Beware

Sometimes, when a baby acts like they want to hug you... sometimes... they just want to smear boogers on you.

Want 2 Walk...

Daniel seems to be reaching a point where he would prefer to be "walked" (w/assistance) than held (he is not walking yet). Over Thanksgiving break, another 1st: he would stand, holding both of my hands, and then let go with one to reach for an object.

Right now, holding him is like trying to hold a bundle of energy. I'm also seeing the beggings of some mini-tantrums. He has taken to whinging w/a vengeance.

My back is aching from bending over 200 times a day to pick up various discarding Daniel-toys.

He is now pulling himself up the side of the crib, which fills me w/foreboding. And we are completely off the Mommy-milk now, for about the last 2 weeks or so?

Currently, items of intense fascination for the boy include: "Just Orange" juice bottles, the white noise machine, the router, lamps, remote controls, doorknobs, the TV cable line, the mouse on my laptop and (of course) electrical outlets - he threw a screaming fit at the electrical outlet in the main walkway yesterday, just passing by. It's covered with plastic doo-dads, so I don't know what provoked him.

And we had our first case of genuine diaper rash o'er the weekend.

Sick Boy

Daniel is in the midst of his third cold of the season. And it's not even Thanksgiving yet.

A runny nose on the boy is an ill omen. Usually means either Mommy or Daddy will go down the some kind of Superflu in days. It's Mommy's turn, this time, so far...

Taking the Bad with the Good

As Daddy-daycare, I wake up thinking I want to provide the best possible day for Daniel. I want him to be as happy as he can be. But sometimes it seems like it doesn't matter. He seems to need to cycle through his emotions, all of them, no matter how conscientiously I work to make sure he doesn't feel bad or get unhappy. I am reminding myself that he's probably learning his emotions now like he's learning everything else, becoming familiar with what they all are just like he's becoming familiar with the world around him. But it isn't easy, when I work so hard to try and make sure he has a good day, and he still gets angry or crabby.

At Long Last, Peek-a-Boo

Daniel is now playing peek-a-boo with us. He took the towel from me last night and actually hid himself, and then popped out at me, three times. Amazing.

He is also leafing through his board books, now, and looking at the pictures.

He is eating real oatmeal w/me @ breakfast.

This morning, he soldier crawled after me from the bedroom, to the living room, to the kitchen. 3 rooms! A new record.

However, he is having trouble sleeping at nights (so his Mom and I are, too), and he refuses to recognize the "fall back one hour" clock adjustment that just kicked in with the end of Daylight Savings time, so he's getting up now before 7am and konking out around 6:30pm (this is one of the million things they don't tell you in Daddy Boot-Camp). It's awkward.

And he has a fourth tooth coming in, upstairs.

Sick All Winter

I took Daniel to the pediatrician, Dr. Fudge-Erickson, today because he has had a rash on his torso for about a week. She told me it was probably viral, and if he's in classes with other kids, "he'll be sick 'til May."

Pointing

My Mom said, "Daniel has his pointing finger out!" And indeed he does. This week, the pointing has begun in earnest.

He has also become fascinated with all the lights in the house, and does his "magic hands" sign whenever he sees a light on. "Magic hands" is a general, all-purpose sign that he uses when he's too busy or too frustrated to think about what the sign really is. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself.

And Christy reports that the leche de madre may be running low.