232. Thud

William took Diana's hand and led her into the bedroom. Then he grabbed both and tried to push her down, so she would stay. He's done it to me a bunch since then.

At Abuela's, he only wanted me to hold him, a first. Usually he will go to Diana, but he didn't want to. He's never done that.

Tuesday morning I was taking a shower, and I heard a thud. William was sleeping in our bed, and he fell onto the floor. My worst nightmare. He was OK, but I felt terrible.

Tuesday night we went over to see Di, Will and Bart. So lovely to see them. William put on his usual show. He's a little scared of Etta when she barks. Will and Bart are seniors in high school, and have to pick which college they are going to soon. I can't imagine Will and Duece being in that position. I guess I have to financially plan for it, though.

Diana is showing, and wearing her maternity clothes. She went to the gynecologist and got to see Duece moving his/her legs, turning over, wiggling around, and turning his back to the sonogram. The photo she got was just of the head, but it's a beautiful little head.

When William is upset, he puts his head down, like his burden is too heavy to bear.

231. Auntie Grethen

Gretchen had her annual visit to Long Island. She's a trainer for U of Maine, and she's with the baseball team. They played on Long Island, and we visited her at the famous Hojo's that a famous rape took place. Gretchen was as vivacious as usual with her funny stories. She could be a comedian if she wants to, I think. Of course after a little shyness and flirting, William took to her. We went to the Italian restaurant we always go to when she's in Mineola/Westbury. He ate saffron noodles that Gigi ordered.

Gretchen gave him a "Maine" baseball jersey. A little large, but the only size for children they had. I thought we forgot it, but she had the foresight to put it in the carriage. Nice Virginia, who slept with William and let us sleep the night before, drove out, and paid for dinner. William walked around the restaurant, charming everyone, especially the waitresses. We got some good pictures, hopefully Gigi will upload them to snapfish and we can order them, and see them. Gretchen got him laughing and laughing before she left. It was good to see her.

William went to bed at 1, and got up at 4, went back to bed, and then woke up at 8. He's got a big day ahead of him with the egg hunting and whatnot of Easter.

William is Mr. Destructo, and he's Mr. Tough Guy. He explores quite a lot. He takes clothes out of drawers, he takes Tupperware out of shelves. He falls down a lot, and this morning he did a good face plant. Cried a few sobs, and then was OK.

Diana bought more maternity clothes, Duece is beginning to show. Suzanne is pregnant, she's due October 24th.

230. Four Steps

William just went up 4 steps, unassisted, though closely supervised. He uses his knees, and then gets there and stands up and repeats. He went four steps, and then grabbed onto the railing, and went down two. Then he got a little wobbly, and I picked him up.

Thank you to Zane and Bridget for their Easter present, some clothes and a teddy bear that we didn't discover until Diana explored the box later.

William slept from 1 to 7 last night, but he took lots of naps today. I worked, but Diana and Virginia had good Friday off. Diana went maternity clothing shopping. She's starting to show.

William got here, and rearranged Virginia's CDs. He likes to help out with laundry, and picks up dirty clothing and puts it in his mouth. Diana took the clothes away the other day and he threw himself on the floor and had a little tantrum. My patients tell me Ares is supposed to be strong willed. And I'm the bull who runs into the red cape, even though there's a knife behind it with my argumentative and provocative ways.

He was just chasing me. We were both on our knees, but he realized he was too slow, so he got up and walked. He likes to chase and be chased. He tries to turn everything into a jungle gym. He also turns everything into a toy. He likes to point these days and walks around with one finger in his mouth sometimes.

229. Diaper fight

William smiled at me when he came back from a visit to Alba's, with Abuela and Abuelo. I was so glad to see him. He was a bit wild, running about. It seems he's grown up in the two and a half days I was away from him with work and the retreat. He resists getting a new diaper, which makes it very difficult. Diana reported on a few new things he does. He covers his ears and talks sometimes. He likes to throw himself at Diana. Last night was difficult, because I was trying to put him to bed without interrupting Diana, who is under the weather and on antibiotics, and he kept obviously crying for her. Finally I gave in. I didn't want to be too difficult and frustrating to him on my first night back.

228. Early to bed

Diana went to bed to nap before 6:30, on the bed.. I fell asleep around 7:30 on the couch. Diana came out around 12:30, and told me to go to bed. She fed William a bottle, and changed his diaper, and he went back to bed.

I'm going away for the weekend, so I wish I would have had more time with William. I'll see him Sunday night next. It hurts very much when I first start driving away. This will be my second weekend retreat since William has been born.

227. Mama

William was laying in bed, thoughtful. I said, "what you thinking about?" He said, "mama".

Last night he got up pretty soon after going down, and Diana was so tired, she just brought him into bed with us.

The night before, he woke up at 10:30, which I got, and 2, which she got. I think he skipped his nap to be with his mother, and then he fell asleep early. Does he change his sleeping patterns to be with his mother?

He's found the crayons. He likes to put them in his mouth. He's not yet adept at coloring, though I try to show him.

He's been crawling more in the tradition crawl, instead of his funny leg up style. I think it's faster, he's used to walking so he likes to move fast.

