Baby's in Black

Nathaniel had his bris today. Instead of 8 days later, it turned out to be 28 Days Later. Mom-mom and pop-pop were here of course, but grandma and grandpa listened to the ceremony on speakerphone. We offered video Skype but they suggested that this might be one ritual that is better without seeing it. They were right. Nate did ok. He was fussy but not really from pain, since he did get a shot of lidocaine. We expect it to get a bit worse tonight.

Susie asked me if, religious custom aside, I would want the boys circumcised. I don't know. At a very basic level, it is barbaric and has no practical value. So why do we do it? The U.S. is apparently about the only country left that generally circumcises its boys without religious commandment. But this seems to be changing very quickly. So, if Nate weren't Jewish, I don't think I'd do it.

But, Nate is Jewish.

(By the way, an "update" to my blogging software has taken away my ability to post pictures. Hopefully that will be corrected soon.)




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Day St,San Francisco,United States

Drive My Car

Eli has started singing along with his music. Well, "singing". He says "la" or "nnn" repeatedly, but the way his tone and rhythm changes, it's clear he's singing along. Then "Drive My Car" came on, a song we haven't listened to any more than any of the other 200 Beatles songs. When John starts singing, Eli joins in. And when John first sings, "Baby you can drive my..." just before John says it, Eli loudly sings, "car!"

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All Together Now

It's been two busy weeks since Nate was born. At the beginning, he was such a good sleeper that he wasn't a very good eater, and he dropped more than 10% of his birthweight. This made life pretty rough for us, and by "us" I mean "Susie". For about a week, Susie would feed Nate, pump, then give him more milk with an eye dropper, and about an hour later, start the process over again. But he bounced back very fast and is doing great.

Eli has been having a harder time over the past week. Part of that may have been that grandma and grandpa were here, which was great, except we think it made Eli feel even more insecure. But, we made it Golden Gate Park and Sunnyside park, where he now goes down slides on his own.

Susie is doing great, and hasn't had any trouble going out on our long walks.

There seem to be a number of reasons why you don't take as many pictures with the second one, but we did at least manage this:




It makes me laugh too. If you're wondering, she's trying to get Eli to smile by saying "Eeeeeee."

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:28th St,San Francisco,United States

Across the Universe

Yesterday, at 6:29 PM, we welcomed Nathaniel Smith Mitton into our family. He was 10 days late, but when he decided it was time, he came fast: just 30 minutes in the hospital before he was born. Everyone is doing great. Eli came to meet his little brother this morning, and he was very excited to be here, albeit because of all the buttons on the hospital bed and not so much his brother. They'll be friends soon enough.




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Good Night

When Susie was working, she always wanted to maximize her time with Eli between work and bed. This meant that she nearly always gave Eli his bottle. As Susie's pregnancy progressed, it became harder for her to get Eli into position, so it became habit for Susie to sit down, I'd hand her Eli, hand Eli his dragon, and then Susie the milk. Then Eli would drink.

A couple nights ago, I was busy in the kitchen. Susie pulled Eli onto her lap on her own, but Eli wouldn't take it; he just fought her. Finally, she says "Do you want daddy to put you in my arms?" He said yes (for him, "yes" is a grunt). She let him down, he trotted to the kitchen and held his arms out for me to pick him up. Then I put him in Susie's arms, and he drank happily.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:28th St,San Francisco,United States

The Word

No, still no baby. Yes, there's a million folk remedies to get labor started, but I'm too much of a statistician to believe any of them.

Eli's starting a word explosion. His pronunciation isn't great, but he's getting words down. New ones today were "squirr" and "showa". And recently we've had "door", "lif", "kitt-kitt", and "ray". Can you guess what words those are? He's now decided what a dog says, "nnn...nnn...nnn". Yes, he loves Sandra Boynton.

He's also started singing along to music. Whether it's the Beatles or one of his toys, he rhythmically hums or "aaahhh"s. He even recognizes words in the Beatles songs. He says "doc" in Doctor Robert (a word he learned from monkeys jumping on the bed). There's a couple songs that we dance to, and when they come on, he smiles to be picked up.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:28th St,San Francisco,United States

Got to Get You into my Life

Susie's due date was yesterday, and still no baby. She's been having contractions off and on, but too much off and too little on to call it labor. So it's time for a hike in Tennessee Valley!




