reasons

To Jena:

I started thinking about all the things I've enjoyed about being a dad, lately. Kat has a journal that she writes in, I assume she'll show it to you one of these days. I'm not one to scribble on paper, my handwriting looks vaguely like cuneiform, and after a few minutes of writing, my hand feels like a claw. But I can type up a storm, so this is my venue. Here's a few things that have struck me as needing to be preserved:

Right now, you're 6 months old. We've finally found a formula that doesn't upset your tummy too much. Just a few weeks ago, you were spitting up all the time. We kept a bib on you at all times. It didn't really matter if it had been 5 minutes or 2 hours since your last feeding, you might spit it all out at any time. But at least you were a good sport about it. You've always been a happy baby, grinning and laughing all the time, even when I know that you are sick. A week ago you were sick with some daycare-spawned stomach bug, we kept you out of daycare for almost a week. The whole time you never got fussy, you were your usual happy self.

You're so close to crawling I think it will happen any time now. You've been rolling around and scooting on your tummy for a couple of months, but just in the past week you've really started getting ready to crawl. Last Saturday I went to get you out of your crib in the morning and saw that you were up on all fours (a first, for you). Since then your mom and I have seen you do it several times... you get up on your hands and knees and start rocking back and forth. You haven't quite got the whole forward motion thing down yet. As a matter of fact, you often end up pushing yourself backwards, to your apparent frustration. But I think it's a matter of days, not weeks, before you get the hang of it. And then we'll have to baby-proof everything :)

So many things I need to remember...

Sometimes you're not really thrilled about going to bed. Don't worry, you get it naturally, your mother and I both hated to go to sleep. She and I both used to "fake out" our parents and stay up late, reading by flashlight. Also, Kat always says that she could never go to bed if there was something going on in the house, she didn't want to be left out. So it's no surprise that you are sometimes resistant to going to sleep, even when you are tired, grumpy, and rubbing your eyes. Sometimes it takes both of us, sometimes just one or the other of us has the "magic" that puts you to sleep on a particular night. Your mother rocks you, reads to you, sings to you. I usually just cradle you in my arms and rock you back and forth. Sometimes you reach up and run your fingers through my beard as you drift off to sleep.