Another day, another milestone...

A short time ago today, he rolled (with assistance via using my hand to pull himself) from his back to his front.

But then he rolled back onto his back by himself.

Cool.

Six down, two hundred and ten to go...

The Dude turned one-half yesterday. We celebrated by feeding him pears from a jar, letting him play with toys all day (when he wasn't napping), and updating his web pages.

It was good to see him again after the conclusion early Friday morning of my trip to Illinois. The trip back was eventful - Manchester was socked in with fog all day and we were stuck at the gate in Chicago for about an hour waiting for the fog to lift. Finally, we took off before the airport opened, as the weather forecast was for the fog to be dispersed by rain by the time we arrived. It was a crapshoot, but it worked out - though we had to circle for about 20 minutes after arrival they were able to get us in.

By the way, Southwest rocks. Everyone was nice, including the pilot (who was very entertaining before we left), and everyone kept us well-informed the whole time. All that for $165 round trip.

Anyhow, we landed around 1 AM, and I arrived home at 2:15 in the morning. Thankfully, my bag was one of the first off the plane. When I got in, Jane woke up to greet me, and I unpacked quickly and went into David's room to see him.

It smelled bad. So I picked him up out of bed, and changed his diaper. While I was changing him, he woke up, looked at me, and smiled.

I think that moment may have been the happiest I've felt in a long time. And I've had some pretty good moments.

On a tangent from that, I have a general policy when it comes to purchasing meats and poultry. I only buy either Kosher or organic (preferably both). That means we get Coleman's (organic) beef, and either Bell & Evans or Empire chicken. On the rare occasions that we buy hot dogs, we buy Hebrew National. Generally speaking, that policy works well for us and gets us nice, healthy food.

We make exceptions when we eat out, of course - but we try to go mainly to places that have a good reputation for making quality food.

Yesterday, though, I made a big exception to my policy out of weakness.

I bought a box of frozen White Castle burgers last night. Regardless of policies, I just can't resist a slider. Darn.

I'm not home today.

Unfortunately. I'm writing this entry from a hotel room in Normal, IL, where I've just begun three days of meetings at the Mothership. Joy.

Actually, travel isn't too bad - and the trip out was pretty easy (Southwest out of Manchester, NH). I have high-speed Internet in the room, which is handy. What sucks is spending a couple of days without David. I haven't done that before, and I miss him terribly already.

Today was fun - David's first Geek Show

I took David to the Geek Show up in New Hampshire today - I met my friend Rob up there (who had his one-year-old boy with him), and we entertained ourselves for a while. We got all four possible frequencies of the little mini-RC racers - including the two frequencies that aren't exactly FCC-approved. Cool.

Then we went to a nearby 99 restaurant for lunch - David was quite the handful, and he went into full meltdown mode as we were finishing. If any diners in the adjoining towns are reading this, I apologize - you probably heard him over the border in Methuen, he screamed so loud.

After I got him bundled back up to head home he calmed down and slept the rest of the way. He had a little session in his jumper seat after Jane came home, and then I picked him up and put him on my shoulders for a little ride around the house. he was giggling and having a blast.

Then he puked on my head.

The key to surviving teething

I think I've got a handle on this thing now. The key to dealing with teething is to take advantage of the short attention span of a baby.

If you distract them before they get fully wound up, there's less of a chance of an unconsolable cry. We're using a couple of his favorite toys as keys here - quickly swoop in and drop a toy nearby at the first sign of trouble and he'll turn his attention away from the hurt and onto the toy. He forgets all about the discomfort for a while.

This may not work so well when he's farther along, but it's a nice trick right now.

Meanwhile, however difficult the day can get, he still goes to sleep promptly when we put him in his crib and turn the light off, so even if we're fully worn down by him during the day at least we get to sleep at night. That's a huge help. Every day seems easier when you get a full night's sleep.

Uh-oh...

The last couple of days have been kinda on the rough side - I think he's teething now. We'll see where and when the first eruption comes. Meanwhile, he's been particularly difficult in the afternoons. Last night, we went out to dinner with him, and he started getting upset during the meal. Accordingly, I ate chicken parmesan one-handed, holding him on my lap.

So we may have to be a little more careful in our going-out plans for a few weeks.

Update

Just a few things to point out today, followed by an election rant:

David is feeding well - we're giving him solid food every other day right now and he's adjusting. Meanwhile, there's ample opportunities for comedy in the process.

My parents came and visited last weekend, and they babysat for us Monday night while Jane and I went to go see Raw at the Garden. It was a good time - if you are one who occasionally enjoys the guilty pleasure of pro wrestling, go see it sometime live. It's fun.

David now giggles regularly - sometimes just spontaneously when he's looking at something that strikes him as amusing. I still can't believe just how lucky Jane and I are to have done this well in the baby lotto.

We're going to the auto show tonight - it's still undecided if we're going to get a new car for her or not, but we'd rather look at them all in a venue where we can see them all at once than go dealer-hopping if we decide to get one. If we have another child, we'll definitely get a new car (maybe even the dreaded minivan - we'll see), but we may do it regardless. Her Mazda is pretty small.

I've been having a good year, as far as football handicapping goes. Maybe I should move to Vegas and start a new line of work.

Poor Woodge just bought a house up in Newburyport and is learning about the joy of homeownership. I just lent him some of my tools for doing electric and telephone wiring diagnostics. I wish him luck - he'll need it.

As for yesterday's election results:

Here in Mass., I was not a big O'Brien fan. I won't miss her at all. I'm not all that impressed with Mitt Romney (and I was very disappointed in his Lt. Governor pick, but the Republican talent pool here is pretty shallow), but at least he's not a current Beacon Hill player. By polling as well as he did, Michael Cloud kept the Libertarians on the major-party list (with 19% against Kerry - no Republican bothered to run). This was good, as Carla Howell ran a truly dismal campaign. After about 6 years of her being the state Libertarian standard-bearer, it's time for a change.

As for the national scene, here's the text of an e-mail I sent about it earlier:

I think one of three scenarios is in play here...

Either Bush successfully pulled off a "wag the dog" scheme by putting Iraq at the top of the list, fooling Americans into supporting him who normally wouldn't. If that's the case, I'm profoundly disappointed in the gullibility of the average American.

Or the typical voter isn't sophisticated enough to recognize the value of a divided government. If that's the case, I'm profoundly disappointed in the lack of intelligence on the part of the average American.

Or, worse of all, the average American agrees with the Republican vision for America, and really believes that the conservative agenda is correct. If that's the case, I'm profoundly disgusted and frightened by the average American.

So, though I have no love for the Democrats, I am not a happy man. A divided government would not confirm a John Ashcroft to be the primary defender of the Constitution. And that's just for starters. I'm really worried about the direction this country may be headed, and I now hope Bush Jr.'s Iraq war winds up the same way as his dad's war - with the current Bush's popularity declining steeply afterwards and winding up a one-termer. Because unless something unforseen happens, the next few years do not look good.