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In the few minutes I have before I dive back into another conference session, figured I’d cover some of the items of our last vacation. This was a 2.5 week excursion mostly to Scotland, with a few days in England. Alex planned most of the trip, with me handling things like the transportation and hotels to stay along the way. Overall, about a 50/50 split on the events et al.

Sadly, at the end, it wasn’t a usual vacation. Until now, it’s always been either just me, or myself and Alex. Now there’s three of us, and the Wee One doesn’t have our stamina for travel and has a pseudo-schedule that needs to be followed from time-to-time.

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About two weeks or so ago, I witnessed my first semi-solid poop.

Yes, believe it or not, as a parent this is big news. You talk about poop a lot. Too much, really, but it’s because it’s one of the best ways to identify the health of your child. And semi-solid poop (as opposed to the usual liquid variety) is a sign that things are moving on.

You want to upchuck the moment you smell it, but this is a definite improvement.

On a similar solid front, we’ve started moving to solid foods. Well, semi-solid foods. Rice cereal, to be exact. Friday night was the initial run, and although it was pretty much little more than breast milk with a smattering of powder, it was something to start. Last night was much thicker, and we still witnessed a lot of ingestion.

More importantly, we can feel teeth. I wasn’t looking for teeth, but had my finger in my wee one’s mouth, and discovered the ridges of a tooth. Surprisingly, we haven’t really had a massive amount of screaming, so hopefully the teething time will go easily.

(And on that note, I’ve now jinxed the situation.)

We’re approaching six months. Many milestones yet to go!

Slowly, I’m beginning to understand what Alex goes through in a given day. Yes, I am a father and I do try to take an active part of my child’s life. But reality is, I’m at work most of the wee one’s waking day. Two to three hours is the best I can hope for on average.

Tonight was not average. I’ve been up since sometime late in the hour of 3; Alex an hour earlier than that.  Sleep has not been our friend tonight.

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Vocalisation comes at a young age. Mostly it’s inarticulate vowel sounds. Every so often, you’ll get a glottal sound mixed in there, but the cooing is rarely little more than “ayooooeeiioaaaaaaauuuueeee” in varying pitches.

Yesterday, and throughout today, we got a true consonant into the vocabulary: “B”.

So far, the only word is “ba”, but it’s a start. Mimicry isn’t quite there yet. But “ba” it is. And we hear “ba” a lot. Again, it’s a start. Now comes the slippery slope. Next is “da” (so we’re told). Then multiple syllables. Then “no”. Then “Dad, can I have $5″. Then “can I take out the car”. Then “I’m pregnant”.

Hmm.

I just realised — after I’d already posted this year’s review — that this is the 10th one I’ve done. Ten years already! Man… I’ve been doing this longer than I’d thought!

It’s that time of the year again — to look back on the year passed, and reflect on the things I’ve done. Where did I go? What did I do? What have I honestly got to show for myself. It’s been an insanely long year. Sure, it was still 365 (and 1/4) days, but it felt at least three times longer…

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A bit of a realisation hit me today: this is the fifth Christmas since my father passed away. Five years of listening to Christmas at King’s College’s version of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen without also hearing my father singing along.

Well, at least outside of my own memory, that is.

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Since our family expanded by one, I’ve yet to have a full night’s sleep. In the first few weeks, it was both of us up at various points to feed and/or change diapers. As the weeks became months (we’re at roughly 3.5 now), it was usually Alex being up during the week, but I never really slept that well (even subconsciously, I can still hear the baby).

But last night, no-one woke up.

I feel like the moon suddenly disappeared, and I’m not sure what to do.

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