Isabelle at 10 Weeks and Fathering a Newborn

And so my daughter grows…. She’s now almost doubled her birth weight at 11 1/2 pounds, she is at the 60% percentile of her cohort.  Her neck is still a little weak, but she’s starting to assert more control over her head.

This might be the last time I’m raising a newborn, so here are a few things I’ve picked up along the way.

• Everyone Passes This Way Once. After ten weeks, she’s no longer a skinny fragile newborn.  She’s layered with baby fat and occassionally graces us with a smile (finally!).  I look at my 2-year old son, and realize that the memories we made while he was an infant was unique and once the moment passes, it fades into the depths of our memories and lingers perhaps in photos or recollections like this blog.
• Crying Doesn’t Do Permanent Damage. Yes I believe this.  Perhaps it lets me keep sane when she’s wailing inconsolably but when I reviewed the video of her birth, nothing was more abnormal than a newborn baby that didn’t cry (she was delivered under a C-section under general anesthetic and was drugged out).  As long as she was fed, cleaned and burped, each crying session would end eventually (even at 2 a.m. in the morning)
• Everyone Has Their Own Way of Pacifying. Both my wife and my mum put Isabelle to sleep differently.  So do I.  And my father.  There’s no magic bullet.
• A Parent’s Unconditional Love.  The sacrifice of a parent for an infant is probably the closest experience I have of unconditional love.  Here is someone who totally depends on two parents who have to provide for her every need, without any reward or acknowledgement (even though she smiles a little more now).  Scientists will make the case that genetic conditioning predisposes us to care for our young, but it does not detract from this intensely human experience – to love and to give.  There’s no way a child can repay their parent’s sacrifice – it is a gift given, never to be reclaimed.  The best I hope for is that my children will give to others as I have given to them.

Gabriel Turns One

Two weeks ago (yes, I’m a little behind my blog), we put on a little party for Gabriel and his little posse of toddlers. We rented some tables at Rengstorff Park, which is about ten minutes drive from home, and invited Rosanna’s Las Madres 2006 friends over. We even had Val visit from Washington DC and Helen from Seattle.

It turns about birthdays for toddlers are quite simple. Since the babies can’t do very much, we bought a few party platters and everyone hangs out.

Here’s a recent mug shot – we’re doing more hikes and outdoor activites now in summer, and you’ll be seeing more photos of Gabriel in the sun.

Gabriel’s First Steps

How quickly children grow!

Today, Gabriel made some real progress. He started making a few unsteady steps about a week ago, and today he finally mustered the confidence to make real strides. He pulled himself upright, take several steps. Each endeavour sees him more confident and covering more distance.

OK, enough prose – here’s the real thing:

Gabriel at Ten Months

Gabriel turned 10 months yesterday. He is imbued with boundless energy and an insatiable curiousity. He has developed a quirky yet endearing three-limbed crawl which allows him to explore almost every corner of our small apartment.

He is now able to understand a few words – “Shake your head”, “No!”, “Gabriel” are among his limited comprehension. He also tries hard to pronounce some words. We think he has some capacity to say “Da, da”, and “Uh, oh”, but perhaps it’s wishful thinking.

Of his skills – he has developed quite a bit. He can climb down a sofa all by himself – a feat of which we are quite proud. He cruises effortlessly, and is able to play ball with us. He picks up Cheerios with his index finger and thumb, and is beginning to wave his hands.

Of his temperament – we can’t ask for more. He is generally good humoured and enjoys our company every bit as much as we enjoy his. He is easily entertained and loves playing with others. He rarely cries without reason.

Our only challenge today is that he sleeps in our bed at night. We are planning to wean him at the age of one year and after that to put him to sleep in his own room. That’s a task we’re not particularly looking forward to.

More Videos of Gabriel

Shooting a video of a curious child is a big challenge. When G sees me holding a camera, he becomes terribly excited and tries in every way possible to get to the gadget. It takes a generous dose of patience to capture G in his natural element and here is a short clip of the highlights of February.

He is learning quickly in many ways and we are always delighted when he discovers a new skill.

President’s Day weekend at Kings Canyon

Americans have a great way of arranging public holidays so that it falls on a Monday most of the time (except for certain holidays that are fixed in date – Independence Day, Christmas). This means long weekends are commonplace and most folks do their best to make use of breaks like this to get away.

