considering he’s 5 1/2 months.

Just one of those things that reminds you that you’re actually not doing too bad a job raising your kid.

Now I just need to make sure there are no nails sticking out of the ground. Does that mean I get to roll around our apartment seeing if I get poked??

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Categories Fatherhood, Parenthood, Parenting

We’re Alive!

January 24, 2011 //
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Happy New Year, everyone. What? New Years was like a month ago?

Oh… I guess it was. Well, sorry, we’ve been moving, getting settled and getting set up at our new jobs.

Well, all of that has been accomplished and we’re back.

Gray handled the move fairly well. According to Dibs, he was fussy on the plane before take off. Everyone basically stared her down with murder in their eyes, but once the flight took off he was ok. If you know Gray, you know he has lungs for days. He’s a loud kid. Pretty sure I’d want to do the same if he was crying on my flight.

Now he has his own room! It’s amazing. He sleeps in there like a champ, too. Well, not counting the past couple of days. A 5:30 wake up time is unacceptable, young man. This morning he decided that 3:45am would be a good time to wake up. And, he had no intention of going back into the crib. It was sleep on my chest, or not sleep at all. Therefore, I got to lay on the couch with him draped across my chest. My neck still hurts, and it’s 5pm.

Other than that here are some of his other milestones, which we’ll be diving into more in the upcoming days.

Gray officially eats cereal. Or some weird rice mush. He LOVES it. He sits in his little chair, and his mouth opens wide as I make airplane noises. Then he tries to eat it, which is as successful as eating with no teeth can be.

He also rolls over and over and over. Last night, as we were eating dinner, he was in his activity gym. Next thing we know, he’s rolling across the floor to get to Pooh Bear. Um, did not expect that.

His poops are teenager poops now. Yep, I went there. I guess adding the cereal has changed the consistency. It’s real life happening in his diaper. Terrifying real life.

Lastly, he’s started teething. This, Dibs believes, is directly related to him waking up early. I’m sooo not a fan of this.

Oh, and he’s still the cutest kid in the world.

Good catching up. Talk soon.

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Categories Fatherhood, Parenthood, Parenting

Wondersitter, Baby Bjorn, Laughing

November 16, 2010 //
2

I’ve been traveling and working like crazy, so I thought I’d just give a quick update.

Laughing – First of all, Grayson laughed for the first time, and holy crap it was amazing. He’s doing it with some regularity now. It’s this sort of uncontrollable laugh that absolutely slays me. I’m now really excited for parents to hear their child’s laugh for the first time. I almost skipped work that day just so I could keep doing whatever I was doing to cause this. While it’s not abnormal for a baby to laugh this early, most don’t laugh for the first time till about 4 months. Needless to say, it’s incredible moment. (If you’re on Dibs’ Facebook page, I highly recommend watching the video she posted.

Baby Bjorn Update – As I mentioned before, we made the wrong selection when purchasing our Baby Bjorn. Today our new one showed up. It. Is. Amazing. I once again urge you guys to make the right decision here. We didn’t go with the ERGObaby Baby Carrier as I mentioned in my last post. Instead we settled on the Babybjorn Baby Carrier Active. Much better back support here. Trust me.

Wondersitter – We’re in a pretty different situation than most people. For those who haven’t heard, we’re moving back to Dallas at the end of December. That being said, it doesn’t really set us up well for daycare/nannycare. No sense in applying for daycare and going through that whole process, when we only need it for two months. Same goes for finding a nanny. It’s a long process, and no one is going to commit for 2 months, either.

Dibs found Wondersitter and after some research (and friend testimonials) we decided to try them out. Basically, Wondersitter provides families with a network of screened babysitters. We have not had a bad experience yet. All the girls have been great, and Grayson has loved all of them (of course he has).

And lastly…

Dibs and Gray are traveling to Dallas next week. I’m going to try my hardest to get her to write about her experience with traveling with him. Will she actually do it? That’s probably a no. But, maybe I will write it for her. I can’t wait to hear about it. And I also wished I was going with them.

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Categories Baby Carriers, Parenthood, Parenting

Gray’s Milestones

October 5, 2010 //
1

It’s shocking to me that Gray has been around for 7 weeks now.

I thought I’d look back over the quick 7 weeks and jot down some of Grayson’s biggest milestones down. I’m going to try and keep up with the cool things he’s doing as he develops, so we can look back on them.

Have I mentioned I plan on eventually printing this blog into a book for Grayson? I can’t wait to hand it to him, have him read it and be like, “Dad, I’m sorry I shit on you so much.” Damn right you are.

Head Control – This typically happens later the first month. For Gray, it happened around week 2. I’m not sure if he had head control, or his neck was so big it just held his head up. He was turning it side to side easily at week 3. He’s not holding his head up for 5 minutes at a time or anything, but he’s got some solid head holding skills.

Recognizing Us – The strangest thing happened at the grocery store the other day. I was walking towards Dibs, Gray was over her shoulder, and he locked eyes with me. I was between two other people, but it definitely seemed like he found me, and watched me all the way. Since then he’s been making long eye contact with us regularly. We’ve been playing staring contest with him. He wins every time.

Rolling Over Front to Back – We were completely shocked the first time Gray rolled over. We definitely figured it was a fluke. I mean, this was week 3, right? Turns out, he kept doing it. Put him on his front, and he’d find a way to roll over. Last week he did it 3 times in a row, Dibs made videos for everyone. Accidentally, he went from back to front while sleeping. He was swaddled. There was panic in the house.

Farting – Is this a skill they master? Because Grayson has this one covered. He farts like an old man. I think ever since he farted on our friend, Natalie, he’s been ripping with the best of them.

Figuring Out His Hands – Watching Grayson figure out what to do with his hands is funny. He still isn’t close to figuring everything out, otherwise he’d stop trying to claw out his eyes, but he’s getting some stuff down. He held onto a rattle for the first time the other day (admittedly, we probably should have tried that sooner), and he has a grip of death. In week 3, I noticed how determine he is. For example, his activity gym has these rings hanging down. For 2 days it seemed he was trying to grab the rings hanging above him. Once he finally grabbed him, he got them with one finger. So, he kept trying till he got them with his whole hand (as he’s grown it’s been easier). It’s been fun to watch him repeatedly go for these rings.

Cooing – A few weeks ago Gray started making coo noises. Is this a milestone? I don’t know, but it’s really funny. Sadly, he’s starting to make “Meh,” sounds. I know Dibs is at home with him right now saying, “Mommy,” over and over again.

Smiles – I still remember the first time Grayson smiled at me. I wanted to take the day off of work just to get him to do it again. He does it with regularity now, but I’m not going to lie, I get so excited each time.

Laughing – Er… Giggling – This happened the other day, but it was purely accidental. We know it was accidental. But, the fact that happened, and gave us a glimpse into what it’s going to sound like, was so amazingly awesome.

Wearing Converse – On Sunday, Gray put on his first pair of Converse. He’s never looked so awesome in life.

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Categories Fatherhood, Parenthood, Parenting