Thank you…

You’ve already seen a glimpse of the third day of our camping trip on the last Wordless Wednesday post. Two very substantial things took place on this day, which I’d like to share with you now.

Early in the afternoon, while Tyler was napping, I took Delilah for a walk. She seemed pent up, so I wanted to take her to a secluded area where she could run free and burn up some energy. We had a great time walking running through the woods, and through the marsh (which I found purely by accident). I could have taken Delilah back to camp covered in mud. I actually wanted to, so I could show off the fun we had. The problem was that Delilah crashed into me while running around. This was while I was snapping off some landscape pictures. She knocked my foot off of the fallen tree that I had presently been perched upon. When said foot contacted the earth, it promptly sank eight inches into warm black mud. This, my dear friends, was unacceptable. Next stop, the lake.

I share a trait with Delilah in that neither of us can swim. I promise to write about my reasons later. Delilah just thrashes around. This day, our third day of camping, Delilah “got it” and simply started swimming.

Later, my step-dad (Ganpa) and I had just finished a little fishing and were walking up a hill when he brought my attention to a snake slithering by. Minutes later, Ganpa was (nervously) driving us back to camp while I tightly gripped a thirty-six inch snake in my hands. I looked down to see blood on my hands. Resisting the urge to drop the snake, and likely cause Ganpa to send the truck careening into the lake, I carefully inspected my hands as the snake redoubled its efforts at escaping my grasp. I began to suspect that the snake was poisonous and had injected me with an anesthetic-like venom, because I didn’t feel any pain. Just as I processed that thought, the snake performed a barrel roll in my hands and I spotted a wound on its tail. It appears to have happened recently, but I know I didn’t do it, so I just made a mental note to scrub my hands later.

We arrived at camp seconds later, and I beckoned Tyler to me. Ganpa was able to get some video before his batteries died and caught me being an evil daddy by scaring Tyler with the snake.

In case you don’t have 2 minutes to spare to watch the video – really, you should watch the video – you can forward to the one minute mark to watch me scare Tyler with it.

Tyler helped me release the snake a few moments later.

Tyler then decided to make like his daddy and set off chasing the snake. AND CAUGHT IT!

He held it up by it’s tail and said, “Lonnnng.”

Then, he held it with both hands and STRETCHED it. I was preoccupied with laughing and taking pictures, so my mom (Gamma) had to tell Tyler it wasn’t nice to stretch a snake.

For reasons unknown to all of us, Tyler then put the snake up to his neck like it was choking him.

Afterward, Tyler set the snake free and we all went back to camp. The fearlessness of my son amazes me and warms my heart.

You see that picture up there? Didja look at his hand? Yeah, keep reading.

There are a number of blogs that I “follow,” or, subscribe to. Most mornings, I visit an online application called Google Reader. It works similar to an email program. When I open it up, it lists all the blogs that I subscribe to, along with the number of unread or updated posts since my last visit. Recently, needled in the nest of thirty or so unread posts was a new post by one of my favorite bloggers. In it, Natui (an anagram of her blog name of Not Afraid To Use It) touches on vaccines. It served as a gentle reminder that we will be starting Tyler’s vaccinations when he turns two.

JUST FOUR MONTHS FROM NOW!

How in the heck has it already been almost two years?! We wake up, we go through our daily routines, we go to sleep. And then, one day, something happens that causes time to smack you in the back of your head. Natui’s vaccine post was the catalyst that caused me to stop and really take stock of how much has taken place and how far we’ve come as a family. I know it’s cliche to say, but time really does fly.

Tyler is learning at a pace that truly astounds me. A couple days ago, at dinner, Sarah couldn’t finish her “take the edge off” drink, so she poured what was left into my glass – effectively turning my “take the edge off” drink into a “Joe’s about to get a slight buzz” drink.

After a moment of processing, Tyler pointed at the glass and said, “Dump.”

We confirmed that, yes, mommy just dumped her drink into daddy’s glass, and followed by explaining “empty” and “full” to Tyler. He grasped it with the two glasses, pointing back and forth while saying “eppy,” and “full”, but struggled a bit when we involved our dinner plates.

But you don’t care about that, right? You want to know about a couple fingers, doncha?

A few weeks ago, I was struck with amazement (and guilt, if I’m being completely honest) at Tyler’s ability to learn. We were reading a book, and the particular page being read had some flowers in the background.

