Walking, Sitting, and Playing

It's been a busy couple weeks for me, but for very good reasons. The boy is walking! My wife and I have been spending a lot of time with him and slowly but surely he's been taking to the bi-ped lifestyle. He's got it down pretty well, only getting sidetracked when he encounters new challenges or obsticles. Yesterday we took him to see my wife's parents and he tripped on a very high rug. He gets upset and his lip gets a bit redder than normal when he falls, but he springs back anew very fast.

I've also been spending more time learning about Buddhism which I have mentioned before. I'm specifically interested in Zen which seems very "me" if that makes much sense. It's a hard concept to describe in a short form like a blog, plus the fact that I'm not sure I even "understand" it myself. The aspect I'm exploring now is awareness and exploring the different precepts that are central to Zen Buddhism. A friend sent me a book that I had actually seen on our last trip to the Cape called, Waking Up to What You Do: A Zen Practice for Meeting Every Situation With Intelligence and Compassion. It is quite literally changing the way I look at things and other people, especially in situations where I have felt scared or inadequate. Needless to say, I heartily endorse it! I've also cleared some space to do my Zen practice, but finding time in the schedule is more difficult. I have failed in my quest to find the time before, but I'm beginning to realize that what happened in the past doesn't really matter here.

And for you fantasy football fans who have been salivating for an update, I'm 2-1 with players still left in tonight's Monday Night Football game. It's not a bad record at all and I'm just pleased I'm not getting killed! I think I have a good chance to prevail for this week which would run my record to 3-1. Sorry to leave my rabid fans hanging like that, but let's just say if Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook have a good game I'm probably good to go. :)

Be Like Mike

Did I forget to mention in my blog how exhausting being a stay at home dad can be? Man that kid gave me a workout today! He slept late so the late morning nap was out and I had like 6 straight hours of "Yeah! Dada! Scream! Waaaa!" That wasn't in the job description when I signed up! Wait, what's that? It was? Oh, yeah, I forgot. My bad.

In reality our son is a very good boy; he's just at that stage where he wants everything and at the same time realizes he can't get to all of it by himself. So, that's where my wife and I come in to the picture. He still hasn't walked on his own, but it's not like he's afraid or anything. I think he just finds crawling more convenient. But today he noticed while I was walking him around that he could hold his hammer (don't worry...not a real one) AND walk at the SAME TIME! I think he may have that walking thing down soon. He did the same thing with the transition from rolling to crawling. He got around perfectly well, so why change? Then, one day he just did it. Just like Mike. :)

Are You Ready For Some (Fantasy) Football?

One of the realities of being a stay at home dad is some loneliness and isolation. Sure, you want to be more social and have conversations that begin with something other than, "Hey, don't touch that!" or "Oh man you smell bad!". However, opportunities to mingle with others can be far and inbetween. So, what can you do? Join an all dads fantasy football league!

Now, anyone that knows me well is aware of my paradoxical nature in that I'm definitely a geek, but I also enjoy following baseball and football. Yes, I dress my son up in baseball jerseys and logo merchandise appears here and there around the house. We even have a football shirt that happens to have my son's name on it, but that's just a coincidence and I swear it wasn't a special order! ;)

Anyway, the season is only a week old but I'm already immersed in the world of adding and dropping players, following the waiver wire, and figuring out who to start as my wideouts. If you didn't follow that it's okay since it means you are probably a normal and well adjusted person. :) Is it basically a forum for taunting your opponent and saying, "You're going to loo-oose!" Yup. Is it a way for people who use computers to appear hip and cool? Absolutely. But it has been fun and I actually won my first game! Ha!

In the end it is a nice way to spend a few minutes each day and hopefully there will be some good interaction. The football talk is great, but I really hope it leads to discussions with other dads, most of whom stay at home, about balancing life's priorities and the things we all struggle with every day. That and figuratively spiking the ball in your opponent's face and yelling, "Na na na na na!" I know it's infantile, but I have some recent experience with that kind of behavior from an actual infant. :)

Smelling the Roses

The last few weeks have been very busy and I just don't take the time I should to smell the roses. As I have learned more about Buddhism, the more I have come to appreciate the oft described "little things" in life. However, they are certainly among the most important and precious experiences of life. For as long as I can remember I have lived life hard and fast, but not only have I found it harder to do so of late, it is also becoming far less appealing than it once was.

There is simply nothing in this world that makes me as happy as my son's smile. Think about that for a second. By either causing him to be happy myself or to witness someone else do it, the awareness of such a young being is so remarkable. Ten years ago I would never have imagined such a state of contentment being possible, but it is. That isn't to say it only comes from having children since others may experience the same feeling in other ways. It's really the simple things people. No matter how cliched that phrase has become, it couldn't be more true.

As for updates, the boy is growing like a weed! If we measured him correctly, he's in the 95th percentile for weight, although he's only 19th percentile in weight. Can you say beanstalk Batman? :) I swear it was just last week that he was reaching up onto an end table to feel for things he couldn't see. Then yesterday my wife and I were remarking that the top of the end table only comes up to his chin now, making it all too easy for him to see what's there.

All this bliss I'm describing comes in the middle of resuming my schooling, my ever continuing struggle to integrate the Four Noble Truths into my life, selling stuff on eBay, doing laundry (or leaving it on the floor way too long!), not even including eating and sleeping mind you. In the past all this would have resulted in a less than calm mental state, but I've been on a pretty even keel of late. Let's just hope it lasts!

Catch 22?

I sat down to write a post thinking I was updating pretty soon after my last one. However, after noticing the date it's actually been another 2 weeks! The amount of time that passes when you have a little one is quite something, although it is time well spent. Regardless, as someone suggested in a comment, I'm going to stop apologizing and just write entries!

The boy is nearly ready to walk on his own! He's been pushing a "cart" of sorts around the living room and doing laps around the dining room table. (I should note that in our apartment the term "room" is used very loosely) He's also reaching for things and "falling" towards them to catch himself, so we know the first steps are right around the corner. From the day he was born he's done things at his own pace which I see no reason to rush or change. I think he's going to be an independant minded person like his mommy.

Tonight I'm feeling really tired for some reason and hope I'm not coming down with anything. I am a REALLY bad sick person...Lots of moaning and complaining. However, I'm more mentally tired than anything, which I didn't expect to happen spending all day with a 13 month old. I do try to challenge him in some small way every day. For example, when we transitioned from bottle to sippy cup we still fed him the same way to make the change less sudden. Slowly he's been getting the idea that he can hold the cup and that if he tilts his head back he can get more out. Well, today I just put him in the highchair and gave him his cup. He stared at it and then me a few times, but after a minute or so he got the idea.

I often wondered if I'd dwell on things he doesn't do anymore as he gets older like feeding him. I find that I do to some extent, but it really is outweighed by excitement at what he's going to learn next. Perhaps that's the teacher in me. Speaking of, I want to try and teach him Spanish over the next few years and figured before he was born that the best way to do that was to learn it myself. So, I probably should start doing that! :) I'm not going to be showing him flashcards like Rick Moranis' character in Parenthood, but a few words as he learns to speak should be fun and I have a feeling that by the time he grows up Spanish will be a lot more prevalent than it is today...and it's already come a long way.

Have I mentioned that Brady talks to himself before he goes to bed? No, it's a good thing! Really! He's able to soothe himself to sleep which is a GREAT thing. Either that or he's gone completely "bat shit" insane (I love that phrase), but I think you'd to have achieve sentience before you can go crazy, right? Wow, another Catch-22! Or would that be Catch 4? Catch 44? Catch Zero? Hmm... ;)