6 Months: Grumpiversary

Surprise! It's my half-birthday!


Click the photo for larger version.


August turned six months old at exactly 3:23 AM, this morning. He was awake at the time, celebrating the milestone by continuing an ongoing griping/whining/grumping session which started around 2:00, and kept one or both of his parents awake for the balance of the night.

We haven't had an evening this "busy" in months. He was clearly not feeling 100%, poor guy.

But August makes sure, almost by instinct, that there are material compensations to balance these difficulties... not least of which is the fact that he's so damn cute (witness photo, above). But today, after the toughest night in many weeks, he made sure the compensations were manifest. Mary was holding him close to her, and he kept putting his face up next to hers. I thought maybe he was trying to give her a little kiss, so I gave him a little kiss on the cheek, by way of example. Sure enough, he put is little mouth right up against Mary's cheek and gave her a genuine kiss, complete with kissing sound. This was clearly an intentional action on his part. You can imagine the effect this had on Mary! All the trials of his long, long night evaporated immediately!

So happy halfiversary to August, however grumpy he may be today, with great appreciation for the gift he bestowed on us today.

Here are photos from our afternoon lunch of delicious rice cereal. Not grumpy at all!

5 Months: New Cousin

New Cousin, Winthrop Avery Newman:



Little "Win", for short. Big win for my sister & her husband.

5 Months: How-To

How to mix-up a delicious bottle for baby.

Step One: I pour the water

Step Two: I add the powdered formula

Step Three:

5 Months: Fatherhood Guidelines

An article in the NYTimes today outlines how to be a father. Paraphrasing the bullets:

• Spend time with your kids
• Be there throughout their childhoods and beyond
• Balance discipline with fun
• As a role model, be a grown-up man

This is all pretty much common sense (I guess most parenting is), but it's still interesting. The thing I'm hoping will stick with me as I raise August day to day: reaching that right balance between fun and discipline. I could see myself veering too far in both directions, but I think I'm especially at risk for overemphasizing the "fun" part of being a dad. That's just as dangerous as being overly strict. Must keep perspective.

5 Months: Mary's Baby Pictures

Fresh from a scanner in Idaho:

5 Months: Photos From Today

One from the morning, hanging with his good friend Neve:



And one showing off his "My Grandma Rocks" T shirt before enjoying rice cereal (and not enjoying mashed-up bananas) in his fancy new high chair.

5 Months: New Trick

Here's a new trick. Standing up on own, balancing self with help of favorite jungle gym.







I'm pretty sure he'd have been capable of this for a long time now. He's always been strong.

5 Months: News Flash

News Flash: "Fun Daddy" No Longer Fun




Is Now Big Yawn

5 Months: Cutest... Baby... EVER!

Take a look at this video. August now makes this hilarious face and accompanying weird pig-like noise. Several times a day.

5 Months: Father's Day

It had never occurred to me to think about Father's Day with me in the role of father. Obviously, to me, it's always been about remembering somebody else... not that I was ever terribly diligent as the son in the Father's Day equation. So now that my own father is gone, I expected Father's Day to pass quietly and unrecognized.

Mary has been very cute about recognizing the day, and me as a father. Delicious egg breakfast! But now that I am the father, I finally realize what Father's Day is all about. It's not about fathers getting recognition, it's about teaching children to think about others, to take a moment to think about what their parents mean to them.

So I don't expect anything on Father's Day, but I'm happy to use the day as an excuse to post another father-son picture:

5 Months: Photo

Photo from a few days back:

5 Months: New Progress

A few notable changes recently... perhaps on the subtle side, but both Mary and I have noticed the boy making progress in the past week. A wider range of vocalizations, and some very weird buzzing and puffing experimentation with noise too. Also, today we had the first really successful feeding session with solid foods (a lovely rice cereal, we're told it was delicious). I won't burden you with video or photos of this evening's feeding session, which was not quite as successful. Suffice it to say that, at best, carrots will be an acquired taste. At worst, he doesn't like 'em, and he lets everyone know, including the carrots. I predict he'll love them soon enough.

And then there's the sitting up. He's much stronger now and is able to sit up on his own for brief moments. He's getting better balance, stronger all the way 'round. During "tummy time" he acts like he'd love to go ahead and crawl if only his arms would cooperate.

It feels like we're on an upswing of progress again recently. Fun. Scary! Soon he'll be six months, and after he starts crawling, our apartment is going to have to change. Or probably before he starts crawling.

5 Months: Company

As I mentioned before, Auntie Andrea recently visited all the way from Germany, with Klaus and young Louie. Here she is with Louis and August (photo by Klaus):



And a bunch of really awesome photos by Andrea. First, Louis checking-in on August's nap:



And two where August looks cute and shows appreciation for one of the many toys his new German friends brought for him:

5 Months: The Giraffe

The day after we brought August home, I made an outing to the high end maternity shop in search of a few over-priced staples. While there I overheard one patron say to another, in reference to a particular toy, "see that giraffe? You have to buy one for [insert child's name]. It'll be [his/her] absolute favorite toy. Kids go crazy for this giraffe".

I made a mental note of it and departed. When I chanced to be back there several weeks later I hunted down the giraffe and purchased it, because any toy that captivating must be in my child's collection.

It's actually pretty cool. It's a flexible, rubber giraffe who squeaks when you squeeze him. This is what it looks like:



August does like the giraffe just fine, but it doesn't hold for him the fascination I was expecting given the hype (which I had, of course, confirmed by checking anecdotes online). To him it's another toy. But not one of his top favorites, like his parrot, which has entertained him for months.



More recently, he loves the little orange monkey who clings by its tail and can be grabbed down off its perch.



And lately he's been digging this cool wooden puzzley thing which August's honorary Auntie Andrea brought for him all the way from Germany (thanks Andrea!).



But the giraffe rates a consistent "meh".

Weeks ago we told the story of the giraffe to our upstairs neighbors who have a little one of their own, one month younger than August. The other day, Mary ran into the mother-half of this couple who informed her that they had acquired the rubber giraffe and that it was a huge favorite with their girl.

What's up with our kid!? Is this an early indication that his preferences will be outside the mainstream? Is he somehow lagging behind the others?? Is this why he "doesn't get it"? We don't know what it means. We keep hoping he'll learn to love the giraffe.

Meanwhile, there's one in the house who is completely mesmerized by the giraffe.



The dog has been transfixed by this thing from the first squeak. He'll sit and stare at it, only restraining himself from grabbing it because he knows it's not for him. But that doesn't stop him from menacing it constantly, even if I repeatedly warn him away from it. "Damnit, Watson, leave that effing giraffe alone!"

He just can't resist it. It has to be put away when we leave the apartment or we know we'll return to a shredded (likely eaten!) giraffe.

5 Months: Telemetry

For a few weeks now we've been using this very cool little site, TrixieTracker.com, to keep track of August's activity... feeding, sleeping, etc. Now you too can enjoy the intoxicating thrill of tracking a baby's everyday activity—our baby's—by visiting the guest page we've setup. Or you might prefer to view a whole history of info.

I'm hiding everything but the sleep stats. For the record, he doesn't really sleep for eight and nine hours straight, through the night. In reality Mary's working hard several times a night to coax him back to sleep as only a mother can. She's just not really focused on surfing the web to keep the stats minutely accurate.

Also for the record, I had the idea for this very site (as probably every geek/new-dad has), shortly after August's birth. And I think they've done a great job building this property.

5 Months: Photo