A Week with Anders

Anders continued a peekaboo game that Anna started with Anders.

He now takes his bottle on his own and finishes his bottle on his own a good bit of the time.

Yesterday we were sitting outside the Catalyst Cafe on West Union Street and Anders started waving at cars! Not all cars, just ones he liked. It seemed like silver cars were a favorite.

Anders has also developed a low voice. He can go lower than Anna can. I think he sounds sort of like Emperor Palpatine. "Something, something, Dark Side....something, something, something, complete," he'll learn the key to great Star Wars dialog in no time! So, Anders sounds like a Wookie in the car and the Emperor in his high chair.

He continues to randomly wake up in the night, but he didn't do so on Thursday night, which was a big help since Friday is our most hectic day.

Anders continues to enjoy story time and Kindermusic. He's one of the most independent kids of his age at both venues.

It may not show up in the pictures, but he is really tall. I was carrying him around the farmer's market yesterday and I had trouble seeing around him as I walked. Anders' reach is also disconcertingly long.

On an unrelated note, I get stopped at least once a month by women, usually in their 50s or 60s, to commend me for spending time with my son. I think that says more about the sad state of fatherhood in this region or this country that pushing my son in a stroller or a shopping cart leads to these random acts of commendation. I used to like these encounters, but as I realized that doing the bare minimum seemed so remarkable to so many women, I became depressed. I am reminded of the "Arrested Development" scene where G.O.B. (a magician) smuggles Earl Milford out of his nursing home in G.O,B.'s magician box and Earl tells G.O.B.: "You'll have a new name, Hero."

It's 10:45 pm and Anders is stirring. 11:30 is one of his new wake up times.

I set Anders in the driver's seat of the Corolla about a week ago. His feet can almost reach the pedals.

I've devolved into Larry King territory.

I was talking to Dan Seeley, a new dad as of this month. He chastised me that I had not warned him about the back pain. Okay, so to any future fathers out there, you sleep totals will range from tortuously low to insufficient and your back will hurt. Meanwhile, after sitting for a long time, I now walk like Bill Walton. I am not trying to milk it either, it's just how I walk after sitting for a while. I haven't figured out how this is Anders' fault yet, but give me some time.

The Vikings finally won today. I was heckled twice this afternoon for wearing the Favre t-shirt jersey.

The temperatures dropped 30 degree this weekend. We had record highs in the low 90s on Friday, but we were in the low 60s today.

I need to put the recycling and garbage out. I don't like trash day on Monday. It feels like Trash Day should be Wednesday or Thursday. It really sneaks up on you when it's Monday.

I've rambled enough. Happy Fall. Until next time.

September Pictures

A Fortnight in Athens

Here goes, I'll remember what I can and probably jump around a bit. Anders has become more destructive of late. He pulled an end table down on himself, which broke his piggy bank and small CD player. Today at Perk's, he tried to bit Anna's finger off as she tried to regulate the amount of baby mummum in his mouth. As a fellow Peterson man, I would never attempt this. Anna is correct that Anders takes some pretty big bites, but Anders figures out how to get the food down. He does the same thing with bananas. As long as we don't invite Styvos into our home to tell Anders crazy stories, he should be able to keep it down (that inside joke is for Lucas, Brad, and anyone else who might both read this blog and ate lunch with us in high school).

I also caught Anders climbing up our clothes hamper last week.

Anders has been having a ball in the new season of Kindermusic. On the first day, he went around and introduced himself to all the babies and parents. He likes to explore the space at the Dairy Barn Arts Center. He is the most willing baby to be held by the leader of Kindermusic, Krista. He likes to follow around his little buddy, Asher, who can walk. When we leave, I like to eavesdrop on the other parents. They have some horror stories about babies not sleeping or needing night time feedings.

To that point, I ran into Cita at the library after story time this week. She was amazed by how calm and self contained Anders was. She said the calmness was rare in firstborn children. Cita thought Anders remembered her, which he probably did since Cita is the Baby Whisperer. The previous week at story time, Anders crawled up to the story reader, Amy, and grabbed a side of the book. A little girl of about 4 years scolded him for doing so and took his fingers off the book. Amy told her it was okay if Anders touched the book, which he promptly did again. Then the little girl tried to pull his fingers from the book, but was unsuccessful as Anders gave her a gentle but firm forearm shiver.

My theory that Anders could be mayor was bolstered by a trip to the OU library last week. I probably take Anders there twice a week on errands to pick up a book or return books that are due. We are not there for more than five minutes at a time. Anyway, one of the student workers recognized him from the Catalyst Cafe, where Anna and I take him on Saturday. Then, a real librarian (I don't know her name, but her face is familiar, but she isn't one of Renee Geary's library friends, anyway...) stopped by to greet Anders, compliment him on how he had grown and discussed how his visits to the library lift every one's spirits. I had no idea that they took so much notice of Anders behind the desk, but I was quite proud.

Anders routinely attracts stray cashiers at Walmart for Anna.

