bad father

so yesterday i kicked a puppy. by puppy i mean son, and by kicked i mean let fall headfirst into slate-covered concrete. turns out it is about the same feeling. not that i have done a lot of puppy kicking in my time, but i experience the same amount of shame explaining my son's accidental fall as i imagine i would confessing i intentionally kicked a six week old golden retriever who was going to be trained as a seeing eye dog for some kind hearted, cookie baking grandmother. in other words i feel like absolute crap.

not that it was on purpose or anything, but when your son takes the worst digger of his short life on your watch, you begin to question your aptitude as a parent. in fact, for some reason he takes all his hardest bumps under my supervision. now i want him to be a rough and tumble boy, but i also want him to live long enough to see his first birthday.

the fall was not spectacular or anything, he was standing, holding onto the gate at the side of annie's parents place, i was right behind him, and all of a sudden he slips and whacks the right side of his forehead on the ground. he only cried about 20 seconds (he was more upset by me trying to put an ice pack on than the lump itself) and then he wanted to get back down so he could play some more. i freaked out a bit, checking websites and calling pediatricians to make sure he was not concussed. turns out he is fine, resuming his normal, active routine today, even as our house is being pseudo demolished, which is a story for a different time.

on a lighter note, we spent a part of the afternoon at the beach today, and isaac had his first experience in the ocean. it is fairly ridiculous that it is the end of july, we live in san diego, and that he is just now getting into the ocean, but we wanted it to be a family affair. he was absolutely ecstatic, loving his time in the water, pictures are below. i am sure there will be many return trips.

be a-g-g-r-e-s-s-i-v-e

isaac is a beast. a bruiser. a monster. there is probably not a day that goes by that somebody doesn't make a comment about how we have got a football player on our hands. they don't tell us we have a quarterback mind you, they tell us we have a linebacker. rather than the guy who is tall and handsome and gets all the chicks, we have the guy that is big and fast and yells obscenities when he tackles people.

we had further confirmation yesterday when annie picked him from the nursery at church. apparently he had spent the morning taking the binki's from all the other children, and they informed her that he is "a bit aggressive". not that it comes as a huge shock to us, but it was a little amusing coming a sweet woman who takes care of dozens of other peoples' kids for hours at a time. a little embarrassing at first, we quickly came to realize it is just part of his personality, and therefore part of our world. other delightful aspects include the fact that:

in our world every toy eventually becomes a percussion instrument or projectile.

in our world there is 16 half gallons of milk in the fridge right now b/c it was on wicked sale and our son drinks 8-10 ounces several times each day.

in our world grammy saves the poop b/c it is so huge it defies logic. yep. serious. the exact description was "the biggest poop i have ever seen a child take".

in our world all i can do is grin, chuckle to myself, and say "that's my boy!"

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we also had some good, non-aggressive time with friends at moonlight beach tonight.

the two isaac's. my isaac is the one putting sand in his mouth.

brighton treats isaac very well. he is always making sure that he has enough food.

swinging is a new favorite.

summer is halfway over...

"oh boy! swimming at the loomis' pool. thanks debbie!"

the 4th was great. dad and i swam together...

and we ate lots of food and relaxed with friends.

playing with some of the menconi cousins

the drake girls were in town for a few days...

we played and played...

and ate and ate.

my friend, brighton turned 3. it was my first time at a birthday party.

grammy got me a new fire engine. i think i am pretty hot stuff.

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isaac turned 11 months today which means in exactly one month he will be a year old. it is a bit insane to consider this fact, so we are trying to distract ourselves by pinning our son down long enough to change his diaper. it is not nearly as easy as it sounds and, in fact, the only ways to actually achieve this are to 1) find a toy he will be occupied with long enough, or more likely 2) wrap your legs around him is such a way that his movement is severely limited yet your access to those little velcro tabs is not. apparently he's got places to go and stuff to stick in his mouth so he can't be bothered with things like pants.

his new favorite game is to flip light switches, especially the ones that turn on and off the many ceiling fans throughout our house. he will push the switch with his thumb, then turn around to see the magic of electricity at work. it will immediately put him in a good mood when he wakes up from his nap all grumpy. oh, if only all of life were full of such simple joys.

jeah!

according to the little ticker, this is the 100th post to this blog, and one can't help but get all sentimental on occasions like this. ah, i remember the day annie asked me to start this thing, i remember the way the name of the blog came about, and most recently i remember thinking, "crap, i should have thought of a better name." isaac will have a sibling in approximately 6 months, God willing, and even if it is another boy it would have to be ourthugsons or ourthugsonz if we want to be gansta about it. i suppose it is too late to change the name but i just hope s/he isn't offended.

simple prayers, simple pleasures

it is funny how having a child both complicates and simplifies your life. the complications are easy enough to identify: it now takes at least 25 minutes to get out of the house when it used to take 4, the number of toys is our house has increased at least 30 fold, and the cleaning protocol on certain levels has tightened significantly. the simplifications, on the other hand, are sometimes tougher to recognize.

i have noticed lately, however, that my prayers have become much more basic. yesterday my main concern was simple enough: lord, help my son poop...please. he hadn't gone in a few days, and it was starting to make him a little grouchy, which constipation has the tendency to do, especially when your feces resembles fist-sized, mostly dry, lumps of clay. fortunately my request was granted affirmatively and often in the past day or so, and things are pretty much back to normal.

tonight at bath time he kicked his legs enthusiastically as he laid back in his plastic tub, splashing water and noise all over the place. i've often had to remind myself lately that i am not in a hurry, and that i can take the time to enjoy little moments. other times i must remind myself to be on high alert, like when i am sitting behind him on the 8th stair, making sure he does not tip over backwards and tumble down the previous 7. either way he is an absolute joy.