MY BROTHER IS FLOATING

My brother's feet have not touched the ground in a few days, and with good reason.

His first child - a boy - arrived Thursday evening.

The smile on my brother's face is an awesome site. At 37, I'm sure in recent times he wondered whether he'd have kids of his own. His girlfriend has two fantastic boys from a previous relationship (they adore Mr. Ryan), so there's going to be a lot of testosterone flying around that household in the years to come.

He has always been great with children, but watching my brother look at his son was an incredible site. A soft-spoken person who wastes very few words, he let the ever-present ear-to-ear smile convey his feelings when we visited with he and his girlfriend at the hospital.

Since the child's arrival just three days ago, we have received no fewer than 14 pictures of our nephew via cell phone. There have been numerous other updates as well, covering such moments as notice of his son turning 24 hours old (well, 24 hours and 2 minutes, to be exact), details of his son giving the hospital pediatrician a "golden shower" and notice of the family's departure for home yesterday afternoon.

Having gone through it all just five months ago, I know the excitement my brother is feeling. When we talked on Saturday, he referenced the fact that he couldn't remember what it felt like without his son in the world. It had only been a day and a half, yet his world had completely changed, and all for the better.

It really is true. Having a child changes reality as we know it.

For my brother, seeing his son for the first time made him realize he could fly.

OUR GROWING BOY

The Little One adds his
two cents about what
he wants to grow.

Yesterday we woke up to find another blanket of snow draped over everything in sight.

There was a lot of grumbling going on outside among the neighbors because we've reached record snow levels already this year and, since we are only halfway through winter, chances are that we haven't seen the end of it. I kept quiet though as I did my share of shoveling. The truth is, I like snow. In my opinion, it is the silver lining of winter. If it HAS to be freezing cold outside, I'd rather have the ground covered in sparkling white as well.

That is, as long as I'm not in a rush to get somewhere and the roads are safe for everyone.

As I shoveled the winter "bling" from our sidewalk, I started thinking about the ground beneath the mountainous snow piles. Somewhere under there in my front yard is my flower garden. It's getting a much-needed rest right now - another reason to like winter - but in a just a few months I'll be planting once again. Wow! A few months is not too long to wait.

In the mean time, there is a bit of planning to do. The Little One and I discussed this over a dinner of green peas and rice cereal last night. I needed his input. After all, it is not just my garden anymore. It is our garden.

I've waited to share this with him for what seems like an eternity. As far back as I can remember, I've looked forward to the day that I can teach my own child about gardening. I'm sure there will be a few challenges along the way and that more than one seedling will be beheaded at the hands of an eager toddler. That is nature though. The fun we will have will more than make up for it. Bring on the dirty hands and bugs!

10 RANDOM THOUGHTS

I spent last night away from the Wife and the Little One because of a conference for work. It was quiet and definitely lonely in the hotel room last night. Since my brain was mush and stringing together consecutive sentences was out of the question, I decided to drop 10 random thoughts instead, hence the name of this entry.

# Is there a diference between Panera and Au Bon Pain? Other than the fact that I know how to pronounce Panera, and I'm not positive about Au Bon Pain, I think it's the same place. They both make sandwiches that the Wife and my sisters think are delicious. Those same sandwiches make me wish I got a burger.

Fancy or Stale? You decide.

# It can be very difficult to tell the difference between fancy, eloquent bread and stale bread.

# Bread is key to keeping cookies nice and soft. After baking, put your cookies in a storage container with a slice of bread. The bread will be hard (or fancy, according to Au Bon Pain/Panera), but the cookies will remain nice and soft.

# Hard cookies are not really cookies. They are mistakes that people pass off as treats. Unless they are Double Stuff Oreos or Chips Ahoy. Those kind of hard cookies are okay, provided they come with a glass of milk.

# Beer used to love me. Now beer gives me heartburn, which makes me think twice about loving me some beer. I drink far more Motts Tots Apple Juice than beer these days.

# My hotel room last night was on the 32nd floor overlooking Beantown. I love Beantown, but I hate heights. The curtains were shut so that I could forget how far from the ground I was.