Eli still likes playing chase. Susie will get on all fours to chase him, but as you can imagine, she isn't very fast. So Eli takes off running, sees that he's left his mom behind, turns around, and runs back to her, as if to say, "Sorry, mom, let me know when you're ready."




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:28th St,San Francisco,United States

It Won't Be Long

T-minus five days to the due date. Any day now, we're going to sit down and think about some names. Eli is still super clingy to his daddy, which will be a lot of fun when #2 comes. Susie's off work now, yet I'm actually working. Hmm.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Testing

Still no Internet at home and this thing hasn't been playing well with 3G.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A few days ago, I walked into Eli's room and he was playing with the fan, which he knows he's not supposed to do. In a stern but not angry voice, I said, "Eli! You know you don't touch that." He let go of it but just stood there with his back to me. After about 15 seconds, he turned around and I saw he was crying. He started walking towards me, and held his arms out to be picked up.

Susie came home today having had one of her best adventures ever with Eli. They were out on a walk and stumbled on a little street fair that had a petting zoo. I guess Eli just ran around, chasing the animals, yelling at the top of his lungs.



Speaking of Susie, an article about her project made the front page of the LA Times today: Seniors and Poverty

- Posted from my EliPhone

Blackbird

Eli loves planes. He can spot a plane cruising at 30,000 feet and start shouting he's so excited. So of course that meant I had to take him to see the Blue Angels.

Yesterday, they were doing reconnaissance flights--pick landmarks, set lines, that kind of thing--and Eli was so excited. He'd cheer them each time they came by and watch them off into the distance. His enthusiasm was infectious, with people giggling while they watched him. We don't want him in a cast, but it did make the whole scene a bit more unique.

Today, we went back to watch the Blue Angels rehearse their snow. Eli was pretty excited watching the daredevil Red Baron, and even the c-130. Then came the Angels: Our first sight was four of them in a diamond formation, streaking towards us, then hitting a hard bank turn before shooting up....with their jets pointed directly at us. Well, that made Eli cry a little. I can't blame him; I think a couple of fillings are loose now. But after that rough start, Eli settled in. The only other scary moment was when a lone jet going as fast as they're allowed to go, flew overhead and startled Eli to death. Ok me too--hey, at those speeds they practically sneak up on you without a sound.



- Posted from my EliPhone

Location:S Van Ness Ave,San Francisco,United States

Twist and Shout

Eli had his appointment with the orthopedist today. He wouldn't let the doctor touch him, but she saw him run around the office and put weight on his leg, so she was ready to send us home. I said, "maybe you can't, but he will let me touch him." So I started pressing on parts of his leg, and he started crying. "That's not normal." I calmed him down then did the same thing to his good leg, with no reaction. I went back to the bad leg, and this time when he started crying, the doctor said, "Yes, that was clearly acute pain...."

Another round of X-rays, this time confirming that he had a non-displaced, spiral fracture in his tibia. Eli is now the proud owner of a full-leg cast. I'll report on how he handles it later, but the early data doesn't look good. On the bright side, I've long argued that you can't feel good about yourself until you've broken a bone, so Eli now has that out of the way!




- Posted from my EliPhone

Location:S Van Ness Ave,San Francisco,United States

Helter Skelter

By mid-morning, eli and I had made a trip to city hall to look for liens, and then the title company had figured out that they had made a mistake over the names. Having more than one middle name does complicate things. Then mid-day we got an email notice that our loan had been approved. Yea! And then mid-afternoon we found that they had approved us for less than they should have because we didn't get them the home owner's insurance policy and the exact property tax, neither of which they asked us to have ready. The seller wanted the loan contingency removed today or she would go to her backup buyer. So we lifted it at the lower loan amount, and hope that the amount goes back up when the paperwork is finished. Jake says that he reserves a dark place in his heart for the evil loan/title racket, a place previously reserved for tow trucks. Amen, brother.

I just downloaded a new blogging app that allows me to directly upload videos, so let me try this out with Eli pushing a merry go round.

