Year: 2008

For five months I’ve been watching Conrad sleep on his back, aware that if he were somehow able to roll over onto his stomach, that would be bad. Now that he can move around much more easily, it’s okay for him to sleep on his side and his stomach. Right now, for the second night, he’s asleep on his side. No matter how many times I’ve been told it’s okay, it is still freaking me the hell out.

Lots of new photos on the Flickr page, including photos from our trip to LA, not that you would know it from looking at them. We really need to get better at taking the camera outside.

A few months ago my lifelong friend Bill, who got to fatherhood many years ahead of me, asked me to describe the biggest change parenthood had brought to my life. I’ve thought about the question many times since. For one thing, I’m always slightly damp, either from wrangling the baby, playing with the baby or being underneath the baby when he erupts. But I’ve been slightly damp for my entire adult life, so that’s not a huge change.

Sometime in the first few weeks I realized I was doing a lot of things in the dark for fear of waking the baby, but now he’s in his own room and on a relatively regular schedule, so that’s not much of a factor anymore.

At some point in the last month, probably during the trip to LA, I realized I was making ridiculous faces and singing to Conrad in public with absolutely no concern for what anyone nearby might think. At first that seemed like a big change but in retrospect I’ve done lots of goofy things – intentionally – in front of audiences large and small. So not a big deal.

Today, however, it all became clear when I found myself on the lawn at Weaver Street Market, our local organic co-op, dancing with Conrad to the music of a really not particularly all that good post-hippie cover band. “I hope I don’t see anyone I know,” I thought, and then realized that everyone I knew who might be critical was still asleep and the rest have kids. And so on I danced. I did not, however, twirl or hoop. Parenthood can only change me so much.

Yesterday we flew to Los Angeles so that Jean could present a poster at the American Library Association annual meeting. “I’m not really sure what it means to “present a poster.” Do you just point at it and go, “Ta da!”? I suppose I could ask her but Conrad is nursing and I’ve been shushed.”

As many of you know, or if you didn’t already and know me, could have guessed, I was more than a little apprehensive about this trip. I’m far too concerned about disturbing other people and I imagined all kinds of uncomfortable scenarios. I realize in retrospect they all boiled down to, “What if he cries?”

Well he did cry, maybe two or three times in the combined five or so hours we were on planes: once or twice because he was hungry and once because he was tired. And it wasn’t a big deal. Nobody gave us the stinkeye. Nobody rolled his eyes. Mostly people smiled and waved at Conrad. On the first leg to Chicago we were in the bulkhead row immediately behind first class, and one slick-looking businessman passed us a blanket unbidden, just because he knew we could use it.

One colleague recommended a strategy which may well have paid off. “Just keep standing up and letting everybody see how cute he is.”

All in all a much more positive experience than I predicted, with the added benefit that our trip at the end of July – just to Chicago and no further – should feel like a short hop.

One complaint, however. I’ve been flying for 37 years. The year I have a baby is the year that American Airlines stops allowing pre-boarding for parents traveling with young children?

Like every new parent in America we have a copy of the book “What to Expect the First Year,” a.k.a. “Rate Your Baby.” It lists milestones that babies may or may not reach at different stages of development. Conrad has usually been ahead of the curve on most of them “in case you missed that subtle subtext in previous posts” but has been lagging behind in his ability to make “wet razzing noises.” And we all know what a valuable skill that is. Today he made up for it in spades.

WARNING: This video contains scenes of drool that non-grandparents may find disturbing.

But on a completely different level.