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Monday, March 08, 2010

Slow talking...


The kid has been a bit slow talking, but at least we may have an explanation.  We went to the audiologist this weekend and learned that Doyle has some fluid in his ears that has reduced his hearing.  We have a follow-up appointment next month to make sure it isn't just left over from the cold he's just getting over, but it would certainly explain a lot, and is easily treated.

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posted by Eric at 11:32 PM Permalink -- 0 Comments

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy New Year!


The grub has turned into a full-fledged little boy. He's still not talking other than a few words, but has demonstrated an uncanny ability to know what we're talking about. We tried the old trick of spelling things when we don't want him to understand, but he quickly learns to recognize the spellings. This has forced us to adopt different techniques of obfuscation, but when the kid learns pig Latin, we're doomed.

Goals for 2010 include talking and potty training.

Happy New Year!

posted by Eric at 6:47 PM Permalink -- 1 Comments

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Happy Halloween!

This was Doyle's second Halloween, and the first one where he was old enough to appreciate the concept of socially acceptable begging.

As always, our front yard became a graveyard, this year with the addition of ground fog. Doyle was a bat, and quickly caught onto the idea of going door to door to get candy from the neighbors. He even more quickly caught onto the concept of eating the treats.

All in all, it was a success.

posted by Eric at 12:22 PM Permalink -- 0 Comments

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Approaching another milestone...

It's hard to believe that the grub is approaching two years old. He's almost 22 months old now. Time has really flown. He walks and runs really well now, and although no words are perfect, has a number of understandable words, and is picking up about one a week. "Ba" is bottle. "Buh" is bubble. "Doog!" is any sort of animal "Bahbay" is a baby. "Cookie!" is, well, cookie, either the food or the monster. He also loves singing the "Oh no!" portion of a preschool song, and says "uh oh!" whenever something unexpected happens. And although the words are not there, he sings several songs with a recognizable melody.

I was looking through my photos, and realize that I've been shooting mostly video, so don't have a lot of photos. I should raid the spouse's camera for photos to post. As for video, I have quite a bit, but it requires editing. And there lies the rub. I don't know when I'm going to find the time. The little man is constantly on the move, and I can hardly keep up with him. Still, it's a fun ride.

posted by Eric at 5:21 PM Permalink -- 0 Comments

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Playground adventures...

The grub is almost 18 months old, and he is growing more independent by the day. This weekend, we visited a playground at a nearby park to see what he thought about it.

The verdict is in. He loved it. He wasn't so sure about the swings at first, but after a second or two of adjusting to the fact that we were no longer holding him, he got a big smile on his face. Next to him, a girl around his age was crying, and he just kept swinging, smiling, and watching her cry.

The big surprise was the slides. A few months ago, he wouldn't even climb the steps onto the play equipment. This time, he not only marched straight up the steps, but then he proceeded to the big (on the 2 to 5 year old equipment, anyway) slide, and launched himself down. When he reached the bottom, he turned around and did it again. And again. The picture here is probably his fifth time down the slide.

After the slide, his favorite activity was the sandbox. He takes his sandbox very seriously, as you can see.

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posted by Eric at 10:52 PM Permalink -- 0 Comments

Sunday, April 12, 2009


Today Doyle met the Giant White Bunny of Evil, possibly a henchman of the Big Red Man of Terror he met in December.



posted by Eric at 12:38 AM Permalink -- 0 Comments

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Toddlers...

Doyle is now a full-blown toddler. Toddlers are demonic. Need proof?


Actually, other than being more active than I can keep up with, he's really good, but doesn't leave me much time to post. :-)

posted by Eric at 5:46 PM Permalink -- 0 Comments

Saturday, February 28, 2009

To the zoo...

Today we were planning on going to the zoo and lunch with friends, but their kid (who's a little older than the grub) was sick, so they had to cancel. It was too nice a day to waste, so we decided to go to the zoo anyway.

This was the first time that the short one spent most of the time on one of our outside outings walking on his own. Because he has a tendency to pick a direction and run, sometimes faster than we can catch him, we tried a toddler leash (it's a small backpack shaped like a lion, the "tail" clips on, and allows you to keep hold) with great success.



