A New Post, Finally

So, it’s now fall. October is a busy month in my line of work. Over the course of the next three weeks I have to attend a conference in California and a mock jury proceeding in Indiana. I also have two weddings and a visit from Becky’s parents that have to be fit into the schedule. I don’t mind being busy; I feel like I have been constantly busy since Jack was born, but I do like my downtime. Erin and I rented a cabin up in Woodstock for the Columbus Day week-end and plan to do some fall related activities involving apples and pumpkins. We’re also bringing the bikes and will be able to bike around with the boys and watch the leaves change. I’m really looking forward to some time in the woods.

My plan to run the marathon has devolved into a plan to run the ½ marathon. I simply do not have the energy to dedicate all of my free time to putting in long miles on the road. I was running a 12 mile training run last week and somewhere around the 9th mile I started asking myself why the HELL I was putting myself through this again. 40 year old knees are much weaker than 30 year old knees. My current training schedule has me hobbling around like an old goat and eating like a young pig. I actually put on 4 pounds since I started this training routine, which is the opposite of what I was trying to do when I started running last year. So, I’ll accept the Buddha’s “middle path” and set my sights on something more manageable. 13.1 miles is enough.

Jack is starting to put together words into things that approximate sentences. He is also answering my questions with a string of words delivered in an authoritative tone that makes me believe that he knows what he is talking about.

“Are you ready to go to bed Jack?’
“No, not me!”

“Jack, would you like a cookie?”
“Coo-Key….thank youuu!”

That sort of thing. When tells me he wants to read a Thomas the Train book, he goes and gets a Thomas the Train Book. (Of course, he still calls his stuffed giraffe a monkey, but in all fairness, the giraffe has no neck and was inartfully sewn with vaguely simian features so I’ll give him a pass). I find this all to be endlessly fascinating, the development of my child’s mind. I can see a whole lot of innate laughter and happiness in his personality which makes me very happy. He has a twinkle in his eye and a spring in his step and he dances whenever there is music playing.

Jack’s exposure to other kids in the park every day has been good for his social skills and he has also been learning a lot from Dimitri. My own relative misanthropy aside, I suppose I can accept the fact that humans are social beings at heart and thrive in the company of others. Jack certainly has taken off with his development since he has been hanging around with Dimitri every day. I don’t know where he stands in the playground hierarchy, but he is hardly the shrinking violet around the house. Last night he and Dimitri were taking turns hurling themselves off the sofa onto the floor and when Dimitri wasn’t jumping fast enough he was assisting him with a little shove in the small of the back.

The one place that I have been slacking off is in the television arena. Like every single other parent in the United States I vowed before he was born that the television would not fulfill the role of loco parenti. No, I would be an engaged parent, reading the great words of literature to my attentive son who would reward my efforts by spontaneously playing Rachmaninoff pieces on the piano by the age of three. Yeah, you know how that goes.

At least I try to keep the idiot box tuned to Noggin, whose slogan is, “like pre-school on TV.” The channel is way better than the endless commercial that is the Cartoon Network, but I still worry when Jack stops what he is doing to stand mesmerized at the blues guitar stylings of Moose A. Moose and the Business Mouse. Plus, the repetition of themes in the shows is so grating and the songs so insipid I have caught myself thinking extremely uncharitable thoughts about the Backyardigans and reminiscing in silent glee about the guinea pig I ate in Peru that looks exactly like Linny on the Wonder Pets. Mmmm.