Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Father's Day II

What a difference 364 days makes.

I read my post from
last Father's Day to try to remember exactly what my first one as a dad felt like. I was trying to think of some way to link the two together, but what strikes me most is the difference in Tobin. Instead of laying around all day with Tobin this year I spent a significant part of the day chasing him around the house. As a special surprise to me, he skipped his afternoon nap (which I actually could have used). The U.S. Open was on again, but Tobin's days are no longer punctuated only by diaper changes and feedings. His average day is one filled with pulling up, falling over, testing limits, laughing, playing hard, chasing Hannah, eating a little, and burning more energy and putting in more miles than I would have imagined a pre-walking toddler possibly could. He is a wonder. And a delight. It feels like every day is Father's Day since we have so much time together this summer, but Sunday was a great day to reflect on Tobin's development through the year.

He can't possibly have another year of such rapid development and change, can he? If he does, I'm not sure I can keep up.

Exercise is tiring

Tobin and I took our first trip with the jogging stroller on Tuesday. It was hot, even at 9 in the morning. T giggled through the first quarter-mile or so once we started moving. Then he was silent. I was a little worried, so I stopped for a second to make sure he was OK. He drifted off to sleep and slept all the way back to our house. Any concerns I had about his comfort in the jogging stroller have been allayed. See for yourself:

Sunday, June 17, 2007

A Summer Project

As most of you know, Hannah hurt her back a couple of weeks ago. One of the projects that Tobin and I have taken on this summer is making sure she rests and recuperates. She's doing much better. The trouble we're having the most right now is keeping her from running and jumping. She's excited to be able to move semi-normally again and would definitely take on stairs by herself if we let her. She's got another 10 days or so before she can go on full walks around the neighborhood with Tobin and the whole family, but if she continues to improve at this rate, she'll be almost as good as new pretty soon.

Since this is the Toblog and not the Hannah-blog, you might be wondering why I would talk so much about her here. I was really worried about how she would react to Tobin's playing when she was hobbled. Since there were a few days where she couldn't just trot away from him, I was afraid that we would see signs of defensiveness--and maybe even aggression. Instead, she has been just as patient and gentle with him as ever. He slaps her on the snout every once in a while and (gasp!) smacked her back a few times, but she never reacts with anything but submission. Now that she can walk away again, she'll just move out of his way and find another spot to lie down. I like to think that Tobin is trying to help with her rehabilitation by going to see her when we have to confine her in her crate. He takes every opportunity to let her out when his parents turn their backs. He even brings toys to her in bed sometimes (see pictures). It's not exactly the beginning of summer break that I had planned on, but it's good to see her improving and it's great to see how much Tobin loves her.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Summer Starts

Today was my first day as a full-time dad. It went pretty well. Tobin is feeling a bit under the weather, so we didn't tackle anything too difficult. Feedings went well; napping went not as well, but all things considered it was a good start to our summer. For those of you with Gmail, I'll have a chat window up most of the time when we're at home, so feel free to say hi. If I'm not up to my elbows in puree or playing an important game on the floor, I'll try to say hi back.

Look for more regular Toblog posts as we find our routine.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Twelve-month check-up

Tobin had his 12-month doctor's visit earlier this week. It seems that his "off the charts" numbers continue to come down to more realistic ranges--especially his length, which is closer to where Matt and I probably fall on the growth charts. :) Oh, and I guess his head size is still way up there. Everything looks good overall. We've been fortunate to have had a relatively illness-free late winter/early spring.
Weight = 24 lbs. 10 oz. (75th percentile)
Length = 29.5 inches (40th percentile)
Head = 19 inches (95th percentile)
In other news, we're getting ready for summer. Tobin's preschool has graciously allowed us to take him out for the summer while holding his place for the fall, so T will spend the summer at home with his dad. The school has also allowed Tobin to stay in the infant room until we take him out for the summer. Ordinarily, he would have been promoted to the young toddler class room by his first birthday. He'll start his new class in the fall, not unlike regular school, I guess. We feel like that will be a better time for him to make the transition; we're all a little sad that he has to leave his "baby" class. The only drawback to Tobin staying home with Matt is that I will, admittedly, be envious. But, I've been promised weekly trips to Raleigh so the boys can have lunch with me, and I really don't have it too bad at work as the summer months at the Court tend to be kind of slow and relaxed. I don't feel too guilty leaving early every once in a while.