After the zoo, we rode on the small steam train at the park. It was a full day.

posted by Eric at 6:07 PM Permalink -- 0 Comments

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

It's been a busy few months

Since Doyle's adventure with the Giant Red Man of Terror, he has really started to turn into a toddler. He walks and even runs everywhere he goes these days, and loves to climb onto anything that he can. We recently got him a mini climber toy with a door to go through and a small slide to go down. He's been playing with the door for a few weeks, but during the last week has really figured out the slide. You can see it in the back left of the picture of him riding on the giraffe scooter. This is the most recent picture of him, taken on Oscar night.

He's also learning new skills by the day. He's learned to open the doors in the house unless you deadbolt them. He's discovered that the remote control makes the television do stuff, and he will walk around the house with the remote to see if it works on other things too. He recently has started playing with the flashlight, and thinks it's great fun since Scarlet, the crazy dachshund, will chase the beam around the room barking. He recognizes that words have meaning, and although he doesn't form them perfectly yet, he has a few words that seem to equate to different concepts.

"Dada" is any adult, or large person, and is a phrase that means "come here," "I want something," "Hey you!" "I want to play," and "You're funny," and about a dozen other phrases you can imagine.

"Baba" is a bottle, sippy cup, or any type of liquid or drink. It is generally said while pointing at the object that he wants.

"Dooohhhh(g)" is dog, but can also mean other creatures with fur.

And although my ears may be deceiving me, I think he sometimes says, "Hi." Either that, or he's agreeing with me in Japanese.

Recently he's started pointing at pictures in books to hear us say the words, and then will point at them again in a different order to hear us say them in a different sequence. This is very funny.

The most recent skill he has learned is picking his nose. Several times this week I have found him with his finger up his nose and the happiest grin on his face. I've tried to convince Katie that he's just pointing at his brain, but she's not convinced.


Katie, who works for the State, has been given two unpaid furlough days a month in order to help reduce the State's budget. It amounts to about a 10% monthly pay cut. On the other hand, it does give her some free time. Since I have almost maxed out my vacation time, we used the first furlough in February as an excuse to travel to see the elephant seals near Cambria.

It was a long drive, and Doyle was a bit cranky, so he probably didn't get the most enjoyment out of watching the seals as I had hoped, but he did look at them for a while, and then promptly realized that the squirrel hanging out nearby was much more interesting.

As a baby, Doyle was fun. As a toddler, he is awesome.

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posted by Eric at 11:31 PM Permalink -- 0 Comments

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Close Encounters of the Santa Kind...


I have come to the conclusion that Santa Claus is inherently terrifying. Today Doyle, who is now 13 months old, went to visit Santa at the mall for the first time.

A little bit of background: Doyle is not generally shy with strangers, and a ton of people have held him without any problem whatsoever. With that said, I figured at most he would be a little bit uncomfortable with Santa.

We woke up bright and early this morning to head down to the mall, and get in line early, so that Doyle wouldn't be tired when he met the man in red himself. He loved looking at all the props, all of the other kids in line, and the nice workers. Then came the time for Santa to hold him. Santa, who was very friendly, just barely touched Doyle when Doyle started screaming as if he was being murdered. After recognizing that this wouldn't work, Santa slid over, and I sat with Doyle while Mom tried to distract Doyle from the Giant Red Man of Terror lurking over his right shoulder.

So, why is Santa so frightening? I've been trying to figure this out from Doyle's standpoint. Is he just afraid of beards? Or is the overload of red in the costume, red, of course, being nature's warning color? Or is there some pheromone of fear lingering around from thousands of terrified children that babies can detect? I guess I'll never know, but the next three kids had the exact same reaction.

Even the older children appeared nervous, but them I can understand. They are going to meet The Man. They only get one opportunity each year to make a good impression on this celebrity among celebrities, who will determine whether they have been naughty or nice. Make a bad impression, and you'll be getting socks for years to come.

Finally, what effect does this have on Santa Claus? Does Santa, like many dentists, suffer from depression as a result of the fear he inspires in children? He is, of course, the greatest philanthropist the world has ever known. He spends a whole year preparing in the hope of bringing some small glimmer of joy to children around the world. And children fear him. This has got to take its toll.

posted by Eric at 5:38 PM Permalink -- 0 Comments


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