In Brief

1. Student teaching is amazing. 

My master teachers (mentors) that I am paired with could not be better. 

Some signs that I am in the right place:

I don't feel like a fish out of water, being in front of a class seems as natural as breathing (I have got a lot to work on though--they tell me the craft is never mastered and I believe them), I sincerely and genuinely care for the kids in my class, and finally, I feel more myself then I have felt in a long time.

2. Marathon tomorrow. nervous. excited. hydrated and hungry.

3.  I am teaching the The Great Gatsby to my Juniors. Every one should read it again because it is unbelievably good. Fitzgerald succeeds in giving us pure poetry out of the mouth of Nick his humble and witty narrator. If you read it and don't like it, try it again because it is even better the third time. I am 1/3 of the way into Grapes of  Wrath, put that on your "to read" list too. It is blowing me out of the water and it reads faster then I ever could have imagined. 

4. The Best for last. Carter is turning into a human, not that he never was one, but now he crawls, claps, eats some solid foods, climbs into my lap, gets into trouble (see my wife's blog) and loves me.  

Sweet 16 and I am Committed . . . we will see

I have been toying with the idea of doing the Redding Marathon. It is by no means a big marathon participant wise (only 107 people ran it last year), but the course looks great and the running community here is a fantastic bunch of people. The Sweat Running Club puts on great races and I would expect nothing less of the marathon. 

I tested the waters yesterday and ran 16 miles. I could not have made it if my good friend Ben didn't join me on the last 8 as he was a huge lift and a magnanimous encourager. I completed with fairly decent splits and only a 4 minute differential between my two sets of 8. My pace averaged  7:50 a mile. I would like to see that drop to a 7:30 which would put my finishing time for the marathon around 3 hours and 15 minutes.  I believe this to be an achievable goal but I would really be happy with anything under 3 hours and 30 minutes. I have not handed in my paper work for the race thus making me uncommitted at the moment . . . but we shall see. In all, great run. Being disciplined and testing the limits of my body has garnered minor, but significant transformations in my daily life. Having a baby makes you do crazy things. If Carter was not here I doubt I would be making such efforts. Speaking of Cater . . . 

Carter tells us about his day and explains to Linz and I why he has trouble sleeping though the night. In this photo Carter is in mid-lecture, "I gonna cry till you feed me. I got the stamina to do it and I think I proved that last night when I screamed for 60 minutes strait. You caved in the end as I suspected you would. You are weak and my lungs and desire for milk are strong. Frankly I don't care what What to Expect the First Year says I know what I want and I smart enough to get it. You see mom and dad, It is all in my master plan . . . And don't get so down, strength and perseverance are good qualities, you should be happy I got em."

Carter, the Christmas Baby, looks retrospectively at his sleep performance as of late before making the journey to the Kooy's house for some delicious ribs.
One more picture for you grandma GiGi!

Pee-eew Human Poo

Two things have happened since we started feeding Carter substances that resemble big kid food: he has found his boy parts; and second, his poop now wreaks like the underworld if everybody in the fourth circle of hell moved their bowls at the same time. To the non-parent these two developments are seemingly unrelated, but think for just a second. Babies wear diapers all the time. The only time their diapers are off is when they are in the bath or being changed. As a result, the only time Carter can explore his new found toy (his penis) is when we are changing his diaper, the very diaper that is filled with the stench of the underworld and some thick gooey man poop to match. The kicker is that because of the new food Carter only poops like every other day (do not fear, this is not uncommon as some babies will go a week) the result is an epic blowout that covers every inch of his size three Huggies, including his little nuts. Congratulations to me, my son now has poop all over his hands and their headed straight for his mouth! 

                            Carter plays the bongo at the Gerzyinskie's house on Halloween 
Peas are a staple in the new diet and a main culprit in the creation of foul oder 

The First Supper

For the past month or so Linz has been dying to feed carter something other than special milk from those special places. We let him suck on pieces of watermelon and cantaloupe fairly early. This may have been a mistake because ever since he has tasted these delicacies he has been really into food. If we are eating he is watching us eat, staring longingly at our steaming plates with a look that says "Whats the deal pops, hook me up with some of that delicious big kid grub." If only we could.

But alas, there is a science to feeding a five month old, a needed progression of carefully thought out substances.  As the critically acclaimed book What to Expect the First Year states, "Before the gastronomic world can be a baby's oyster (or filet or lasagna) the land of bland must be conquered" And boy is it bland. We start Carter out on single grain rice cereal with Vitablocks (a nutrient blend for Baby's growth and development--hooray!) This stuff looks and tastes like cream of wheat without the flavor. "But Scott" you say, "cream of wheat has no flavor to begin with" exactly! Now imagine cream of wheat without those extra grains and that is precisely how bland Single grain rice cereal is. 

Carter: "Oh boy, my first bite of real food, yippee!"

Mom: "Well I would not call this real food Carter, but it's where we gotta start, you are so cute right now--- are you ready, hear we go"

Carter: "Alright, not to bad, sweet on the front end. Subtitle, mellow, ahhgg what is this . . . this texture . . . what the . . . "
Carter: "Blaaahh! What a let down. Oharggag bu bub bu yucky-- I'm not sure I can take it any more"

Mom: "Oh honey, aren't those Vitablocks so yummy. You want some more? I think you d0! Scott, are you taking pictures?"

Dad: "Yes tons"

Mom: "now take a video, make sure you get a video!"

Dad:"I got it, I got it. I'm totally gonna post this on my blog"
Carter: "Yah I'll give it another shot, maybe this time it will taste better. After all you guys look like you enjoy your food . . . uhh man, Is this an acquired taste?"

Needless to say, feeding Carter the first time was tons of fun. Liz and I were nearly rolling on the floor. If you don't have a kid go out and get one today as they are so fun!

I am in the Club

the sick club that is--Freaking Awesome. Compounded by the fact that I was out of town this past weekend doing some electrical work in the San Jose area. In all it was a great trip and I made some good money, but it was not fun being away from Carter and Linz for four nights. Linz would put the phone up to Carter's ear so I could talk to him. She said his eyes would light up and he would look around for me (he doesn't get the concept of a phone yet). I got in late last night, so this morning was the fist time he saw me. I picked him up out of bed to change him, he looked up and I watched his mind register the fact that it was me. He smiled really big as his whole body gesticulated in baby excitement. It was like he was saying "Dad, your home, I really missed you!" 

Real Baby Toys

Carter is five months old now. Every day he does something new and amazing, not like multiple flips or juggling fire, but amazing baby stuff like exploring his world, rolling over, putting everything in his mouth, and belly laughing at our funny faces and noises. In all, he is more of a little person than he was three months ago, not that he was never a person or anything but you know . . . he's no longer a pooping blob,  he is a smiling, laughing, pooping person.

What I have noticed is that babies are smart. Carter knows that his toys are fundamentally different from the stuff that I interact with such as food, magazines, food, cell phones and food. Carter will play with his colorful, noisemaking, specialized baby toys for maybe five minutes before he gets board. But, give him a "real" object and the kid is entertained for a solid ten minutes. The following is a  photo documentary of specific "real" object interactions:

First My Tie--10 minutes of play time:

Then latter that same day my watch:

And finally, with the In and Out bag, of which he was really jazzed about. He was throwing that thing around like crazy and then would suck the fry grease of his hands. It was awesome. Linz and I were rolling on ground with laughter. Carter was in real toy heaven!

I think I am going to start a company that manufactures toys for babies. I would just take real objects and sanitize them and then sell them. 

I going out of town for a few days to work. I am really going to miss the little guy.