# Snow was more fun when it meant playing football or going sledding with your friends. Now snow just makes me think more and more about when we are going to move somewhere south.

20 years? Really?

# It has been 20 years since the start of the Gulf War, as well as the Rodney King beating (which eventually led to the L.A. Riots 19 years ago). Also 20 years ago, the U.S.S.R. dissolved. These things do not make me feel young.

# Judge me if you must, but I enjoy pro wrestling now as much as I did as a kid. Not that I watch it as often, but it is entertaining. And I am truly tempted to order Royal Rumble this Sunday. It won't happen, but I really, really want to.


# Can't wait for you to get here to meet you, Fletcher.

PLAIN AND SIMPLE

A couple of dog friends we love.

Sometimes the smallest thing catches our eye or our ear and can turn a whole day around. Since The Little One was born he has provided most of those moments in my life. Yesterday, though, the honor belong to someone else. Make that two "someones".

It all started as I drove slowly down a snow-covered side street on my way to work. It was still early in the morning and I was cold, tired and a little bit crabby about the snow. Just as I was about to give in and let the crabbiness overtake me I saw something in the distance that changed that. Just ahead of my car an older man shuffled in the snow. His hands were in his coat pocket, but it was clear that he was holding a leash in one hand. Connected to that leash was a pint-size dog with short little legs and a belly that just missed the inch of snow on the ground below him.

I'm on the road often during my workday and have seen my fair share of interesting sights. Seeing a dog out for a walk with it's owner is not particularly unusual. Today though, the sight looked extra adorable and funny all in one. The man's slow, cautious steps and the little dog's rapid ones on his tiny legs kept them in pace together. They were the perfect pair, plain and simple. Neither was really in a hurry. Neither was stressed about the snow below their feet. They both seemed unaware of everything else going on around them.

That was it. Nothing else happened. I just watched them make their way up the road and pass my car. Seeing them left me feeling very content though. I thought of how much that owner must love his dog to go out in that kind of weather when clearly he could have walked him up and down his own yard a few times to give him the exercise he needed. I also thought about all the dog's I've loved over my lifetime. None belonged to me, but I loved them just the same. Snow and cold don't stop that kind of friendship.

A PICTURE IS WORTH…

"Take as many pictures as you can."

It's probably the most common piece of advice we have received since the Little One was born. 

My co-worker's husband - who stopped by the office with their daughter yesterday - was the latest to offer up this pearl. As the parent of a little girl who is now one year and five months, he talked about how fast the time goes. The pictures, he said, help you maintain a timeline of the many significant milestones a child reaches in these early years.

I see what he means. The last time I saw he and his daughter was a couple months ago. She was a little munchkin with short tufts of hair, a couple of front teeth. She wasn't yet walking or talking. She was still a baby.

The little girl I saw yesterday was, well, a little girl.  couldn't believe it. She had a full head of blonde hair, and all of her teeth. She was walking and talking. Not a full vocabulary, mind you, but talking.

On the drive home, I found myself wondering if we are taking enough pictures of the Little One. The 700-plus photos saved in iPhoto would suggest that we probably have that angle covered. The Little One is 159 days old, so an average of 4.5 pictures per day is probably getting the job done.

Still, I really wanted to grab the camera and take more when I got home, but the Little One and the Wife had stooped at the grocery store and were not home. When they got home, he was in a real fussy mood, probably because his first tooth is close to breaking through (another milestone!).

Since he wasn't in the mood for pictures, I had to settle for looking at ones we already have. Not that I'm complaining. I'll admit it… I look at pictures of our son every stinkin' day. It doesn't get old for me.

With that in mind, here are some of my favorites that we have taken thus far:

 

 

THE BEST SOUND

There is a new noise in our house and it has us smiling. The Little One has had a smile on his own face pretty much since Day One. Until recently though he has only managed to cackle or make happy sighs or squeals when he was delighted about something or when tickled him. That all changed the other day when, amidst some baby "rough-housing" with The Husband, he found his belly laugh.

