Mama
Max can say Mama and Dada now, and he seems to understand what they mean. He’ll crawl up to me going “dadadadadadadada” and then crawl back to George saying “mamamamamamama.”
Max’s First Meal
I’ve been anxious to give Max something other than milk or formula for a while now, but George and our doctor wanted to wait until he was 6 months old. I did sneak a grain of rice and later a tiny piece of bread into his mouth, but for the most part they got their way. Lately Max has been very curious about our food and drink, so last night George finally relented – time for rice cereal!
George made the cereal very runny, the idea being that his little stomach couldn’t handle too much at first. I tried a bit on my finger and thought it tasted awfully sweet. “That’s made with breast milk you know,” George informed me. Ah.
Anyway, what did Max think? At first he wasn’t quite sure how to deal with food entering his mouth via something other than a nipple. Mostly it dribbled out while he tried his usual sucking motion. Still, some made its way to the back of his mouth and he got a little taste.
He loved it! It was like a light went on in his head and he suddenly realized what this strange substance in the bowl was for. He was very excited and immediately wanted more.
Unsatisfied with the speed of our spooning, he took matters into his own hands. He grabbed the bowl, gnawing at the edge.
It took a bit of convincing, but he stopped sucking on the bowl long enough to try the spoon again. Of course, he maintained a firm grip on the bowl just in case.
This kid clearly likes rice cereal.
I’d say he got about 20% into his mouth, and the rest was on his clothes, hands, high chair, and on the floor. Still, a promising start!
The full gallery is here.
Laughing!
Last weekend I was driving home from Oregon in our new family car, and Max was at home with George. She was blowing on his feet, and out of nowhere he started laughing! I wish I was there to see it, but at least she caught it on video. I’m still waiting to see it in person.
Oh, and here’s our new car!
Making Noises
Max has been learning new skills by the day, and for his 12 week birthday he impressed me with a new one. He’s always liked it when I make a raspberry noise (pthththththhth!), and now he can do it right back. It took him a little while – first he learned to stick his tongue out just a bit, then he started exhaling at the same time, and now he applies just enough pressure to get the noise. It’s adorable, and he loves doing it with me.
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Ultrasound Pictures
I just can’t get over these ultrasound pictures. The first one was taken at 9 weeks, and the second was taken Monday (12 weeks).
Frankfurt
The flight here was about as nice as a plane flight can be. We had good food and wine, a bed to sleep in, and plenty of space. We managed to sleep about 6 hours on the plane, and when we arrived it was around noon in Frankfurt.
We caught a cab from the airport (coincidentally driven by a guy whose family is from Crete) and checked into the hotel. We thought getting out and about would fend off the jet lag, but it was still pretty hard to stay alert.
Frankfurt itself is a fairly generic city; it could be easily mistaken for any large city in the US. We stumbled upon a street fair with lots of beer and food. The beer was really good, and the food wasn’t as bad as we’d been told. We had sausage, potato salad, and onion cake.
From there we walked along the river where there was another street fair and concert. By then we were exhausted and headed back to the hotel.
We both took am Ambien, but I was only able to sleep for four hours. It’s now 4am and I’ve been up since around midnight. We have a plane to Athens at 9. Hopefully we can stay awake the entire day.
Red Bull Air Race
Jason and Ann took me to the Red Bull Air Race in San Diego this weekend, and it was a ton of fun. We had a perfect view, good weather, and the racing was even better than I expected. I rented a big lens to capture the action, and for my first attempt at sports photography I thought it went pretty well.
There is a gallery of my favorites here and a couple highlights below.
Fatass – Day 2
I’m training again, and coincidentally we’ve started another fatass competition at work. The competition works like this: we all pitch in 100 bucks, and the person who loses the most weight (as a percentage of their starting weight) wins half the money, and the person who loses the most fat (as a percentage of their starting fat) wins the other half. I have won this contest twice before, taking both categories each time.
- 2003: 243 lbs -> 190 lbs
- 2004: 210 lbs -> 180 lbs
- 2007: 217 lbs -> ?
You might think I’m proud of my previous wins, but they only serve as a reminder that I’ve done all this before, only to waste a good deal of my effort by putting the weight back on. Of course, weight isn’t the whole story, and I am still in far better shape than I was in 2003. In any case, I’m determined that this will be the last time I lose weight. Since my last win, I think I’ve figured out how to maintain my weight and fitness without spending an inordinate amount of time at the gym. For now however, that’s just what I need. I plan to:
- Go to the gym at least 10 times per week – twice a day on weekdays and one longer workout on Saturday or Sunday.
- Eat 2000 calories per day – about 900 calories from carbs, 900 from protein, and 200 from fat. This will come from 4-5 smaller meals spread evenly throughout the day.
- Not drink during the week and not get drunk on the weekends.
I’ve done this before, and I know I have the willpower to do it for at least 5 months. After that I’ll work out a more reasonable 3-5 times per week. Once in shape, my goals include the following (all of which used to be true):
- The ability to run 3 miles in under 21 minutes, 5 miles in under 40 minutes, and 10 or more miles always at a pace faster than 9 minutes/mile.
- Maintain a weight in the 175-180 range, with no more than a 3 pound variation.
- Bike at least 30 miles.
- Have a resting heart rate near 50.
- Complete an Olympic distance triathlon in well under 3 hours (whether I will actively do triathlons is another story).
Losing weight is just the first step; some of those goals will take a while longer to achieve. I’ve done it before though.
American Gladiators
I have a problem with the new American Gladiators, specifically the Eliminator event. What’s the point of trying on the barrel roll or the hand bike? It’s a lot quicker to just give up on those and run across the pit. Even climbing back up the other side after the hand bike doesn’t take as long as trying to use the damn thing.
And where the fuck are the giant hamster balls?
