Jachronicles

Jack woke up with his usual Zen calm today. Nicole plopped him on my chest as I stole five more minutes of sleep after feeding Abby. When he's well-rested, you can see him just trying to grasp what the science he is.

What am I? Those unblinking eyes present infinite possibility to me. And that's it - Jack is a trillion possibilities, that is what makes people fawn over babies in general.

He fell asleep as usual on the way to daycare as usual and elected not to get up for the hand off.

When I came home late from getting a haircut and doing some chores, Jack seemed to recognize me from about fifteen feet away. I imagine his vision is good enough to see that far, but I imagine many other contextual cues such as Nicole's behavior, my voice, the dogs' enthusiasm and his super-baby sense of smell probably helped.

Jack had to change into his Skullsie this afternoon. I'm determined to have him wear it at least twice a week until he bursts under its ever-diminishing use. Nicole brought home an old keyboard from work to play with since he's taken to tapping on ours when we hold him near the computer.

We gave him a bath. Well, I managed logistics and custodial work and helped hold him for final washings, Nicole did the heavy lifting in the bath. He enjoys splashing now, and will furious kick his legs to experience the water. Bath was a bit hot - he sorta shivered when we first put him in and had to cool it down.

I played Peek-a-boo with him after bathtime. I've been trying to teach him how to pull the blanket off himself - I think he derives more pleasure out of the game when he's rewarded (with a smile) for doing the action. It's never too late to imprint meritocratic principles on him!

My one great task as a Father is to help him stand on his own feet, to value his independence. I suppose it's a bit ostentatious to say I need to start that now, but I can only be the Father I know how to be. I figure I just love him and the rest will sort itself out.

Here's hoping he sleeps through the night. The reversion to standard time has been helpful, he's 2 for 3 since the changeover.