One measure of progress

two flashlights

The First Casualty

The first casualty of childhood...Mr. Peacock loses a feather.

nicknames for the baby

noodle
noodley-noods
noods
noodsie
noodsie-fresh
fresh noodle
noodenheimer
sweetie
sweetnoodle
snoodle
snoods
snoodsie
sadie-mcghee
sadie-cakes
sadie-sades
snugs
snugsie malone (if she were a gangster)
snug bug
snug bug rug
noodle snugs
pooks
pookie pants
poopsie-mcghee
pumpkin
pootie pants
poots
noodle nugget
noodle nugget snugs

THE FUTURE IS LOVE!

This is my new baby girl, fresh from her bath and all wrapped up in a frog towel. She means more to me than just about anything in the whole world.

I just wanted to say how much I love all my family too.

To my wife, my in-laws, my parents, sister and extended family --

I love you!

Somehow in the face of such a perfect baby, all the imperfections of the world seem like window-dressing for a scheme much grander and so beautiful that none of us can possibly imagine it!

Well, okay, I take that back. I'll imagine it: the human race expands throughout the universe, throughout space-time, and finally comes to know itself...

My Baby Girl

This is my baby girl, born Thursday, March 12th, at 10:57 am via C-section.

I imagine her as a cosmic astronaut, finally come home.

She's still getting used to her body, and Mom and I are still getting used to having this beautiful baby.

I imagine she could grow up to be a real astronaut, traveling in outer space.

I imagine all the things she'll see, the great changes in 'the world,' that I will not live to see.

Leaving the cafeteria in the hospital with a cup of coffee, I told the cashier I was a new father and we were scheduled to be discharged that day with our new baby girl. The cashier said, "Now she gets to meet the world."

It was raining outside, the day we drove her home.

Now, staring at that word -- "world," it looks misspelled. You know how that happens? You stare at a word long enough and it starts to seem strange, somehow misshapen.

World. Whorled. Whirled. World.

With my new baby on the way...

...and, in fact, scheduled to arrive on March 12th via c-section, I found this article in the New York Times, about the "extraordinary social skills of an infant" to be quite amusing.

Cable TV on the fritz?

Watch the baby:

Other anthropologists have made the startling discovery that children have entertainment value, and that among traditional cultures without television or Internet access, a bobble-headed baby is the best show in town.

The American Dream is still alive and kicking.

I went to have an infant car seat installed at the fire department today. My wife and I are expecting our first child soon -- within a month. Talking to the firemen as they finished up the paper work, one of them told me about his own son, who since the age of three has wanted nothing to do with his mother -- "It's daddy all the way," said the man. Then he added that his son wants to be a fireman. He seemed disappointed in this. "Don't want him to follow in your footsteps?" I asked him. He shook his head no and then said, "I want him to make more money." It struck me how poignant that notion is -- the American Dream, no less.