Banana

So this is the word this kid learns before 'Papa'. Were not sure if this means all food to her, but she definately loves bananas. If you put the thing in front of her, she will devour a bite the size of her head. It will then mush about for 5 minutes until she can choke it down. It's funny in a way but alarming in another. She is papa's chowhound. Still, she can say 'mama', so where the heck is 'papa'?

So I had a true parenting moment yesterday. While feeding her melon, a fruit fly landed on her hand. I swiped it away with a light slap and immediately realized my mistake. The look on her face soured like I shoved a lemon in her mouth. The tears fell faster than I could count, and she began to shake. I tried to talk to her and cuddle her, but she wanted nothing to do with me. She wouldn't even look at me for 10 minutes.

Crap.

I wanted to just tell her 'I was trying to do you a favor' but how do you communicate that to a baby????

Crap. Crap. Crap.

It took a while but things did return to normal and I might have held her longer than normal. She does this thing where if I act surprised, she runs into me and falls on my chest. I put my arms around her and shake her. I made sure to do this a few extra times tonight.

How the heck am I going to actually discipline her with this kind of reaction? Maybe this was my first trial by fire and I will get stronger. I just hope I send the right message next time.

Tonight was the first walk with P in the dark for some time. I think it was the first time she noticed (really noticed) the moon. Considering she goes to bed at 7 every night, she doesn't see it much right now. That will change quickly.

Summer is leaving us and as always, I will miss the long days.

Bring on Hawaii.

One Year Old

One year. I remember like it was last month splitting my time between work, home and the hospital. I am sure every parent can understand this, but it just doesn't feel like it has been a year. But it was a year, and an amazing, wonderful, educational, emotional, scary, happy, best year of my life.

There were just so many firsts. The first time she looked where I pointed. The first time she ate food. The first time she held her own bottle. The first sign she did (which I believe was 'Thank You'). The day she learned to wave was really something. I came to pick her up at day care and she saw me and waved. I thought to myself, she didn't do that this morning. There were a lot of those moments. I waited for Aub to come home as I couldn't wait to show her. Porter waved proudly as Mama walked in. From then on she was known as 'Princess' at Kindercare as she waved to everyone. She still likes to wave although today I noticed she has changed her pagent wave to an up/down motion. Again, another change. All that is constant is change with this little nugget.

Every day we tell ourselves how lucky we are that we have such a good kid. She sleeps through the night, doesn't fuss (much, about as much as I do) and is just generally happy. I gave some advice to a friend of mine who is about to give birth today and I told her "Just laugh with your baby. Laugh and laugh and let him know how important this is". I think that is just so true. I think it is a big part of who this kid is turning out to be. She does love to laugh and I will still make a complete ass out of myself to make her do it. It is that important. (Side note, I pretty much make an ass out of myself daily anyway so this is really not a stretch, but I would like to convince you all of my continuing efforts)

How has life changed over this year? Well, we don't go out as much. Shocker. But we love being parents so I don't think the change has ever come to mind. When we are not around her, we miss her. It is harder now to just have a night to ourselves because we end up discussing the kid. I never understood this until I had a kid. I used to think parents were nuts, now I am convinced. You have to be a little nuts to do this. And that is just fine with me.

The party. It was great. It was all of baby chaos that I expected. Thank you to everyone who attended as it was the biggest party we have hosted at our house. We are still putting away all of the gifts. Or maybe we are just a little lazy.

Happy 4th to everyone! Have a great weekend! Papa Morck out! I had to include this last photo. How cute is this little chub?

First Birthday This Weekend!

Wow, it has really been one year. Our kid is walking (sort of), talking (sort of), signing (sort of) and just generally being the best kid ever. I can't write too much as I am working at the moment but I did want to get this thread started. I promise to do a full report after this weekend. I am really looking forward to this and I can't believe everyone who is coming over for P's first party. This will be the biggest party we have hosted in the house. No surprise, everyone like her better than us. :-)

More to come but hopefully you are all coming!

Almost Nine Months In...

I honestly can't believe it.

Nine months. The one thing I have heard over and over again is how fast it goes. I feel if I blink too long she will be in college. That's how fast this is going. We are already planning her first birthday party. Wow.

However, if time flys when you are having fun, how much fun must I be having? I think part of what makes it easy is we really do have a good kid. I mean this in not the usual 'It's my kid so everything she does is so freakin' perfect' sort of way. I mean it as she is sleeping through the night, happy and playful sort of way. Sleeping through the night is important as that makes papa happy and when papa is happy, we are all happy.... Just kidding.

I know that what routine we have this week may change by next. I know it and expect it. I know she may start to get an attitude. I know that I don't really know much. That much I do know. But really, who cares? I mean, I come home every day to see these bright blue eyes and my day is complete. Our caregiver at the daycare always tells us that Porter is a 'happy' baby. That to me is the best compliment anyone can give me as that is my number one goal in life. It may not be when she explains why every other kid has a cell phone and mommy works at the cell phone company and I am unfair and she hates me and .... I digress. Stay in the moment, Dave.

Ok, so what is new with Porter? Well, for starters, she is a stones throw away from walking. She has always liked standing, but she now is strong enough to hold herself up. Right up to the point where she falls over. She was never one for tummy time, which means crawling is just so last month. She has started to kick her legs out and can almost walk as long as you help the balance. Oh, did I mention that NOTHING in the house is child proofed yet. Yep.


She talks a lot but is still struggling with rudimentary calculus. I know, I should do better as a teacher but I am doing my best. I think she said her first word the other day. I believe it was 'Aaaarrrrggguuuhhhhppphhhttttt'. She says it a lot actually. We don't know if it means 'Kitty' in her language or 'I am working on a really big poop.' Putting it in context, it could mean both actually.


On the serious side we have been trying to teach her sign language. She does see it, responds to it but doesn't do it on her own. I think this is about natural but as I said before, who knows? She is technically coming up on eight months but just looking at the weight and size of a normal baby, um... I think our kid is on the large size.


P is just about to finish her first round of swim classes. This has been an absolute blast. No surprise as both parents love the water that we gave birth to a fish. The craziest part was when we dunked her she started kicking with her legs. It was like a natural response. She opens her eyes under water and just loves being in the pool. We did find she was not a fan of the life jacket. This could be a problem as what is a summer weekend without a boat. Especially someone else's boat who paid for it all winter while not using it... I digress.


The fact is she is doing great. We are doing great. I am having the time of my life right now. I am blessed to have such a wonderful family and that we are healthy (and still employed). I will hopefully soon (right, the kid was 7 pounds lighter on the last post) put up some video soon. I have to tell you we have been so busy. I mean I know every parent is but I come home, we play with the kid, I work out (yes almost every day) and then it's off to bed. Today was a day off from working out so you are all blessed with my wit and lack of wisdom.



Since I forgot to mention earlier, Porter is 21+ pounds now. Papa is getting a sweet bicep pickup up this little kettle ball.