Click picture to enlarge - Original hosted at Flickr

Having a baby and changing jobs can move blogging to the bottom of the list for things to accomplish. However, I am determined to never let this thing fade away. Here's a random list of what's been going on lately:

- T is doing well. He had carrots for the first time yesterday and has been tolerating sweet potatoes for a week. We have a nice farmers' market nearby, so we buy cheap vegetables and using Ziplock microwave steamer bags can whip up a quart of baby food in just a short time. I can't imagine buying baby food. I just can't pay for mush that doesn't even have salt and pepper in it.

- Every day I pass through Grand Central on my way to and from work. It's a chaotic symphony of striders. As I move through the middle, I say out loud, "Wow! It's like Grand Central in here!' I like to be my own audience for my jokes. They go over better that way.

- Here's what a typical weekend day entails:
I get up at 5:45 to a very vocal baby and change his diaper while his mother uses the restroom and readies herself in the rocking chair to administer First Breakfast. I turn on the coffee and then go back to bed while the coffee brews and the mlw feeds T and reads the NYT on her Kindle. I get up to pour the coffee, while T watches me intently--a performance we call The Daddy Show that just transfixes him. We drink coffee while he bounces in his Jumparoo. Soon, he yawns and gets put down for his first nap--at 7AM. We shower and eat.

T wakes at 8 as if it were a brand new day and giggles, smiles, and yells for his Second Breakfast. He eats and we stroll to the farmers' market. We stroll around some more and I typically get a juice for something to do. Home to make lunch and give T lunch. Bouncing and then maybe a nap or maybe kicking. Then another stroll to the park, the pier, the promenade, Dumbo, Carroll Gardens, or anywhere. Somehow it goes from 8AM to 5PM in about 15 minutes.

T has a big messy dinner of mushy something and then needs a bath to get that something out of his hair, ears, and neck folds. He settles down for story time and then most nights goes to sleep without fuss at 6:30 or 7.

After he goes to bed, we have a huge party with ponies, cotton candy, jugglers, baby animals, and cookie dough fountains. At least that's what we think he thinks when he fusses and tries to finagle his way back out the living room, even though he is so tired he can't lift his little head. In reality, we either grill, watch bad TV, or have people over for wine and cheese. Because it's such a pain to get baby sitters, we always have wine and cheese on the premises. And Dortios.

If I'm in bed by 9:30 or 10, it's a good night.

That's the routine this month. I'm sure it will change shortly.

- Speaking of grilling, since our herbs our doing so well in our garden, we've been cooking steak and chicken in what we call Garfunkel Marinade (pictured above). It contains equal portions of parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, olive oil, with lemon juice, fresh garlic, and lots of salt and pepper.
- Today, I got up at 5:45, changed a diaper, made cafe au lait, emptied the dishwasher, ran 4 miles, and cooked farm fresh egg sandwiches--all before 8. I used to pride myself that I did less all day than most people do before 8AM.

- Lastly, here are T's latest tricks:
- Opening the Hanger for the Plan - A huge improvement over the desperate velociraptor lunge that accompanied every bite when he first started on solids.
- Monkey Claps (Clapping to music with your feet)
- Hooking one finger over his nose to hold his thumb securely in his mouth - a reaction to the indignity of bed time.
- Reaching for Mommy
- Bouncing, in a way that seems slightly obsessive and almost unhealthy.
- Eating my watch
- Biting anything

There's, of course. lots more going on with work and my efforts (failed) to stop the squirrels from eating all our tomatoes, but who has time to blog these things?