Since then, we've done all we could to elicit that beautiful sound again and again. I go through a couple of extra baby wipes at each diaper change because he roars with laughter when the cool cloth is run across his neck. Cleaning has never been so fun!

The Husband spent 10 minutes this morning doing a goofy jog up and down our hallway past the bathroom door where I stood with the Little One. With each pass he made a silly face and noise to "greet" us. The Little One found this funny and rewarded his Daddy's effort with a chuckle each time.

There are some amazing milestones ahead for our guy and we will celebrate each one. It is hard to imagine a better, more uplifting sound than his laughter though.

FIRST SNOWBALL (a digital short)

We've been blasted with snow lately. While we haven't brought him out into the snow, the Wife did bring snow into the house for the Little One to touch for the first time. Here is a look at his first time experiencing snow, including the first "snowball" he ever threw.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW?

There are some days when your mind is just fried.

That was last night for me. Total writer's block. Total life block really, as I pretty much accomplished nothing once the Little One went to bed.

The night felt heavy and I felt bad about my laziness. So, to help lighten the mood of my own night, I decided to come up with 10 trivia questions that you can try to answer, if you choose.

Only rule is, no using these interwebs to look up answers. I came up with questions off the top of my head, so you can do the same with the responses.

If you want, you can email your answers to somethingsmalltoday@gmail.com or send a message on Facebook, and we'll share the answers Monday.

1. What is the name of the first mainstream album that Hootie and the Blowfish released? 

2. Who is Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner?

3. What are the original ingredients of a Shirley Temple drink?

4. Malcolm-Jamal Warner has starred in three different sit-coms during his career. What are the names of those shows?

5. Sticking with Malcolm-Jamal Warner (sorry, he is an all-time favorite of mine), what long-running show was he the first celebrity director for?

6. Where is the baseball Hall of Fame located?

7. Who wrote my favorite book, To Kill a Mockingbird?

8. In the movie A League of Their Own, what team wins the championship game?

9. On the Golden Girls, Betty White played Rose Nylund. What was Rose's hometown?

10. What is the name of this blog (Without scrolling to the top of the page)? 

SOMETHING YUMMY TODAY: SPINACH SCRAMBLED EGGS

Spinach. Ugh!

That is what I think in my head when I eat it. Well, that is not entirely true. I don't mind little bits mixed into things. I will put it on a sandwich instead of lettuce. I'll eat it in a salad topped with a sweet dressing. I love it mixed with ricotta cheese and stuffed into pasta shells. Just don't offer me a plate of cooked spinach.

Until now, I've only had to answer to myself when it comes to my reasons for avoiding some vegetables. That will all change in the next few weeks. No, my mother is not coming for a visit. We are vegetable conscious these days because little eyes are watching. The Little One is a week away from tasting his first vegetables and The Husband and I are trying our best to buck up and set a good example.

Enter the spinach. I'm doing my best with the green stuff, but it is a challenge. I can hide it in some things but, in the end, I gag if I get too big of a bite.

So this winter I set out to sneak it into meals. One of our favorites is hiding it in scrambled eggs. Gross, right? No. Difficult, right? Not at all.

It all starts with fresh, bagged spinach. In a large skillet I saute minced garlic in olive oil until it is paper thin. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl I combine four eggs and a teaspoon of milk. This concoction is added to the pan and cooks over medium heat until fluffy.

The Husband, a spinach lover, gives my spinach scrabbled eggs two thumbs up. The Little One has yet to try it. He has a bunch of cereal and other fruits and veggies to try before he digs in. For now he just sits in his highchair and smiles as I struggle to eat it. He might be amusing me, but 'll take it.

BOYS NIGHT IN

Looking back, I'm not really sure what I had been so nervous about.

But as I drove home from work last night, my heart was pounding more than it did the day the Little One was born. Last night, for the first time since he was born, I was going to be alone with the Little One for the whole night.

The Wife had a shower to attend for my brother's girlfriend, who will be giving birth to a baby boy sometime in the next few weeks. She could have brought the Little One along (I'm sure the ladies would not have minded), but the night was about the mother-to-be, and the Wife wanted to keep it that way.

