Green Bouncy Chair

Schuyler's Dad humiliates himself with a version of 'Green Bouncy Chair' sung to the tune of 'Yellow Submarine'. Schuyler seems very interested given the mediocrity of the entertainment on offer.

a couple of firsts

Now that the water temperature has hit a barely tolerable 79.6 degrees Fahrenheit, we decided it was time for Schuyler to "sink or swim". It turns out she sort of does something in between. Her first swim was very successful - we even tested her diving reflex (more in a subsequent post). She wasn't too pissed off and almost seemed to enjoy it. She must be Bermudian.

In related "firsts" news, Schuyler slept through the night. Whenever i heard people talk about their child sleeping through the night i would always think that the child was now leaving their parents to slumber for eight good hours. But no. Apparently, the doctor defines 5 hours straight as "sleeping through the night". Only a doctor with their 48 hour shifts would define a full night's sleep as five hours but i have to tell you that it felt damn fine.

Sticks and Stats

A traumatic day for young Schuyler who had her two month check up today which included two injections to innoculate her against - among other things - polio and common infant viruses. She was unamused. The tears flowed. The new parents laughed and comforted. And Schuyler was adorned with Peanuts brand bandages which apparently condone the psychiatric services she will find so vitally useful in undoing the constant psychic damage we are doing to her.

She is now 23.1" long with a head circumference of 15"... so she's longer than most but with slightly smaller head (we didn't want a bigheaded girl anyway). She also clocked in at 11lbs 11 oz - I guess that breast milk really works.

Baby To Go

Sometimes Daddy just doesn't have a spare hand when heading upstairs...

The Plump Pink Smurf

If smurfs were chubby and pink, Schuyler would be able to infiltrate their clan and learn all their smurf secrets. This is her sexually stereotyped sleepwear and the hat that doesn't quite fit yet.

It's been quite a social weekend: last night, Schuyler stayed with her godmother/aunt Ardleigh while we went to Charlotte and Andrew's wedding. It was very odd to be "free" and temporarily childless for the evening as well as be around a lot of other adults. It was kind of like those stories of prisoners who are released and no longer know how to interact with other people. I guess we are becoming institutionalised so this break was great for us (thanks, Ard). I got to have a conversation that didn't involve the word "poop".

Tonight, Schuyler had French lessons... well, we went to Priscillia and Alex's house for dinner where the other guests gave Schuyler a taste of what true french (director from France) sounds like rather than her dad's vague memories and mediocre pronounciation. Even her "waaaas" now sound like "oui"s.

Schuyler had a little lamb

The lights are on and somebody's home. Where there was once only a basic need for food and cleaning, there is now a little person in those big (temporarily) blue eyes. Maybe there is an intelligent designer: just when the novelty generated enthusiasm of the first hard month wears thin, they start to smile (which I read as "Thank you for wiping my bum at 3am, Dad"). Moreover, Schuyler is especially smirky in the mornings which is lucky for her on mornings like this morning when she decided that she needed various bodily functions met at 5am, 6am and 7am. She's an enthusiastic, curious baby so far and not a whole lot of trouble (which is odd considering her parentage) and we're beginning to fall pretty hard for this little girl.

Some milestones

She's making more sounds and made the famous "razz" noise this morning which is the same one i think teenagers use for "whatever". She's much more focused on faces and recognises basic relationships now e.g. "I'm on the changing table now - I can chill" or "That is the burp cloth, I can end the baby siren - food's a comin'".

She also has reached for objects (with her mouth - the arms are still being test driven) and she can hold her head quite steadily and do some baby push ups.

Her eyes give no real sign what colour they will be. Some days they hint at brown (expected) and some days a green hue. Her baby hair is falling out leaving a very attractive 80's mullet in the back which we'll have to photograph for her 18th birthday party.

I've been reading to her still from the politics textbook and she strangely frowned during the chapter on dictatorship and fascism. It's a real comfort to know that she won't have lived through much of the Bush dynasty.

Beach Bunny

In an attempt to comingle exercise with an injection of normalcy, we packed up the little one and headed to the beach... well, to the pool. Well, the poolside. Still, we got in the water which is really what mattered. Schuyler played lifeguard from the distant poolside, offering cautious reminders about the hazards of skylarking near the water's edge. We kept her in the shade because of a minor debate about the appropriateness of sunscreen on infants (Baby 411 says "yes", What To Expect says "no" - what's a parent to do? Make up their own minds themselves?).

Now and then...

June 10, 2008
June 10, 2006

undercover

I've been trying to fully capture Schuyler's big open smile that she tends to reserve for the mornings (or for when she is ridding herself of gas) and i finally got one. Apologies for today's pic being so similar to yesterday's.

Dad Day

Well, I'm officially a "Dad". While I received no neckties, I did have a joyous sleep in this morning and some homecooked scrambled eggs with tomato, basil and lardon courtesy of the lady of the house (tomorrow i'll have to return to cooking duties).