“Onnnnnne, doooooo, freeee,” Tyler said as he pointed to each of the three flowers.

Outwardly: “Yes, Tyler, there are three flowers.” Pointing to each one, I confirmed his count. ” One, two, three.

Inwardly: When the *blaap* did he learn this?!

Although I was proud and amazed at this surprising development, I felt quite a bit of guilt over the matter. See, not only did I not know Tyler could count to three, but I also had absolutely nothing to do with teaching him how to do so. It never even crossed my mind! How can I sit here and hold the belief that I’m a great good dad, and yet have no knowledge of my son’s ability to count to three?! I know, I know. Sarah’s home with Tyler all day, teaching him, playing with him, being a great mom. I get that, but this was just one of those moments that smacked me right in the face.

But wait, it gets better. Tyler could actually count to ten. TEN! Sure, he sometimes skips the numbers 7 and 8, but still, ten. By the way, did you get it yet? Missing digits? Digits… fingers? The Case of the Missing Fingers. Har har har. Well, it’s not as funny when I have to explain it to you folks. Yes, the picture above is a fake. I spent about five minutes to get the pose, and about twenty in Photoshop Elements to get the effect.

Take a couple minutes out of your busy day and watch an adorable video of Tyler counting to ten, sans seven and eight, of course.

Oh, and guess what else? I learned, later that day, that Tyler can actually count to thirteen.

Having some fun in Tyler’s Safari Tent:

Tyler sings a couple songs to me:

Tyler tries to say Flippy Floppies! I love this one! He’s on a boat and…

Tyler’s happy face and surprised face (previously posted):

So, if you’re the sort that doesn’t mind watching videos of other people’s kids, feast your eyes on these gems. I’m going to link to the videos that I’ve posted to YouTube and I’m going to embed the couple of them that I have classified as “must see videos”.

First, the ones you must check out:

Tyler is a big fan of watching football. This is the only thing he’s allowed to watch on TV.

Tyler has recently started using “yeah” and “no” to answer questions. The way he says “no” is adorable, so we exploit it here.

The rest of the videos:

2009-07-19 – Tyler helps feed Delilah: We have Tyler grab Delilah’s dish every morning and evening so he can help feed her.

2009-09-15 – Tyler rides his horse: Tyler’s riding on his annoying rocking horse. He falls off it. He demonstrates his smarts…. you know, Tyler stuff.

2009-09-15 – Tyler shows a touchdown (embedded above): It’s football season, and Tyler loves to watch the games. Here, he shows you the touchdown signal and says “Dowwwwww”. Plus, he shows his shoes.

2009-09-15 – Tyler talks and other stuff: Tyler tells you what sounds certain animals make. He plays with his toy dog. He plays with Delilah’s toys. Etc.

2009-09-24 – Tyler wants more: When Tyler wants more food, he’s not afraid to tell you, and you BETTER HURRY and get him the food he wants.

2009-09-24 – Tyler’s Melmo, Ah-ah, and Ouch: Tyler talks about his two favorite toys and shows his ouch.

2009-09-29 – Tyler says No and brushes his teeth (embedded above): Tyler’s brushing his teeth and saying “no” in the cutest way possible. This is also the first time he ever said “Maybe”.

To see all my YouTube videos, head on over here: http://videos.irrationaldad.com

And to finish it all off… here’s a video I shot of Tyler just yesterday:

We got there just a few minutes early. The receptionist had to keep her distance because she was pregnant and the smell of coffee makes her puke. To reward ourselves for getting up and around so early, Sarah and I treated ourselves to some Starbucks (read: insanely overpriced normal coffee with a million calories). With the coffee cups sitting on the counter, the receptionist took off like she owed us money. Very shortly after, we were called into the pre-op area. I wish I had brought my camera, because Tyler looked freakin’ adorable in his hospital gown. Without an ounce of shyness (or respect for other people’s space) Tyler crawled into the room next to ours – where there was another couple with a baby waiting for the same procedure – and started playing with toys that were not his.

We met the anesthesiologist (my WPM dropped to around 2 while trying to type that word), who explained to us that they would be putting a mask on Tyler so that he would breathe in some type of gas mixture. He would quickly fall asleep and would not need any IVs. A very nice nurse came to take Tyler away at 7:30. We went back to the waiting room and tried to pass the time by reading a book (Sarah) and getting caught up on work emails (me). Sarah read two pages and I sent 3 emails when the doctor came out to tell us that they were done and that Tyler was in recovery, in the process of waking up.

