One time, outside running

That's what he told me when I told Henry that I had to get ready to go to work.
He said holding up his index finger signifying "1". Of course I spent the next fifteen minutes outside running around. How can I refuse such a masterfull negotiator.

Last night he got out of his toddler bed at about 2am and started roaming the house. Jean got up asking him what he was doing.
He got up to literally get a drink of water. Jean helped him get one and he went back to sleep. That had never happened before so no I have a big gate up in the hallway of our little rental house. He has access to our room but that's it. I like the idea of him being able to access us but I'm not really keen on him roaming alone at night. He leans a bit on the mischevious side so at some point I'm sure there would have been a crash bang shatter if we hadn't caught it early.

Feb 6, 2008

Henry has a fever. Last night he freaked out at about 12am. I was able to rock him back asleep in his rocking chair. About 2 hours later he totally freaked out. I pulled him into our bed but he just could not get comfortable. Then he threw up. That sucked. We cleaned him up and tried to calm him down. He screamed at one point and we asked him if wanted apple juice. He said yes. Jean said "you need to ask for what you want" meaning, say apple juice, don't scream. Henry's reply was a heart breaking "please" Have all the apple juice you want.

I walked around with him trying to keep him upright because I believed that laying horizontal hurt his tummy. We ended up snuggling up on the couch and falling asleep together. I woke up about an hour later and Henry was totally snuggled in with me. I put him in his crib and he fell right asleep.

In the morning I woke up and heard him counting. "One, two. One, two" Then he heard me and it was all about me picking him up. I put him in our bed with Jean. He looks at me points to himself and says "cake, me!" Message received loud and clear, you had a tough night last night and you feel you deserve some cake for breakfast. Little man, you did, and you do.

And he had cake for breakfast.

Which he didn't eat because he still didn't feel very good, but that's not really the point now is it.

January 30, 2008

Little Kal is just so much fun at this age. I know every parent says the same thing but I swear he's genius. I came home from work and he's pointing at his feet. His feet are "down low" then he ran and gave me a hug.

Kal pointed at me and said "gum". Yes I was chewing gum.

He says "name" and likes to wear his sticker name tag from gymberee. He likes to pick up his stuffed snake and pet him. Kal and snakey sat in his dumptruck chair and we read an Oswald story.

He's getting really good at dribbling his scooby doo ball.

This morning he told his mommy "up! Eat!" pretty much signifying that it was time for breakfast and that mommy needed to get out of bed.

January 27, 2008

I've been working on updating the layout of the Kal-el's website. Having a bit of a hard time figuring out how to integrate the whole youtube thing, but it's coming. This weekend has been totally packed with the little man. We ran, we dug in the dirt, played with trucks. Did alot of chasing each other with puppets and stuffed snakes. Kal did slam his forhead against the handle of the oven last night. I saw the whole thing and it was pretty harsh. I would have cried too. We have pretty much turned the garage into a little club house. The little one loves to throw his body onto a giant pile of pillows and blankets. It's pretty funny. It's sunday night and I am exhausted. I have never know exhuastion until the day I became a father.

I started singing "the wheels on the bus". Kal loved it. He started dancing and wanted me to sing it over and over again.

KAL is now counting 1-2 all the time. Also saying zebra, out, up, in, gidily, pooh, apple (appy), water (waty), yes(yeth) abcd, binky, eat, daddy, mommy, sing.

January 17 2008

The Son of El made another leap in greatness. He woke up early this morning (he's pretty much over being sick) and told his mother, Lara, "eat". So it suddenly breakfast time. I was getting ready for work and put my lunch in my lunch box. Kal held my hand and carried my lunch to the front door and gave me a big hug. The coolest part was that he handed me my lunch box, I didn't even have to ask, it had a feeling like he was saying 'hey, don't forget this.' Probably one of the coolest moments of my life. Then he waved me off and played with his trains.

