299. Outside!

Andrew weighs 7.5 lbs. He's going to weigh 8 next week, and ready to be out of the womb. Diana is doing well, and in prime nesting mode. There's a frenzy tonight to get it ready for painting tomorrow. Friday is carpeting. Saturday is delivery of the couch and dining room table, and Diana's shower for Andrew. Lots going on.

William seems to be riding it all out with the gaggle of helpers: Aida, KayLa, Natasia, Venus, AJ and Emma. He woke up at 7:30 this morning and I gave him a bottle, and he fell back asleep when I put him in bed with Diana so I could meditate. Diana says he got up at 9:30.

William cried when I told him no because he was smacking Emma.

William wanted his Abuela today. He's been avoiding her because he thinks that means mom is going away. But he wanted to go out, and went to her.

298. False Alarm

Diana had some bleeding. We went to the hospital. We sat for a long time. And then we had her in a bed monitoring her for a long time. Then they let her go. No big deal. But we got to do a test run. Aida came over to cover William. Virginia got there very quickly. So we got the lay out, the setting, etc. Like last time, a dry run, a visit just for precaution. Actually Diana went twice and was sent home, before she went for good. At least there are some couches in the birthing room to sleep on. We weren't in one, but I saw into them. They had a c-section baby there, looked very cute.

297. Dada

William said, "dada", when he was me Sunday night. I spent some time with him. It was wonderful to hold him again, to see his lovely expressive face.

296. 9th Tooth

William went to the doctor yesterday. He's 28.5 pounds, 33 inches tall. He got 4 shots. He's got his 9th tooth, and 3 more are coming fast. He woke up with a cold, and had a hard night sleep.

Diana went to her doctor and Andrew is in position, head down, ready to come out, though it's a long ways off. Diana wants to be induced the 19th of September to try for a V-BAC birth (Vaginal birth after Caesarian).

With Aminta's help, I got the running stroller together (she watched William). I took him over to Paul's, and we walked to Cunningham Park. We walked and talked, then I ran a few laps. William got tired of it, and he was cold, I didn't have him properly dressed, so we cut it short. But it seemed good.

I'm going to miss William this weekend, I'm off for a retreat this weekend, I say goodbye tomorrow morning till Sunday.

295. summersault

Diana says William did a summersault tonight. He was bending over, and opse. Diana said he smiled.

I got a jogging stroller today. I got some new running shoes. I hope to test them out tomorrow, once I put the stroller together. Hope that's not too hard. We got some matchbox cars for William too. He's really into anything with wheels.

294. Remodeling

After all these women throwing themselves at him, he threw himself at Ava. We drove over to New Jersey to see Josephine, Michael, Evan and Ava. We'll have to leave earlier next time, traffic isn't great going to the Holland Tunnel. I took a million pictures of Ava. She looks a little bit like an elf, with her pointy ears and big eyes. I think she's very cute. And she's very verbal.

William slept on the ride there, and back. Today Diana went to Home Depot and picked out the materials to remodel our bathroom. The living room is filled with it now. This week, I'm going to have to shower and go to the bathroom at neighbors and at Abuela and Abuelo's. I'm not looking forward to that, but our bathroom was pretty bad, and it will be easier to wash William when we get a new shower deal. The doors made it hard to get to him.

This morning he didn't want to stay at the park. It's very hot. It's supposed to cool off in the week. He was fussy at home. He was up in the window sill again. I would take pictures, but I got some good pictures of him before. We took a 2 hour nap together, which was nice. And he's letting me write now.

293. Kissing cousins

William has been kissing Emma, his first cousin, and Nicole, his second cousin. We went to Joseph's party last night. Happy Birthday Joseph. We took AJ and Venus.

Friday morning I got up at 3 am, because Diana whacked me. Friday was a hard day at work, in part because of getting up. They I got home and Emma, AJ and Venus were there, and were all over me when I got there. Then we went to a party. And I got up early this morning and took care of William, and then took him out when it looked like he was going to begin to go try and get his mom out of bed. I got a package from the post office. I got some Buddhist children's books, though they're a little complicated, so I'll have to wait to read them to William and Andrew. A guy at a deli gave me a free coffee after we talked about our children. I gave William some of my eggs from my egg sandwich. The park was pretty quiet when I got there, only one father with two little daughters. William tried to make contact with the older one, but she was not into him. I talked with Rich on my cell phone for a little while. After a while, he got tired, and I took him home. I was glad to give Diana sleep, but I didn't have the energy to keep him out when we got home. Diana kept sleeping, but when he fell down, and began wailing, she got up. I'm glad she got some sleep. My neck in tense. I feel like I'm close to the breaking point sometimes, but I know from experience, that I have more and more I can give. Diana is my model for taking it till she bursts. She's been baby sitting Harry's kids. It's brought on more stress, but it's also a rich experience.

292. Downpour

It's thundering and pouring outside. Lightning struck very near Virginia's house here in New Jersey. We came out to New Jersey Saturday: Aida, Natasia, KayLa, Diana, William and me. There's space, and stairs. We had a hard time figuring out the AC. But William got in the kiddie pool, when Natasia was out there. He wants to be where ever she is. Virginia has landed safely on her return from Aruba. She says Aruba is a very family friendly island.

Andrew will be born at a different hospital than William. And this hospital allows video cameras of the birth, and I can be right there if it's a caesarian, instead of behind the screen. Diana's mother got jury duty just the Friday before the week Diana is planned to be induced. Diana said she wants me to take time off after her mother's vacation is done. Virginia is talking about taking time off. William is going to have more things to deal with. He was crying the other night because the camcorder ran out of batteries, and there was nothing I could do about it. He's having more and more fits, I've been calling him a "fuss pot". It's hard to know what he wants.