Not that I minded, since it meant a boys' night out. Well, a boys' night in, really. In the days leading up, I had been very excited about the night. We've had lots of time together, but almost always with someone else around (usually the Wife). With the exception of a couple hours here and there (grocery store runs, late nights of work, etc.), the absolute one-on-one time I get with the Little One is really limited.

Which is probably why a slight sense of panic set in as I drove to pick him up at day care. As I made my way to get him, I found myself wondering how to make proper bottles with formula and how I would know when his diaper needed to be changed.

Mind you, these are things I have done pretty much on a daily basis.

But not without supervision - or at least the comfort of knowing that the real expert, the Wife, was there to make sure I didn't mess up too bad.

I am happy to report, it went fine. He fussed a bit when I arrived at day care, but once I got him home and made him a bottle (yes, I remembered the process) he was his usual happy self.

After we ate, we laid on my bed for a while, discussing our favorite foods. I told him about pizza and burgers, and he babbled about rice cereal. To be fair, rice cereal is the only solid food he has ever eaten, as he has lived on breast milk and formula thus far.

We played for a bit, and we read two books together - Goodnight Moon and Night-Night, Little Pookie. It was time to get him ready for bed before I knew it. By the time the Little One was in his pajamas and sleeper, he was already nodding off. It was a good half hour before his bed time, but he was also a bit off his usual schedule, thanks to a 12-hour drive to-and-from North Carolina over the weekend.

He was asleep by 7:10 p.m., so it turned out we only spent about an hour and 40 minutes of awake time together. I know you are supposed to put a baby in the crib before they fall asleep, but I broke that rule. He was curled into my shoulder, his head weighing about 50 pounds. So I held him until he feel asleep, just to extend the night a little longer.

Just a couple hours earlier, I had felt nerves and butterflies in my stomach. Yet, when it was time for him to go down, I was sad that our night together was done.

Time flies when you are having fun.

TASTY HAND (a digital short)

The Little One got to meet his younger cousin over the weekend. The two of them got along just fine, until the Little One noticed her hand and decided he was hungry. Watch as he works hard to figure out a way to get her hand into his mouth.

WHAT A CHARACTER!

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and our little family is celebrating it together. We aren't going anywhere or doing anything different aside from being home on a weekday. We aren't eating a special meal or dressing up. We will probably just hang out on the couch or sit on the floor and help the Little One learn to roll and sit up by himself.

The day will not be empty of meaning though. Today, like every day for the past five months, we are raising a person. So far, so good, I think. He certainly didn't come with an instruction manual and our records prove it. We make mistakes and have plenty of experiences to learn from. None of these goofs are things we are proud of, especially the ones that only required a little bit of common sense to avoid, like watching where we are walking and staying within the ballpark of his bedtime so that he gets enough rest. Sometimes we can see errors ourselves and sometimes we need each other's help getting a clue. In spite of these "uh-oh" moments, we keep moving forward.

When he is older we will spend these mid-January days talking about Dr. King and others who inspire us as much by their character as by any accomplishment they had. Like Christmas, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving and other holidays, we'll work to spread that message to the Little One throughout the year and not just on the official celebration date.

For now though, we thought we'd start with the basics- taking turns, waving "Hi," sharing a smile to brighten someone's day and using gentle touches to explore instead of pulling Mommy's hair. They are simple but important things for him to learn and for us to remember.

A SNOW STORM, BY THE NUMBERS

Yesterday was a snow day in our neck of the woods. Lot's of it fell on our little house overnight.

While it was cold, wet and windy outside, inside we were busy making the best of our "bonus" day off. And by "making the best" I mean that we got busy getting some things done that had lingered on the to-do list too long. None of them were major projects, but in our life with the Little One we are learning that even tiny accomplishments count. We spent most of the day delighting in him, but managed to squeeze in a few small things along the way.

January 12, 2011 totals for our big snow day:

14 - The number of inches of snow that fell at our house.

3315 - The number of emails waiting for me when I finally checked my inbox. I look at my email about once a week. I remember to delete emails that I've read about once a year.

