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Happy first birthday to my son Nathan!
What an amazing year this has been, with the latest fantastic advances being crawling, pulling to stand, and cruising. By his second birthday, he'll be driving my Matrix.
As Emily mentioned, at his one year check up, he weighed 26 lbs 4 oz (90%) and was 31 and 3/4 inches long (95%). That's my boy!
Happy Birthday, Emily!
Today was Nathan's first day of day care! From what the teachers told us (and the cute daily "report card" of feedings, naps, and diaper changes) he did well, and he was very happy this evening. As someone raised by a stay-at-home parent (thanks, Mom!), the whole "sending Nathan to daycare" thing is kind of foreign to me. But as long as Nathan's happy, it seems like it'll be fine.
The reason he's going to day care is that I'm going back to work tomorrow. After over three months off, the idea of going to work is about as strange as Nathan in day care. It'll probably take a while to get in the groove, but it'll happen eventually. I'm glad my first week is a three day week, though (between Labor Day and my Regular Day Off falling the same week). That'll help ease the transition.
I started last week getting up early and slowly making it earlier, till today I got up at 5:45 AM. Tomorrow, I'm getting up at 5:10 AM to get to work at 7:00 AM. I'm going to be getting to and leaving from work earlier now, in order to spend more time with Nathan in the evenings and pick him up from day care some days.
While Nathan was at day care today, Emily and I saw "Stardust." A very enjoyable fantasy movie, in the same lighter and funnier than standard vein as "Princess Bride." Now I want to watch "Princess Bride" again. Lunch and a movie was a very fun date today, and just the ticket to help ease worried parents' minds.
Nathan is seven months old today! Also, it doesn't appear that he was really signing. Oh well, he will eventually.
I go back to work two weeks from today. Crazy!
In non-baby news, Wizards of the Coast recently announced Dungeons and Dragons - 4th Edition will be released in May 2008. I'm interested in what they'll come up with, but I don't see myself buying anything more than the three core books - Players Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual - since I barely used any of my 3.5e add-on books. Maybe I'll try playing an online play-by-post game when 4e comes out, but I doubt I'll see a live game until I DM for Nathan and his little buddies. The group I had a few years ago is all too busy, and not really hardcore for D&D.
Nathan signed for the first time today!
Probably. It's hard to be positive because his hands don't exactly move as crisply as the video. But it's a start.
He had eaten a few ounces of milk and didn't seem interested in any more. So I sat holding him. A few minutes later he made squeeze-y sorts of motions with his hand. At first I couldn't tell what he was doing but then I thought he might be making the sign for milk, which looks like your squeezing an udder.
So I went and got a bottle and showed it to him. He grabbed it, moved it towards his mouth, and stuck his tongue out. We sat down and he had a few more ounces to eat.
Amazing! We'll see if it's a breakthrough or if I was imagining it. I think he made the sign again for the following feeding, although it wasn't as clear as the first time.
What a day! Nathan signing his first word! Probably.
Nathan is exactly six months old now. Unbelievable! It seems like a lifetime ago. Of course, it was... his lifetime!
As Emily mentioned, Nathan had his doctor's visit on Friday, and he's 20 lbs 12 oz (95th percentile) and 27 inches (75th percentile). I'm I'm reading the charts correctly, Nathan weighs as much as the average ten month old, and is as long as the average seven month old.
So, Nathan apparently knows how to sit up now. That's pretty darn cool.
Nathan also is eating solid food now. Applesauce and bananas, with rice cereal, at this point.
Life at home with Nathan is pretty nice (as long as he's not teething). I keep learning better ways to take care of him, and he keeps changing so those ways don't work the next week. It's great to have the time to bond with him, though. I definitely feel like I know my son a lot better than I did before I took off work. Hurray for modern egalitarian family leave policies!
In other news, I saw the Transformers movie the night it came out, at the ArcLight, which had some of cars used to play Autobots in the movie. I really enjoyed it, and look forward to owning it on DVD when it comes out.
See? I posted!
So Emily went back to work Monday, and I'm now on family leave, home with Nathan until September.
It's hard.
Nothing makes you appreciate stay at home parents like being one, and I've only done three days. I'm getting the hang of things, though, and Nathan and I are forming our own routine. It's very cool to be spending this time with him.
On an unrelated note, Mike recommended xkcd, a webcomic, and I've been reading the archives. One of the funnier wobsites on the innertubes.
Go Ducks! Way to bring a championship to Southern California.
I watched the last period of the game tonight, and remembered how I'd started to enjoy hockey before the strike. Emily quickly told me to get over it, given how sports-obsessed I get just during baseball season.
Emily and I saw Nathan roll over right in front of our eyes today - no cats involved! It was really amazing, and he handled it much better this time, as Emily had placed a blanket on the floor next to his tummy time mat.
As Emily reported yesterday, Nathan rolled over for the first time!
Or, at least, it can be assumed. Emily and her mom weren't in the room when it allegedly occurred, they only discovered him on his back during a tummy time session. It could well have been the cats tipping him over, as far as anyone knows.
Nathan turns four months old today!
As Emily mentioned, Nathan had his latest "well baby" visit yesterday. He weighed in at 17 lbs 2 oz (90th percentile) and 25 1/2 inches (75th percentile). He's growing so fast, it's amazing.
We're now down to three weeks until Emily goes back to work and I stay home with Nathan until September. I'm really looking forward to that. It'll be great to have so much daddy-baby time.