Oh, Anders said "Baby" clear as day 8 days ago at the babysitter. He'd been saying "Mama" mostly with a little "Dada" sprinkled in for good measure. So the other day, he was playing with his new friend Jace and his older sister's dolls, and said "Baby" clear as day according to Pam, Jace's grandma.

Anders has started a streak of not sleeping well the night before daycare. Friday is our big day around here since I teach two four hour courses that day in Chillicothe and Anna has to leave early with him to drop Anders off at daycare. So, the first Friday he woke up at 4:15 am and was just up. Then, this Friday, he woke up inconsolable at 1 am. None of my trick worked. I had a meltdown. Anna had to pick up the pieces.

We bought a gliding chair and gliding foot rest for rocking Anders, but so far that hasn't worked.

Something new bloomed. Weather.com tells me it's weed pollen, not Meigs County Gold as far as I know, but something potent. Since Tuesday, Anders nostrils have produced a snot river and I haven't been much better. Same allergies, same eating habits, Ando is really coming into his own as Mini Me.

On a somber note, Athens had its first tornado in 60 years on Thursday evening just after 7 pm. It took out an auto supply business on East State Street. High winds destroyed the press box at the high school where John Blom and I used to broadcast Athens Bulldogs Football for Public Access TV. Roger had some roof damage to his tie dye studio in The Plains and a tree fell down and crushed a swing set in his backyard out there. We were totally untouched on West Hills Drive, not even a large branch down in the backyard. Speaking of which, I need to get outside and mow.

I surveyed my afternoon class at OU-C and only 5 of 23 were rooting for OU. They got killed today. I'm going to try to stay up to watch the Iowa-AZ football game tonight at 10:35 EDT. I don't know if I will make it. I imagine that half the fans will be Iowa fans. The percentage would be even higher had they played the game in November.

Well, that's it for now. I should be writing more regularly in the short term.

I thought of one more funny thing. This morning Anders was crawling in bed with us. He then pulled himself up on the headboard and under his breath, clear as day, said, "Shit." We will have to be sure that Mommy watches her tongue around Anders from now on...

Update Coming

I'll write a post this weekend. Much has happened and we hope to dig out enough so that I can write a good long post this weekend. Allergies are bad for us today, and we have another house showing and Anders doesn't want to sleep.

Anders' First Day at Daycare and More

Ibid.

Anders on the College Green

Anna's Birthday

Our friends, the Gearys, took us out to eat for Anna's birthday the other night. We had a large Italian feast at Abrios. The Gearys had been eating their way around their old Indiana home, so they were trying to downshift before returning to Northern Virginia. We hadn't seen their sons, Ryan and Finn in over a year. Ryan, as you can see from the pictures, has a big blond bomber hair style, which I envy. Finn still says the funniest things. Anders reminds me a bit of Finn when he was a that age, an affable baby with a large head. Brent is doing his annual tradition of talking himself into Indiana University football for the upcoming season. The Gearys also gave Anders a big, bright new truck for his birthday. He is enjoying his new truck very much! It's so nice to have such steady friends who stick with you despite gaps in time and distance. It's also nice to share stories with veteran parents, and get tipped off about what is next. I think having two little boys looks fun, but Anna would like more gender balance that Trudy provides, but that's another conversation for another day, years in the future...

Back to the hear and now, Anders and I gave Anna our cards this morning. I brought a birthday latte from Starbucks for breakfast for Anna. Anders and I also scrounged around to find some birthday Strongbow yesterday. We have more events planned for the birthday weekend, but those remain a secret. I will say, however, that there might be a birthday tie dye from Roger that shows up latter today...

Geary Boys and Anders

New Anders Stats

Anders went to the doctor for his one year checkup, had a couple of shots, and now needs to start brushing his teeth with nonflouride baby toothpaste.

He is 21 lbs 9 oz, which is the 23 percentile for 13 month babies. He hadn't eaten due to a 2.5 hour nap, so he had an empty stomach and a dry diaper. Just a few ounces make a big difference in the percentages.

His head is 49 cm in circumference which is the 96 percentile for 13 month babies.

The most surprising stat is that he is 33 inches long, which puts him in the 99th percentile for 13 month babies.

Anders is attacking, gotta go.

Standing Tall

Changing Face of Anders

Yesterday, Anders met his future Friday babysitter as I teach in Chillicothe that day. Anna's friend Crystal's mom, Pam. Crystal has two kids, Jerra age 6 and Jace age 2. So Anders now has a new little friend in Jace. They have a big place in the country with dogs and a lot more toys than we have. Anders will have fun there.

Anyway, they all thought Anders looked just like me.

Then, we drove home and ate at China Panda where out waitress declared that Anders looks just like Anna.

Anders switches his resemblance by the hour! Really, he's an even mix of both of us, but it's really funny to hear people's strong, decisive, and contradictory opinions.

Anders goes in for his one year shots in about an hour. He should be waking up any minute now. We fought like cats and dogs to make this nap happen, and it has been over an hour and thirty minutes so far!

Oh, here's the cry awake, gotta go.