”Done? Already?”

”Yes,” the doctor said. He continued to tell us that his left ear looked good and that his right ear had a lot of “goop” in it. They cleaned both ears out before putting the tubes in. He also told us that Tyler took to the anesthesia very well. I can’t say I fully understand what that means or why he told us, but I couldn’t help but to be proud. Tyler, if you ever read this, good job on your gas induced loss of consciousness; we couldn’t be prouder of the fact that the gas did exactly what it was supposed to do to you. In the doctor’s defense, he did clarify a bit by saying that he was just looking around (i.e. not being a hell-spawn child who thrashes around and fights off the gas mask) and then closed his eyes when they put the mask over his mouth.

A few minutes later, we were called back to see Tyler in the recovery room. Sarah didn’t even have to ask which room it was because she could hear his cries. It took me a couple extra seconds to single his cry out from the other – very few – noises in the hall. Sarah cuddled him up and breastfed him. Poor Tyler had little muscle control and couldn’t lift his head up. I’ve read online that babies tend to be fussy and grumpy after coming out of anesthesia, and Tyler was no exception. I suspect that it has less to do with pain and confusion, and more to do with being really upset that his brain couldn’t make his muscles operate correctly. The little guy’s head just kept flopping backwards and Sarah had to use her hands to pick it back up.

By 8:15, we were on our way home. Tyler stopped crying as soon as the car started moving. He cried for just a bit longer when we got home. I had to get into the office to start work (I decided to work from home this day). Sarah fed Tyler breakfast and very shortly thereafter he was in a fantastic mood. He was a little wobbly on his feet for a bit, but quickly got that under control. Here’s a video of him later that afternoon.

Everything I read says that it’ll be "like having a brand new baby" and, while I can’t completely agree with that statement, there certainly is a level of truth to it. Today, Tyler is walking exponentially better than he was just yesterday. He’s walking in circles, room to room, and even trying to make an attempt at running. He has been in a great mood as well. He’s generally a very happy baby, so it’s hard for me to gauge if there’s a difference.

Delilah has a bit of a quirk that Sarah and I have exploited, much to our my amusement. Whenever she is introduced to something she has never seen before, Delilah tends to be wary of it. What I do, at that point, is start chasing her around the house with said object. Here, just watch this video.

It appears that Tyler may have picked up on this little “game” of mine. And he seems to love it as much as I do.

Delilah and Tyler are loving each other more and more every day. He’s finally getting to the age where he can play, and Delilah couldn’t be happier with that.

Note: The first video was shot two months after we brought Delilah home with us. She was found next to a dumpster by a couple college girls and they couldn’t keep her at their apartment. We adopted her. She was severely underweight at the time, and was still quite underweight at the time of the video. She looks much healthier (pure freakin’ muscle) now, as you can see in the second video.

Although my parents aren’t the most tech savvy people I know, they still managed to burn the video to a DVD and sent it to me via manila envelope. Subsequently, Sarah and I have taken videos of Tyler crawling around the house, which I’ve posted to YouTube. One video was actually sent in to America’s Funniest Videos, so I’m not allowed to post it here, or talk about it, yet. The video of Tyler’s first crawls somehow never made its way online… Until now.

**** Errr… Nope, the video isn’t available. There were some technical difficulties with the disc that the video was recorded to. ****

We went to Canada two weekends ago (the weekend previous to Memorial Day weekend) for the wedding of one of Sarah’s cousins. Driving back from Canada, the GPS had us passing through my hometown of Flint, Michigan. My parents still live there, in my mom’s childhood home, so we stopped by to visit and stretch. Tim, my awesome step-dad, got the camera out to take some pictures. Dead batteries. Tim then got the camcorder out to take some video. Dead batteries. But, that was remedied with a power adapter, and a little bit of a guilt trip from the rest of us.

Tyler eventually made his way to the refrigerator and, more specifically, the magnets on it. Leaning against the side of the fridge were two food trays. You know what I’m talking about, right? They fold open and closed like an ironing board, allowing one to eat food while sitting on a couch. They’re quite handy, unless you’re a ten month old baby and they are standing between you and the magnets you so desperately desire. Tyler stood there, hands on the folded trays, when they did the thing that the ladder did in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. In the movie, Clark Griswold is standing on a ladder and hanging Christmas lights from his house. He inadvertently staples his shirt sleeve to the house and, when he yanks himself free, the ladder upon which he is standing pulls away from the house. It sways to the precarious point where you’re not sure if it’s going to fall backward or safely to its original position against the house. This is what was happening with Tyler.