When I got home from work I chased him around the house for about a half an hour. For some reason it was imperative and I wear a stuffed snake around my neck and keep a puppett on my hand. Kal demanded it. When we put him to bed, he basically fell asleep the moment his body laid flat.

The Last son of Krypton has added "feet", "eat", "arm" to his vocabulary, and Lara told me he has said "three" and "meat"

January 13 2008

It's been a tough day. Kal has a viscious cough and won't eat a lot. He's getting plenty of fluids and at least we have that going for us. He goes in waves of energy. There are moments where he is on fire and you can't keep up, then his reserves end and he crashes. All the while he is very fussy, but you can tell he wants to be happy.

I found myself becoming frustrated in the afternoon. Sometimes it's a little overwhelming. I'm usually pretty good at riding the chaos wave but there definatly moments where I want to close myself into a sensory deprivation tank and just be. Those moments make me feel guilty which frustrates all the more. Of course all emotions are hightened becuase H has a fever. Never fun for first time parents. At least not fun for us.

Had a great dinner though. Mommy picked one out of a Jamie Oliver cook book and we invited a friend neighbor to join us. She was more critical of her cooking than I. I thought it was great.

The son of El added "two" and a rough version of "gaterade" to his vocabulary. He also learned to say "meow" when asked what sound cats make. That was really cool.

January 12, 2008 -23 months old

I learned what people mean when they would say being a parent changes you. Last night Kal was having a hard time sleeping. My wife pulled him into our bed. The greatest ego boost in the world was that he curled up with me.

After a certain point Kal-el started to squirm. In hind sight I should have known the signs. He could not get comfortable no matter how he tried. Then the tell tail overtly deeply sounding belch followed by the sound of pouring liquid. Needless to say Kal had thrown up and I was really, really awake.

I pull him out of bed, he is a little upset but I consciously remain calm. I think it helped. He cries a little in my arms and them out of no where throws up all over me. One of the most surreal moments of my life. There we definatly that person inside who wanted to panic and run, but I didn't, I wiped his mouth and told him everything was ok. We went and washed up, got new shirts and snuggled until he fell asleep. All the while whispering words to each other like "okey-dokey","cat" and "yeah"

Overall a night filled with amazing highs of intimsey and rock bottom lows of knowing your child is hurting and all you can do is hold him.

Which, I believe, can help.

The son of El said - cat, in, up , out , bus, roof roof, hot, cold, yeah, no, pie, and truck today.

January 12, 2008

I got home late from work tonight. Kal was already in bed but not asleep. I went into the room and I took him in my arms. We sat in the rocking chair of our small rented house and talked. I did most of the talking but he would agree with me by giving me a "yeah" or "no" when I asked him questions. He did say "money", it seems we are starting a new tradition where I give him all the change in my pocket. He plays with it for a while. He likes to organize it and loves the way it sounds clinking together. Then we put the money in his piggy bank. Kal-el gives the sign for more but I tell him that that's all the money for tonight and there will be more money tomorrow. He seems to be cool with that. He will get bold enough just to reach into my pockets of what I am wearing to try to find change.

January 11 2008

Tonight I came home from work and my near 2 year old son, Kal, was on fire, figuratively. We ran around the house and smashed toy cars into each other. We jumped on the bed and wrestled. He is definately getting to the stage of wanting to rough house. We pressed our foreheads together and growled, then attacked, we rolled and grabbed and pushed. We tangled and tighed. The highlight for me was first Kal pinning to the bed by laying on my face and the other was him pointing his finger at me and saying "I said no!" It sounded more like iseasstNO! but I got it and it made me laugh. We laugh all the time. Kal-el's natural state is that of happiness, which a pretty good place to be.

Introduction

This is the first blog. The format is going to be a little different than most. It's not really about sharing as it is recording. This is a living history of what it is to be a Dad with a son. So this is the no frills area. No pictures. No trying to entertain. Just Life.