Eating Solids for the First Time

Caden had his 4 month appt recently and here is the update. Oh yeah, its his first attempt at solid food. Haha

4 Months Today

Caden baby turns four months today. We are on the eve of my third week of staying home with him. Its been tough. He isn't the easiest baby. Very needy and demanding. We are in the process (as of yesterday) of changing some things from Sarah's time at home. The baby is in the habit of crying and being rescued immediately. He hasn't learned to do much by himself or to deal with frustration very well. So implementing a new strategy there. He also hasn't been on a nighttime routine. Normally he eats right before he starts to get tired and then if he doesn't fall asleep during the bottle, we walk him around until he passes out in our arms. Tonight we are trying something new. Moved the glider upstairs into his room, so feeding him up there, rocking him, reading a book, and putting him into his crib before he falls asleep. This may all sound a little boring, but believe me, its anything but that at our house in the evening. Will keep you updated if it works.

Leslie flew out this weekend to visit. Her friend ran in the Vegas marathon today so she had double the reason to come to town. She is going to work with Sarah tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, I'm taking Caden to his 4 month doctor appointment and he gets shots, weighed, stuffed, and baked. Or something like that.

We put our fake Xmas tree up yesterday. Well, I didn't, I worked while Leslie and Sarah decorated. The house looks festive although we are missing presents under the tree. We normally wrap our presents and put them under our tree until its time to mail or give them out. Not doing that this year. After 2 months of Sarah not getting a paycheck, we won't be able to give presents to anyone except the 6 youngsters in the family. We will be sending out cards with a family pic in the next week, so you can be looking for that in the mail.

I'm working from home and going to campus once a week until February. It was really nice to go to work last Friday and laugh and complain with the other teachers. It was fantastic to see some students. I definitely miss the interaction. This is the first job Ive ever had where I miss being at work when I have a day off, a long weekend, or even the summer. Strange.

For posterity:

• The New England Patriots are 11-0 and going for #12 tomorrow. They are the best regular season football team Ive seen in 27 years of watching football. They should go 16-0, hopefully.
• Evel Knievel passed away at 69. Died in the back of an ambulance on the way to the hospital. He's lucky he lived this long.
• Saw No Country for Old Men which should win best picture. Its about getting old, and hitmen.
• Also saw Into the Wild, that movie REALLY affected me. I hope Emile Hirsh gets nominated for best actor. Sean Penn blew the directing though, probably wont be in the best picture category but close. Makes me want to visit Slab City.
  

Finally Added a New Video

It's nothing exciting, but we shot a little footage of Caden playing in his newest toy, his jumpero/
Click here and go to the bottom of the page to see the newest video.

Hope everybody's Thanksgiving went well. Sarah cooked a fabulous dinner and we had Donna and Maurie at our home. Spent the evening at a party with some of Sarah's family friends, Annette and Gary. All and all it was a good first Thanksgiving for Caden.

Week 16.5

I'm sitting at home right now while the baby is sleeping and Sarah is off getting her classroom ready. She goes back to work tomorrow and I take over with the Mr. Mom gig. Sarah is in the process of trying to sift through the crud that is a 3 month sub. What a nightmare.

It should be a very trying experience staying home with Caden. While Im super excited to do the paternity thing, Ive been so wrapped up in school that I can't help but miss not being there. Plus, I have TONS to do and will try to fit that in to the time that Caden is sleeping, nights, and weekends. So 2 full time jobs for the next 3 months. Nevertheless, very stoked about the whole thing.

Caden's newest thing is that he giggles when you tickle him. Its pretty cute but he hasn't done it for me yet, only for mama. Will have to practice with him this week. He also loves sitting up so we found a Bumbo seat for him at the consignment store, he likes it.

We took family portraits at this meat market used car dealership processing photo plant yesterday. It could of been worse, but I was very up front with the photographer/saleswoman and she had to go against "company protocol" to accommodate me. It was either that or I walked so she saved her sale and worked with us. We made it out of there in an hour with all our Xmas presents in hand (Oh yeah, we are really poor so you all get photos this year). We couldnt get him to smile, he was on sensory overload, but the pics still turned out good.