For us, we spent the weekend at Fresno and took the opportunity to visit Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park. These two parks are the home of the giant sequoia trees, the largest living plants on earth. And since it was winter, we had the added pleasure of experiencing the Sierra forest covered in snow.

From Family

It was going to be Gabriel’s first trip in the snow so we dressed him appropriately – a friend in R’s mothers group lent us a snowsuit. Gabriel barely fitted – he looked like a stuffed doll ready to squeak. We took him on a short walk around the seqouia grove and realized he was too young to appreciate the majesty of nature when he fell asleep in his carrier.

Gabriel Learns to Swim

R and I are trying out a number of things with Gabriel. At his age, we are told that there’s only a few activities worth trying – one of them is swimming.

We bring him once a week to the Betty Wright Swim Centre in Palo Alto – about 15 minutes away from home. It’s a nice warm indoor pool with lots of kids and parents every weekend. I normally take him for 30 minutes in the pool while R watches or runs errands.

From Gabriel's Fir…

The lessons are pretty simple – singing action songs around the pool with the main theme of dipping the child in and out of the water. Gabriel isn’t very keen in the water yet – he doesn’t exhibit any excitement, but we hope in time he’ll grow to be more comfortable. Right now, his biggest challenge is learning to blow bubbles under water instead of gulping water.

The pool insists that babies are “tripled up” before they go into the pool. This means a swim diaper, plastic pants and a swimsuit on top. The diaper is pretty hopeless since it gets wet the minute Gabriel steps into the pool. But last week, he did a “big one”, and the diaper actually managed to keep most of the mess in his pants. Now, that’s more about infant swimming than I’ll ever want to know.

Gabriel at Eight Months

Gabriel is growing rapidly. Just this week, several new milestones to commemorate his 8-month birthday:

• First tooth – his first tooth is beginning to sprout from his lower gums.
• First swim – we took him for his first swim in a pool. The Betty Wright Swim Centre provides a pool that is especially suitable for infants – the water is warmer than normal and they conduct lessons with lots of floating toys.
• Climbing up stairs – we visited CC for Superbowl weekend and Gabriel made his first attempt to climb stairs. He was pretty successful too!

There are other tangible signs of progress. He recognizes his name now – when one calls his name, he turns around. He also recognizes basic words – “No!” is often used when he attempts to chew on electrical wires or explore the dustbin. He also has an infectious laugh – if you find the right words, it’ll tickle him to no end. The following video is of me reading Sandra Boynton’s “Blue Hat, Green Hat” to him.

R and I are really enjoying his company at this time – one cannot pray for a more adorable child.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Its the end of the year … already! How quickly time flew. I’ve been busy catching up on processing videos and photos, and there’s quite a bit to share.

We spent the holidays rather quietly. R and I felt that G wasn’t ready for any big ambitious trips so we planned small this year.

We took a driving trip down the California Central Coast and visited Big Sur and Hearst Castle. It was a wondeful trip – the weather was mild and Gabriel was very well behaved. We brought along his baby food and he didn’t make too much of a mess when he fed so we were quite relieved. And he handled the winding journey along Highway 1 very well.

There were breathtaking views of the sheer cliffs and powerful Pacific surf; elephant seals by the shore; rustic towns like Cambria and a beautiful sunset. Hearst Castle was the main highlight of the trip and it was an incredibly beautiful mansion set on the hilltops built by a Californian tycoon who spared no expense to collect all forms of antiques and art.

Here’s a link to the video of our trip.

Hearst Castle was an impressive place but I left with a sense that all the priceless art seemed a little … displaced. There were roofs that came from a chapel in Italy with carvings of religious icons set in a dining room where they were relegated to being part of a collector’s horde. At Hearst Castle, there was little time to ponder on the origins or the meanings of these sculptures or paintings – and I felt a little disappointed. Nevertheless, still worth the visit.

Gabriel Learns to Sit

It’s been three months since we moved to California. I would like to say that I didn’t write because I was very busy, but that’s not entirely true. We’re now settling into a routine – R, G and myself – and we’re nearly comfortable.

Having said that, we just realized that a growing baby doesn’t stick to any routines for too long. Just two days ago, G started to sit up by himself. And he’s energetically propelling himself across our floor now.

See this video clip of Gabriel learning to sit and crawl.