October 2007 Archives

I took the last week off from Isilon to spend it with my family. My brother-in-law and sister were in town for the week with their three boys, Andrey, Matthew, and Nathan. Katrina came in for two days, mom & dad were here for the week, and Zack took a few days off work. It was a great week of reunion and fun.

The highlight was having lots of time to spend with Jerry. Jerry has bonded strongly with me and I found myself being pulled in one direction or another - he is really beginning to assert himself and exercise his power over me. As expected, this leads to a natural clash of wills. I've had some great examples of that:

The comb: I didn't want Jerry to put a comb in his mouth. He indicated he wanted to play with the comb, so I handed it to him - it immediately went in the mouth. I took it out, told him not to put it in his mouth, and gave it back. Boom! In the mouth. This repeated 2 or 3 times until I finally put the comb in my back pocket. Jerry was upset but after I had him calmed down I brought out the comb again. He indicated that it wasn't supposed to go in his mouth and held it tightly the rest of the evening - without it going in his mouth.

The mixer: We went to Fred Meyer on Sunday and Jerry got 3 new matchbox cars! One of them happened to be a cement mixer. I didn't realize that the mixer apparatus easily comes off and is just right for a young boy's mouth. Jerry demonstrated this to me very quickly. Of course, I didn't want the mixer in Jerry's mouth. This scenario has continued to play itself out over several days - Jerry typically shows me when the mixer is in his mouth; I promptly go to remove the mixer but he often does it for me.

He has had a cold the last few days and woke up with a fever on Tuesday morning. Tuesday night I spent holding him and laying with him, so I was _very_ tired - which means I couldn't play with him much at all last night (which makes me feel sad, just thinking about it.)

This darn thing called "work" keeps me from spending time with my son!

The quartet continues in the zany tradition!

On a whim, I upgraded to MT 4.x. It is quite a bit more spiffy but it also seems a little slower... more to come, after work. ;)

Admittedly, I haven't done one in a while, but in retrospect these tips are very helpful.

This is a great post: http://willprice.blogspot.com/2007/10/burn-boats.html

I spent four hours on Thursday with Jerry at his new pre-school, Nadeshiko Kids, which is run out of the home of our former mid-wife. Jerry consistently put toys in his mouth - which resulted in the toys being gently removed and washed. Sachiko recommend that we consider giving Jerry a pacifier so that he can fulfill his need to chew and learn that the toys themselves are not appropriate for chewing on.

We've never pushed a pacifier with Jerry before so coming home from work and seeing him run around with one was quite a shock. It is interesting that he is quickly learning that the pacifier is a substitute for chewing on the toys - it isn't something he needs in general. I do worry whether it will be habit-forming - but since he loves to talk and can't talk well with it in his mouth, I think the chances are low.

As I continue to adjust to life as a married man, as a father, and as an employee with signficant responsibility (all of which have happened in the last two years) I find myself slowly making peace with the new definition of "my time."

In light of my recent realization, I've set some new, reasonable goals for myself:

- maximize play-time with Jerry
- one new Kanji per week
- one hour of dedicated exercise per month
- one book per month

Progress, of the best kind, is comparatively slow. Great results cannot be achieved at once; and we must be satisfied to advance in life as we walk, step by step.

- Samuel Smiles