- Posted from my EliPhone

Location:S Van Ness Ave,San Francisco,United States

Everybody's Got Something to Hide

It can't all go smoothely. We learned today that the seller of the house has an outstanding lien against a property she owns. The title company didn't say if it was our property. The seller says that she had been sued by a former client, never knew about the lawsuit, and apparently got a judgement against her. Hmm. Hopefully this will clear up very soon.

Happier: it's pretty reliable that if you lay down on the floor and put a cuddly blanket on you, Eli will come over and give you a snuggle-wrestle. After a bit of that, he will get up, go to the end of the hall, then come running toward you, screaming, for a tackle.



-- Post From My iPhone

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

Offer made. Counter-offer made. Offer accepted. See it here: http://www.21-28thst.com/


-- Post From My iPhone

Getting Better

Every parent knows how fast kids go through stages. When Eli first stood up without using anything to support himself, I knew we had just said goodbye to the crawling stage.

Now, I'm not saying that Eli spraining his ankle was a good thing, but it has been fun watching him crawl around, complete with the butt wiggle. He is feeling better--he has walked some, albeit with limping, and he's stood at his toys playing for a while. I think he only needs a few days more.





-- Post From My iPhone

If I Fell

Here's Eli at Sunnyside park today:





Little did he know what was soon to happen. As we rode the slide down together, his foot got caught on the side of the slide, and he twisted his ankle. He cried for a while. When he calmed, I touched his foot and ankle, which seemed fine. But he couldn't walk or stand. He'd take a few limping steps then fall to the ground in pain. It is so sad to see a 16 month old baby limping.

We went to the dr., and she was just going to send us home since there was no pain to the touch, and he was fine when I was holding him. I think she thought I was a crazy parent. But I said, "watch him try to walk." I put him down, and bad leg barely touched the ground when he started crying. He held up the leg, and stood on one leg for a few seconds before falling over. The dr immediately agreed to get him x-rays.

The good news is no fractures. The bad news is there isn't much we can do besides keep him off his feet, which is to say, there isn't much we can do. Well, children's Motrin!

-- Post From My iPhone

Baby You're a Rich Man

With less than two months before #2 arrives, we've finally gotten serious about buying a house. Since we live in San Francisco, this is no small commitment. But this is what people do when they have a family, right? I've never been convinced of this. Homes just aren't great investments. Seriously, they aren't, even with the massive government handouts. Is renting really so bad? Will our family be stronger and happier if we buy instead of rent? I'm not convinced.

But, I am happier with my new iPhone, which has a front-facing camera:




-- Post From My iPhone

Me and My Monkey

At the park today, Eli watched one of the big kids swing across the monkey bars and he was clearly jealous. So I held
him up, put his hands onto the bars, and then moved them from bar to bar. The next time we did, I noticed that he was actually holding some of his weight. I wanted to see what would happen. I let go and, arms fully stretched out, he hung on for 2 or 3 seconds! I did that twice more then, again just to see what happened, I held him a bit higher so that his elbows were bent nearly 90 degrees. Again, he held on for 2 or 3 seconds!




-- Post From My iPhone

Russian River

We spent Labor Day weekend at the Russian River and had a great time. We walked through the redwoods in Armstrong park, ate cold pizza after Eli finally went to bed, but best of all, we went swimming. Eli got right into the river and sat down, playing with his toys.

The best Eli moment was in the hotel room. He was just tall enough that he could open the door to get out of the room. Which is why we locked it. Well there he is, trying to open the door, and getting frustrated because it wouldn't open. What would you do in this situation? That's exactly what he did: He walked over to the table, got the hotel keys, walked back to the door, and proceeded to mash the keys into the door knob. Is it too soon to call him a genius?




-- Post From My iPhone

Today at Safeway....

...our groceries were bagged by Michael Milken and Tommy Lasorda.




-- Post From My iPhone

Stand Up for Yourself

This is one of our favorite recent pictures. There's nothing Eli loves so much as standing. He still needs support, of course, like this spiral pole at the playground. But the best part is the big wide grin when he accomplishes something new.


-- Post From My iPhone