Last night he bashed his face again. I hate it when he's wailing, in pain. He calmed down quickly, and there were not visible marks.

226. Ides of March

William is now a size 24 months, he's grown out of 18 month clothes.

Last night, after finally persuading Diana to go to bed. I got to stay up late with him and put him to bed. And he didn't pitch a fit to wake Diana up. Diana reports she woke up and though, "I've slept a long time," and she's only slept like an hour.

William likes to get into small places, test the limits of his motion. He was climbing around underneath his high chair last night, it reminded me of when I was a kid and loved climbing everywhere. I eventually graduated to trees, but I fear there are not that many trees around here for him to climb, like there were where I lived in Madison Wisconsin, in Eagle Heights and University Housing.

Of course I felt rather ill the next day without the sleep. William woke up particularly early too, perhaps to spend some time with his mother. He had an especially tear filled morning, because he wanted her, but she had to get dressed and go to work. I think she felt guilty for going to bed, and having to go to work. I think William is entering an even more intense attachment phase, which is healthy, good, normal.

Zane will be visiting for 8 days, to be here for his birthday, we're looking forward to his visit.

225. Eleven months tomorrow!

William used to cry for 3 reasons. Hunger, tiredness and discomfort (dirty diaper). He has added 2 more reasons. One is if he is trying to get one of us closer, attachment needs. The other is things just are not going his way. He was holding 2 pictures of Morris' daughter, and he dropped one. Diana picked it up and put it beyond his reach. He got upset at that. So a sort of lack of control or things not going his way can make him cry now. Sometimes he refuses to be picked up because he knows it's not always true that he will get to go where he wants to.

William spent the day with Abuela, Abuelo and Virginia. I would have gotten mad at Diana for keeping him away from me, but I was pretty under the weather, so I look forward to today for being with him. I tried to rest up and watched some bad movies (Miracle, Eurotrip). We all have a cold, and it's pretty annoying. William wants to be held more, and we both have less energy to give. It's been a hard week.

Diana has gone out to a movie. I hope she has fun. She slept late, to 10, this morning. I made her breakfast yesterday morning. Today I took a bath with William while she ate her breakfast unimpeded. She's stopped puking, but I'm not sure if she's not puking because that time is over, or she's just avoided all the foods that make her puke.

225. 4th Tooth

William still had a fever 102, so we took him to the doctor. He had not been eating much and was lethargic. He perked up when he first saw me, which is really sweet. When he smiles at me, I'm his slave. We took him to the doctor, and the doctor noticed that he'd just cut a new tooth. The gum flap was there, but I couldn't see the tooth yet. He probably cut it around 3:30 a.m. when I woke up and fed him the bottle. He was about to go back to sleep, but then he just started wailing. The doctor says cutting teeth can cause a fever, which I did not know. He also has a cold, but his ears and lungs are clean. So the doctor was not worried, there was nothing to do. The doctor said to come back if he still had a fever by Friday or Sunday. They don't have office hours Saturday. Also he said a fever of 104 is the scary number, 102 is OK.

224. On The Mend

He's getting better, but he's not 100% yet. We debated whether to take him to the doctor tonight, but I think since he's getting better, he's going to be OK.

I think I smell different now that William is born.

Last night Natasia was at Abuela's, and she played with William. I think she has a sibling type rivalry towards him, she has some scary aggression towards him at times.

Zane says he's coming to NYC for William's first birthday. Very exciting. Abuela is going to throw a party for him the weekend after his birthday.

I asked at work. No paternity leave. I could take unpaid leave, but not paid leave. But I do have vacation time I will take off in September to be with Deuce. Diana is pondering not going back to work, but I think it will be too expensive to have her not work.

223. Virus

William has a virus. He had cold like symptoms Sunday but they were not so bad. He had a horrible night trying to sleep. Diana was with him, but I took a turn at 3:30, when he woke up, and wanted to play. We walked around for a while, and finally he fell asleep with me on the couch.

Diana took the day off, and took William to the doctor. He said it's viral, that only to bring him back if he has the fever still on Wednesday, or stops eating and going to the bathroom.

Many people said they liked William's new hair cut, they say he looks so old.

222. Second Hair Cut

I've just sent off my snapfish album to some family, if you didn't get it and want to get it, let me know. I've also taken a movie file, that apparently is best seen on a Mac, but maybe you want it, if you have downloaded the patch or what ever they call it that allows you to watch it.

We took him to the place here, so we could get the certificate that he got from his first hair cut. Diana was disappointed because it did not have a lock of hair. Of course we've got a million locks of hair. He sat at the same little seat. He was more aware, and tried to turn his head around to see what was going on. But he did a good job. He looks so different.

Diana didn't cry at all. Her eyes watered up, but she did not cry.

Last night William did not go to bed until midnight. Virginia was at a concert, and she was locked outside for 45 minutes before we finally woke up with all her phone calls, door bell ringing and rocks against the windows. He woke me up, when he woke up, when he noticed Diana was out of the bed. Diana fell asleep with her sister, I woke up alone in the morning.

The night before he went to bed at 8, but got up later, and then at 4, when I got up with him. Constantly tired. Just wait till September.