We had to keep him away from Natasia when she was doing her homework. He has to be very entertained to not be in the same room she is in.

Diana is heavy and tired. She wants Andrew out. He's doing all kinds of fetal gymnastics at times. He moves a lot.

I just took a nap with William. I'm trying much harder to shift the load today. Sometimes I get so exhausted, I'm of little use.

The winds change direction and the rains come down with a different slant. The drainage ditch could not contain the waters and it over flowed. I hope William is enjoying the show. Natasia is but he does not seem to understand yet.

291. Kiss boo boo

William has you kiss his boo boo now. Diana says he learned that on his own. He stepped on something and fell, and put his hands out, "Ugh ugh." I kissed his foot and he went merrily on his way. I got home late last night, and he insisted on me reading him some books. Diana said, "he doesn't bring me books," and "he wants to get all out of daddy before he goes to bed."

290. Matchbox

William's hair has grown a lot from the hair cut 3 weeks ago. He went to bed last night at 8 and slept till 8, waking up 2, 3 and 5. I've been listening to a Sangharakshita lecture on sangha (the spiritual community) and there's a baby crying in the background. It's freaked me out a few times, and last night Diana and Virginia heard it too, thought William was crying. Virginia slept over last night, and left early in the morning for Aruba.

William fights with his cousin Emma. Emma is 12 days older. He fights Emma over the matchbox cars. He can't hold more than 2 in his hands, but he wants all of them. When Emma grabs one and runs away, he would run after her shouting and crying.

I picked William up and took him to the park. He walks around. He watches the other kids more complicated activities. He likes to crawl under things and take advantage of his size. He likes balls. He's getting better at climbing up and negotiating everything. But he started crying and I took him home.

289. Pumpkin

I took William over to Paul's, in part to, give Diana an evening off. Instead, Angie showed up late, and Diana got home 10 minutes before I did. Much to my chagrin. Still, I had a good evening with William and Paul. Angie arrested someone, and she worked later, the second night in a row, which has cannibalized our evenings. Wednesday it took our anniversary away from us. I was under the weather, so we had canceled our plans to go to Mesa Grill (my second time, it seems not to be). Angie says, "why didn't you say something?!" What were our options? The children were there, they needed to be taken care of. Diana's father can't take care of them alone for that long, just getting home, and anyway, Diana likes to do it.

I can air these situations publicly because Harry and Angie do not have a computer. They have not entered the age of the internet yet. Anyway, I'm not mad or judging her, working and having children are a really difficult thing. She's not hanging out or taking advantage of Diana, because Diana wants to do what she does. I think William will be the better for hanging around more children, it's a kind of family day care experience. I think it's helping in his socialization, more than just being alone would.

William fell asleep on the drive over to Paul's. He napped for an hour, so we got to have some adult talk, uninterrupted. William got to meet Pumpkin, Paul's cat, and he also played some with a childhood toy of Paul's. The toy is a car that you can take apart. It's pretty cool. William was a bit young for it, but it was cool that Paul would share this item with him. It obviously had important sentimental value for Paul, and I could see why, it was cool. Paul is not as much attune to the little children as the older ones, but he tries and I appreciate that. He is a good godfather, and I feel lucky that he will take some part in William's life. His godfather failed him when he needed him once, and he's remembered that and wants to do the opposite.

We went for pizza. William at the vegetables and cheese I put in his mouth, and had a little diet soda and some seltzer water. He tried to charm an Indian family. Then we went to the park briefly. William laid down on the cement and an Asian father said, "you let him do that?!" I said, "that which doesn't kill him, makes him stronger," but I felt a little guilty, like I was endangering my child by not being more uptight. I want to protect William, but I did not see danger in him laying on the cement for a few seconds.

Then we went to Paul's mother's apartment. She's wanted to meet her son's godson, and enjoys children. It was a joy to see her excitement at seeing a little child, she was very sweet. She was berating Paul for not giving her more notice so she could get a present. She was very very sweet. William was pretty good, but got tired and upset. She waves goodbye when you leave the building from her 12th floor apartment. I want to go back with Diana some time, and with Andrew.

288. The Park

The park has a different flavor every time I go to it. I also like going to the park to give Diana a break. She's so tired from being pregnant, and her helping nature. She's wanted so much to support Aida through her mourning the loss of her mother.

Last night big men were playing basketball, instead of the usual little kids or spare people just taking shots. William at one point tried to go onto the court, and I made a game out of keeping him off it. Soon enough he will be able to dodge me and get around me. Not now though.

Little Kayla was there, a 20 month girl, that William has met before. The mother was blowing bubbles, and a bunch of kids went a little wild about it, almost knocking over little Kayla. She left a little while later, saying it was too rough. William is almost hit by bikes and kids running, but I'm right next to him protecting him.

He's getting more and more dextrous. He wanted to climb with coins in his hands, which I had to eventually force out of his hands.

I have to remember to bring a ball. He borrows balls, and the Indian looking women in their saris are very nice. I'd say the dominant ethnicity is Indian at the park, though I can't say if they're from Pakistan or Bangladesh or Guyana or Trinidad. Some cover their heads, and they seem a bit presumptuous to imagine I would be attracted to them if they showed more of their bodies, but I want to tell them I don't think Islam is responsible for terrorism, that terrorism is a perversion of Islam. I haven't yet asked anyone where they are from, but I imagine I will. I recognize many faces at the park. I like the mix.

William wanted to get on the rocking horse for the first time. I've put him on it, but he always wants to get off. More and more dextrous.

Today is Diana and my 8th anniversary and my father's birthday. Happy birthday Zane.