Who's watching TV??

Mickey Mouse Club House

What in the world is Mickey Mouse Club House you ask; well that ladies and gentlemen has become my Monday-Friday DVR’s recording.  It’s weird to think that at such a young age he would be interested in TV. All he needs is the sound of the chorus and he is glued. We discovered quickly that to get a moment of peace and quiet we needed back up; I’m not talking about mom and dad reinforcements I’m talking about the coolest show on TV, Mickey Mouse! Once Ivan hears the “It’s the Mickey Mouse Club House, Come on in it‘s fun inside” Game over! We have won his little heart over.

       Now, I know some of you may think he is too small to be glued to the TV or that we shouldn’t be using the TV as a “babysitter”, but come on, it’s the 21^st century and he loves it. Not only has he grown attached to the mouse, he also loves reading books with mom, counting and singing, so see, were not using it as a babysitter but as a resource to get his little mind working ( J). Now all crap aside, at first we really did only use the shows for the songs and noise since Ivan is an only child there is never really noise in our house ( now there is). Once he realized that there was a screen associated with the noise, he was all in.  I remember the first time I seen him “watching” the TV, he was on our bed, laying down and as soon as he heard the tunes, he sat up on his own to watch what was going on. That is when I knew we had struck gold! He sat there for the entire show, lying on his side, watching the characters count and sing. It’s actually kind of neat all the things they incorporate into the shows on Disney. For example, they teach preschoolers or infants in my case how to count, show them colors, and sing while doing it. That’s talent! Now he doesn’t sit there and watch TV all day, (see, I’m not a bad parent after all) only Mickey Mouse Club House seems to entertain him. It’s weird, don’t know why no other cartoons grab his attention must be all the colors and their funky songs. So for now, we’ll keep watching until the mouse goes out of style.

 (If he ever will…..)

Best Fathers Day Ever

            So my day started out different than another day.  Ivan woke me up, not in his usual fashion, this time he was in bed with me.  My wife had snuck out of bed to get my presents ready and when it was time, she put Ivan in the bed with me to wake me up.  I must say, he is the best alarm clock ever.  I’m lucky to have such a happy baby whose spirits are always up.  This reminded me of the days when I used to get my dad the usual Father’s Day gift.  You know, a wallet or tie or something of that nature.  I could never figure out why my dad was so happy to get such a cheap and predictable gift.  I just thought to myself, oh well, another Father’s Day over with.  Now I realize it wasn’t the gifts my dad was happy about, he was just happy to have celebrate and enjoy the day with his kids.  I know I will now be looking forward to Father’s Day each year a lot more than I used to.  I know it sounds weird, but I can’t wait until Ivan makes me some sort of craft for Father’s Day.  I guess this is just another sign of my new life.          

Check out my carrot mustache

Baby Food 101

People say that a picture is worth a thousand words, well how about an expiration date? What is that worth? Better yet, how about an expiration date that promises a year’s worth of shelf life, what is that worth? I was kind of uneasy about feeding my son a “vegetable” that doesn’t go bad for a year, so I decided to contact an expert, my mom. Luckily, my mom has years of experience in this field (parenting) so I asked her what she recommended.

Being from an era where disposable diapers were a luxury reserved for long trips and vacations, she had lots to say not the least of which was “you’d be better off making your own baby food”. Not that she is against convenience, but she does make a good point, there is something unsettling about consuming food that seems to be everlasting. I talked to a couple different people and asked their opinion, everyone thought we were crazy. They argued “Do you know what you’re getting into”, “Where are you going to find the time to do it”, “Isn’t it easier to just buy it”, boy they were right, it’s not easy, convenient or fast, but the payoff is well worth it (***hopefully***).

So step one was getting a food processor and not the kind of processer you can buy for $10 on Black Friday, we were talking about some serious hardware.  I must admit, I did luck out with my infomercial watching, smoothie drinking somewhat crazy dad. Why you ask, how in the world is that lucky? Well thanks to the wonderful infomercial host Montell Williams and a 3am infomercial demoing the “Master Health Blender”, our baby food making lives became possible. See, while my dad is a crazy smoothie drinker, he is even crazier about buying in on what he watches on TV (This is where the luck plays in). He has lots of different things he has purchased over the years over a 5 min soul sucking infomercial and while most of it becomes junk or things taken to the Salvation Army, this is one we are cashing in on. Armed with a couple of baby food recipes from my mom and an awesome blender from my dad, we were well on our way to making the healthiest baby food we possibly could. In spite of it being gross looking, and having the worst texture imaginable, it actually was a hit! He seemed to enjoy every bite although most of it went on his face and in his hair. The sounds of his grunting and whining for more makes me believe we have made the right choice.

My Little Guy

Where is the instruction manual?

Okay, so people have been parenting and raising babies for thousands of years, but unfortunately all that wisdom has been lost on me. Now I know why no one ever talks about a fathers instinct or men’s intuition, it’s because it does not exist, at least not with me.  With Ivan being my first baby, and really the only baby I’ve really interacted with (I’ve always avoided holding other peoples babies) I knew I was going to have to learn things the hard way. 

One of the first things I learned is that changing diapers can be quite a task.  I know it looks easy enough, and in reality it is, as long as the baby cooperates, but things like mid-changing pees and poops seem to increase the difficulty level of diaper changing, I’m beginning to think he does it on purpose. 

Another thing I came to realize is that sleep is golden. I don’t know who coined the phrase “sleep like a baby”, but obviously it was someone with very little knowledge of babies.  I guess I already knew that sleep would be at a premium, but I didn’t realize just how much sleep deprivation a newborn can cause.  It didn’t take long before I experienced it firsthand.

Also, I learned the importance of poop.  I have become something of a poop expert without really ever wanting to. Who would have thought in a million years that poop is so important. According to other parents, this is a time in your life when poop all of a sudden is the topic of conversation, not only is it important that he goes, you also have to worry about what time he goes, what color it is and what consistency it is. I know that’s gross right, but somehow this has become my life.  Enough about lessons learned, I could seriously go on forever.

You know how you always hear people say “kids grow up so fast”. Well, they aren’t lying. Seems like every weekend we go through his closet and get rid of cloths that from one week to the next he has miraculously grown out of.  Speaking of growing, Ivan didn’t stay little very long. I remember we had to take him to the doctor’s office just one month after he was born, at that time he weighed 9lbs 13oz. at two months he weighed 13lbs, at four months almost 14lbs. and now we wait until his six month appointment.

I can’t believe that my son is going to be six months. It seems like just yesterday he was coming home for the very first time.