Big News!!! Caden slept through the night the last 4 evenings. 8 hour spurts, extraordinary.
We found out early this week that he wasnt getting enough food the all natural way so we started mixing with formula (similac child, driving me wild (old rap song, sorry)). As soon as he began getting full in the evenings, he started sleeping better. Imagine that. Just in time for daddy too, what a sport.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday.

For posterity:

• Brett Favre and Vinny Testaverde matched up today in the oldest combined age of 2 starting QB's in NFL history. 82 years.
• Barry Bonds was indicted by a grand jury, druggie
• Caden's eyes are still blue, really hoping they stay
  

2 Things

1. We added a few new pics
2. I changed the title/feed of my education blog if you want to read/subscribe to my ed life.



I almost met Mark Cuban this week, check the blog to see how.

The Day I Almost Unofficially Met Mark Cuban.com

Cross posted at The First Day of Kindergarten

I almost got to ask Mark Cuban a question today. If I would have, that means we might have almost unofficially met. He looked right at me...... I got nervous, but I was ready...... I thought for sure he was going to call on me....... but at the last second he passed. Off to the next man with his hand up. I don't feel sad, don't worry. I am a little disappointed though. He seems to know a lot about the internet, and I really wanted a quote from him to share with you, my students. Here is how the story goes.

I was attending the Blog World Expo which is the largest gathering of bloggers on the planet. DONT STOP READING NOW, this isnt all geeky. So anyway, I was sitting with 500 or so other bloggers at the closing Keynote address listening to internet guru Mr. Cuban (also owner of the Dallas Mavericks) about authentic blogging and something struck me. I wonder if he has any visions for education? He knows a lot about business, a lot about basketball, tons and tons about the internet, what about education? A lot of our modern pioneers have visions for changing education to bring American students into the forefront of the information revolution and help them escape from the industrial one (see Bill Gates). I wonder if Mr. Cuban does too? So, I thought, phrased, and garnished the nerve for 10 long minutes to ask him this one question:

Considering that the public education system is light years behind the real world and blogging is almost nonexistent in schools, do you see any role for blogging and Web 2.0 in high schools?

My question is still out there to you Mr. Cuban. My students would love to hear your answer.

14 Weeks Today

I just had to call Sarah and ask how many weeks its been since Caden was born. Geez, Im out of touch...

So whats going on with the baby:
He has had an upset belly or intestinal tract or viral infection or bacterial infection for the last couple weeks. We dont know yet and in order to find out we have to collect samples to take to the testing lab. Unfortunately its hard to get samples of green water. Yuck!

He laughs all the time. Very cute smile and giggle. I will put some more pics up as soon as possible. He is trying to sit up a lot. Whenever he is on his back in a somewhat inverted position he tries to do a crunch. Good news is he will have a strong core. Bad news is that he falls to the side which is dangerous when he is elevated. Its to the point where we have to watch him all the time because he always repositioning himself. Whether its trying to sit up, turning to his side (from his back), rolling over from his stomach, or launching himself up with his fat legs.

Sarah is getting really close to going back to work. She only has another 10 days and then the baton gets passed to me.

I had a fantastic conference in LouAhville, Kentucky this week. My presentation at VSS went smoothly, and I made a lot of connections. In fact, a lady from Norway wants her school to do a project with our school so we are getting ready to set that up. I toured the Louisville Slugger Museum which is an operating factory so I saw bats being carved, dipped, and embossed right before my very eyes.

Im sitting at a cafe table at the Blog World Expo right now. Its the largest bloggers show on the planet. My school is open minded enough to pay for me to come here, thats pretty awesome.

For Posterity:

• Aqua Dots have GHB, the date rape drug in them so have been recalled, thanks China
• The NBA season just started. Ironically, hm hm, it began just 3 days after the World Series ended. I wonder if TV has anything to do with that?