I watched this happen, knowing that I could, potentially, have a very upset baby, and yet I did nothing. Generally speaking, if it won’t result in a hospital visit or expensive property damages, I let Tyler learn the consequences of his actions. I said something to that effect, and I fear I’m coming across on the video as an uncaring parent. The thing is, I viewed that as a controlled environment. I was there, and I knew that the worst that would happen would be a bump on Tyler’s head. I don’t want him to learn that lesson from pulling on a heavy TV or a dresser or bookcase that isn’t tethered to a wall. Those consequences could be disastrous. And, yes, I am spilling all this here in the hopes that you, dear readers, will validate my thought process.

My mom couldn’t stand by and allow the shenanigans to unfold, so she pulled the trays away. This left Tyler balancing on his own, with nothing to hold onto. This is nothing new, as Tyler stands on his own quite often. But, instead of falling to the ground and crawling to the fridge, like he always does, Tyler WALKED to it!!!! His first real steps were caught on video!

Video not playing? Want to view it larger? Watch it on YouTube by clicking here.

I simply find it amazing that a ten month old baby would make the decision to try to take a step, especially when he knows that it would be easier to just crawl. Parental pride aside, watching a baby think and make decisions and try new things is… well… "amazing" is the only word I can think of.

So, Tyler’s first crawls and his first walks were at my parents’ house. And, the latter probably wouldn’t have happened if my mom hadn’t taken the food trays away. It’s interesting how things work out.

Tyler will be 9 months old tomorrow. I really don’t know where the time has gone. It seems like just yesterday that he was born. Don’t worry though, dear readers, I will not be posting a mushy stream of thought about how fast time is moving, and how I don’t want to miss anything, and blah blah blah. I’ll wait until he’s a year old before I do that.

This story began about 3 weeks ago. Sarah called to tell me that she took her eyes off Tyler for just a minute. During that small window of opportunity, Tyler climbed up one of the steps leading to the second floor. I sighed, because I knew it was time to buy another baby gate. We already have one that we use to keep Tyler out of the kitchen and away from Delilah’s water dish. I wanted to get one that had a door that we could swing open so that I wouldn’t have to step over it every time I walked from room to room. I made the classic mistake of not measuring before I bought it. The gate wasn’t nearly wide enough to fit in the stairway without some modifications. As a result, the gate didn’t go up right away.

Later that evening or the following evening, Sarah ran to the store while i played with Tyler. Tyler’s been somewhat needy for his mommy lately, so I had to take Tyler from room to room to show him that his mother wasn’t home. Crying, he crawled to the stairs and put his hands on the first step. I’m not sure what a good parent would have done in that situation. On one hand, it’s probably not a good idea for a baby to play by the stairs. On the other hand, anything he does right now is helping him learn, so who am I to take that away from Tyler? Plus, I was right there, so what could go wrong? Tyler climbed two stairs. The “on one hand” side of my brain barked at me to get him off the stairs before he kills himself. My God, Joe, he’s so high up right now!! If he were to fall from that height, the results would be disastrous! I grabbed Tyler from the stairs and begged him to never scare me like that again.

Later, I decided that the “on one hand” part of my brain was being a vagina and that the “on the other hand” part of my brain had it right by letting him learn stairs. At least under our supervision. While Sarah was upstairs, I grabbed the camcorder and called Tyler to the foot of the stairs with me.

”Go get your mommy.”

Sarah was less than pleased when she appeared at the top of the staircase, but “on the other hand” is a persuasive little turd. She compromised by coming halfway down the stairs. Tyler was being needy for his mommy and crying for her. And…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqDxg6DYprQ

Even later that evening, Tyler climbed the entire staircase, with no assistance at all.

A couple days ago, while Sarah was shopping, I decided that I needed a better shot of Tyler’s mountain climbing skills. So, I set the tripod at the top of the stairs and used Delilah as the bait up there. Why do I have so many bad ideas when there is no estrogen in the house?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoqLPnO1Kzo

I dunno, I guess I just presumed that Tyler would tackle walking – or even just standing unassisted – before attempting the staircase.