The Adventures of Baby Arthur


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	The Adventures of Baby Arthur Hello There! Here is the story of Baby Arthur, Lincoln and Liz. On this blog, we'll be sharing our experiences on pregnancy, childbirth and parenting. Because it's not just a baby, it's an adventure. [Previous Posts][Archives] Wednesday, December 23, 2009 Merry Christmas Everyone! by Lincoln Merry Christmas Everyone! As I begin writing this blog, I am in the presence of my parents and my good friends Julio and Sanjay Brown: Julio: You all look like a very happy family. Grandma: Of course! Grandpa: I'd say we're about average. Grandpa: Hmm, let's go eat. Today also happens to be the 41st anniversary of my parents. I'd say that in order to last 41 years, you probably have to be a little happy! Or as Julio puts it, it is my father's ability to "tax" my mom and my mom's ability to "put up" with it. Regardless of their secrets, I am grateful for the family we have and for all that my parents have given me. I'm also grateful for Liz, who is a wonderful Mother. Arthur is lucky as well! Family has a funny way of bringing out the various sides of our humanity. It's not always a bed of roses and conflicts can bring out some serious heat and anger. We're "stuck" with family aren't we? But holidays bring out the goodness and in these times, we can appreciate that we have each other. However, children are the initiative! This is will be Arthur's second Christmas. Not coincidently, this will be the second Christmas tree of my adult life. I never put up lights, wreathes or decorations before. But now that we have Arthur, it's a mandatory ceremony in our home! Liz's family never even celebrated Christmas OR Thanksgiving together. Not coincidently, that tradition started last year as well! And now that Liz's sister is expecting, the holidays will no doubt become a very important time of year for her family. I poke fun at Liz and point this out: "We have two places to visit?? You guys never celebrated the holidays before!!". I don't mind, her sister is an amazing cook! Family can be both a unifying power and frustrating quagmire at the same time. However, now that we are expecting multiple additions to our extended family, perhaps the power of children can melt whatever conflicts we have away. So let me raise a virtual glass, say cheers and wish everyone Happy Holidays! Labels: family 5:43 PM 0 Comments Thursday, September 24, 2009 Grandparent's Day by Lincoln It recently became known to me that September 13, 2009 was Grandparent's Day. The existence of this day was unbeknownst to me, as I spent the entire day watching football. Shame on me! Had I known, I would have saved that post for a different day. Grandparent's day isn't quite a hallmark holiday yet but it is one I could get behind. Where would we be without our parents? Thanks to my parents and Liz's mom, our childcare situation has been completely taken care of. We haven't had to use any local daycare, find a nanny on sites like Nannies4hire.com, Care.com, or Sittercity.com, or employ any kind of outside help. Not only has it been a tremendous savings financially, it's been a great relief to have trusted family members oversee Arthur's well-being and development. There's no doubt that the excitement of the first grandchild on both sides of the family has added to the enthusiasm and attention that Arthur has gotten. But, knowing these grandparents, it wouldn't have mattered if he was the first or the tenth grandchild. All would be loved just the same! On our last post about Sleep Training, Liz briefly mentioned that we very recently had an extremely difficult night with sleep. For some reason or another, Arthur began waking up at 3am that Saturday morning. Despite our attempts to calm him down and get him back to sleep, he wouldn't stay asleep. The loud party noise emanating from the building behind us and the stupid expletive drunk people ringing our door buzzer from downstairs did not help, as they would wake up Arthur just when he was about to fall back asleep! By 4am, I flew downstairs in a fit of rage and chased the drunkards away. By 5am, we had given up trying to get him to sleep in his crib and brought him into bed with us. By 6am, Arthur was stepping on my face because he wanted to go the living room and play. By 7am, I trudged out to McDonald's to pick up a pick-me-up with some breakfast and coffee. By 8am, Liz and I were out of gas and trying to keep up! By 9am, Liz's Mom came to the rescue by showing up unexpectedly and unannounced. Liz and I manage a 2 hour life-saving nap! We have many similar stories where our parents have helped us out tremendously. I've said it once and I'll say it again: I've never loved my parents in the way that I do today, now that I have my own child. And I've never loved Liz's Mom before either! Three cheers to Arthur's grandparents and all grandparents around the world. We'd be lost without you! Labels: family, miscellaneous 11:23 PM 1 Comments Wednesday, July 29, 2009 Play Date On The Other Side by Lincoln A good friend of mine from the other side (a.k.a. Jersey City) organized and orchestrated wonderful play date this past weekend. There was no shortage of kids, food and spiked iced tea (PIMS!). Don't worry, the spiked iced tea was for the adults. Nearly all of the children were aged from 8 through 20 months, with the exception of one 3 year old. While the children predictably spent most of the time wandering about with only a vague awareness of each other, there were definitely times where it seemed like they wanted to socialize! Take Arthur and his new friend Solomon. While they were resisting the urge to dive into the 3 inches of water, they seemed to be conspiring something! The rest of the time, Arthur was fighting for survival against Solomon's physical domination. You can't really tell from these pictures, but with only 2 additional months of age, Solomon is a towering, hulking toddler mass that runs like a torpedo. Strong work by Jersey Girl in pulling this off. Emails were flying back and forth the days prior to this event to iron out the details. But I have to admit, there were two things about these emails that got me feeling a little weird. First, I was the only male on the email. Second, everyone on this string frequently referred to the collective as "mothers" (e.g. Yay! We have 5 mothers coming!). I was beginning to think I should stay home! I'm very glad I went, but if body language is a cue, it was plain to see that other dads could sense the female domination of this type of gathering. Much has been made about the changing role of men in child rearing and family life. Within the past month or two, I have noticed many postings, articles and discussions on this topic. Take this interview with Stay-At-Stove dad, a blog about a father's role as the family cook. (That's something I can relate to!) Stay-at-home dads are increasing in numbers to the point where DaddyTypes thinks there's too many of them. It's not Manhattan, it's Dadhattan! Stay-at-home dad's may only be increasing in numbers now, but these RebelDads have been around for a long time. The common rationale is that it's our state of recession that's causing this proliferation of stay-at-home dads. We all have to make due, like this Big-Hearted Boy who sold his toys to help his out-of-work dad. While the recession's contribution to this phenomenon cannot be denied, I think the evolution of our society is playing a bigger hand. Women are now our equals. I'll admit it, Liz is bringing the big bucks in this relationship! That's fine by me, but my Dad wouldn't have been able to sleep at night if the same were true with my Mom. While the traditional man didn't play much of a role at home (especially Asian men), I think the modern man does take a greater interest in raising his children. If women are bringing in the bacon just as much as men, it's only fair that men should share in the child rearing as well as other traditionally female at-home duties. I think it's all about being fair and having respect for each other. I'm all for progress and I'm glad to do whatever I can to help. Now, as for the reverse stereo-types of women dealing with this new male role, I'll save that for another day. Labels: arthur, family 10:23 PM 0 Comments Previous Posts This blog has moved Spring Status Report and the Blog The Second Child Dilemma The Pre-School Search Goes On - Part 3 The Pre-School Search Goes On - Part 2 The Pre-School Search Goes On - Part 1 Arthur Goes Gangsta The Most Interesting Gifts Just Me and the Baby Book Review: The Happiest Toddler on the Block Archives January 2009 March 2009 April 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 December 2009 January 2010 February 2010 March 2010 April 2010 Subscribe to Posts [Atom]