It is a little freaky and bizarre knowing that, from now on, Father's Day will have meaning for me beyond giving thanks to my own father for the emotional bounty he has given me - that this darling little girl is stuck with me for a Dad. If there is anything that makes you want to be a better man, it is the weight of a sleepy, smilely infant on your shoulder as you try and type one handed into this blog.

In between all the diapers and feeds, we try and squeeze in some parenting and it is hard. We constantly chide ourselves for not reading to her more (although she has almost had three chapters of my politics textbook read to her and is a bona fide expert in social contract theory). Since stumbling into adulthood, i've been humbled by the little things my parents did to teach me how to live a full and happy life. Standing at the beginning of Schuyler's life, I hope I can listen, love and learn with her so that one day she can feel as proud of her parents as I am of mine.

By any other name...

When Schuyler was in utero she was only known as "The Baby"...we never had any other nicknames for her.
Now that she is here, however, we have made up for lost time. Some of her more frequently used monikers are:

• Schuyler Bunny
• Schuyler Bear
• Pookie Bear
• Pachelbel
• Schuyler Belle
• Schannabelle
• Annabelle

[Schuyler Young wears a white cotton onesie sourced by G.Kim on a soft aqua blanket by Aunt Cecilia; accessories: silver rattle (model's mother's provided by Grandma Tobe)]

Geek Offspring

Schuyler's reaction upon hearing the truth about her father...

Look at the Pink Bunny!

Schuyler has made a new friend. A pink nameless bunny. And she looks pleased with herself which may or may not have something to do with the fact that she pooped all over her Daddy's shirt. Probably not. But, in any case, Daddy will be sure to bring this event up at significant birthdays in front of boys she fancies.

In other news, we're pretty darn pleased with young Schuyler's performance on the sleep front last night: she slept from 10pm - 4am and then went right back to sleep until 7ish. Heaven.

Lil Miss Fussy Face

If they ever want to expand the range of the Lil Miss series, they should include Schuyler's four moods:

Little Miss Concerned (for anything she doesn't yet undertstand... which covers pretty much everything at the moment)

Little Miss Happy (a new face, just emerging which is melting my cold, stoney heart) [Left top]

Little Miss Sleepy (one of our favourites)

Little Miss Fussy Face (used to convey "I'm hungry" also "I'm taking a poo" - we try not to confuse them) [Left Bottom]

ESP mobile

Knowing that her verbal communication skills will take days, if not weeks, longer to develop fully, we have begun Schuyler on the classic Zener ESP tests to see if we can communicate with her that way. This is taking some time to work out as she has yet to understand that her hands are her hands... which has slowed down the pointing process. She does however seem pretty enamoured with the sharply contrasting lines. Then again, she was pretty taken with a ceiling fan the other day so you have to wonder how discerning her taste is.

www.schuyleryoung.com

Schuyler's handlers have cursed the poor infant with geek genes. To ensure that the only 'sports' team she will ever join will be the Mathletes, we have purchased http://www.schuyleryoung.com/ so the little lady will have her very own dot com... we wanted to move early as a young (and extremely tormented) poet was itching to make a move on the name (what IS truth, after all?)... not to mention the young actor who starred in the fantastic (if seldom seen) Overton High School production of "The Stage Door" (playing the the role of "Frank" with a panache not seen since Mariah Carey danced her way through "Glitter"). www.schuyleryoung.com will link to this blog and, at the very least, give her father some practice spelling her name.

Smiley Happy Baby

Schuyler has really been practicing her smiles. At the time this photo was taken I believe she was laughing at Mommy's hair which hasn't seen a lot of attention lately.

Over one month old

Ten days to go. Well, approximately. In ten days, Schuyler will be six weeks old. Six weeks is now a magical number. It is the mystical date when God makes everything better. According to every book, anecdote, discussion board, and website, something transcendent and divine takes place at six weeks and everything about parenting becomes easier. I also think it is the week people begin drinking in the mornings. Things have already gotten a little easier: we're getting used to five hours of interrupted sleep; we're not lying half awake trying to keep an ear out for apnea; we have whittled many of the new activities down into a practised expertise (just watch us change a diaper full of poo); and most importantly, she is showing signs of personhood that make us awake to the intangible majesty of new life. If she perfects the smile she's working on, i'm going to be a very poor disciplinarian.

[Schuyler Young (above) wears a Baby Gap onesie and a pure cotton hat (model's own)]

Reading Party

Unsatisfied with her current vocabulary of "waaa" and "eh eh", we embarked on an expedited regimen of nightly readings. "Goodnight Moon" is an obvious choice and is in high rotation, however, "My Snuggle Puppy" - where the reader is forced to sing the words to a song whose melody is unknown but whose refrain is mostly the word "puppy" - is also a new favourite. Although i have occasionally made her cry with my high C#. And most of my other notes for that matter. Here's hoping for a scholarship one day because Schuyler's mum and dad won't be able to cough up the quarter million it'll cost to send her to university in 2026.