2 out of 3 - The number of people in our family who managed to stay in their pajamas through dinner time.

6 - The number of short naps taken at our house today. Four for the Little One and two for me. I'm not naming names, but one of us went down willingly each time and the other protested… all four times.

5 - The number of times in two hours that I checked the Internet to see if my office was closed again today.

0 - The number of times I found a listing saying that my office is closed again.

1 - The number of Oreos I managed to limit myself to from the full, opened package in our kitchen.

1 - The number of times The Husband spotted evidence of said Oreo on my face. Darn Oreo crumbs! I get busted every time.

2+ - The approximate number of hours I procrastinated when it was my turn to shovel snow.

And, finally, 1 - The number of times the Little One has touched snow in his lifetime. That one was too special for words! It was the perfect way to end a productive day together. I can't wait for it to snow again!

10 SIGNS THAT LIFE CHANGED WITHOUT ME REALIZING IT

- It's not that I don't want to go out. It's that I would rather stay home and hang out with the kid.

- I own more than 300 DVDs of feature-length movies. I love going to the theatre to see new films. I have no idea what the last movie I watched in entirety was. 

- My favorite kind of cereal is no longer Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It is Special K Red Berries. That's right, I said Special K. The blueberry flavor is also pretty good.

- The main reason I get excited about the Little One falling asleep is that it means I get to go to bed soon too. He goes down between 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.

- When I left my first full-time job, I cashed in my 401k. Really had no idea what it was. Now I pay attention to the quarterly that comes for the retirement plan. Saving money excites me more than spending it.

- One of the CDs in my car plays 27 songs. The first is the alphabet song. All the others are songs about each letter of the alphabet. 

- Two of the other CDs feature one of my favorite groups, Boyz II Men. Both of those CDs are tribute cover albums. The type of albums musical groups put out when they are no longer truly relevant in the music world.

- I DVR sporting events not so I can watch something again, but so I can watch it at all. I know there is better than a 50-50 chance I won't be awake long enough to see the whole thing.

- I like ginger ale. And not just when I don't feel well. Nope, I like the taste.

- The last 20 books I have read all had pictures and rhymes. One called Barnyard Dance is now a favorite. For me, not just the Little One.

THREE BIG WORDS

It's hard to drop the Little One off.

The Little One is better now- recovered from the virus that tackled him last week. With that behind us we really looked forward to the start of a new healthy week.

Still, Monday morning seemed to come too soon. Maybe it was the cold, dry winter air or the mile-long to-do lists waiting for us at our jobs. It was more likely the fact that, between holidays, mini vacations to visit relatives and back-to-back illnesses, the three of us have spent a ton of time together over the last few weeks.

Normally, The Husband does the daycare drop-offs and it's my job to pick up the Little One from at the end of the day. I know that I have the better draw in that one. Dropping off is not easy. As he gets older he is definitely more aware of our comings and goings. I fear the day that The Husband calls me at work to let me know that the Little One cried as he saw his Daddy walk out the door.

Yesterday was not that day.

In a last-minute change of plans, I took on the morning drop-off duty. As I said, I was feeling more glum than normal about our separation. From the time I started my car to the moment I arrived at the daycare I did nothing but quietly plot how The Husband and I could become stay-at-home parents. The Little One took a quick snooze in the backseat and his Mommy was down-right crabby in the front.

We arrived, went inside and I removed the Little Once from his car seat. We inched closer and closer to the moment of separation that I dreaded. Theresa, the down-to-earth, friendly woman who spends her days with our boy reached out and took him from my arms.

Then it happened.

He smiled. She smiled right back at him and then said the three words that made everything better.

"I missed you," she said, wrapping him in a tight hug.

That was it. I could go. He was safe and happy with someone who was happy to be with him. Once upon a time I wished that I could be the one to stay home with my baby. If not me, then family or friends. I didn't get my wish. But today it was abundantly clear that I got the next best thing.

THE COST OF LAZINESS

It would have taken all of one second to bend down and pick the plastic bag up off the floor.

But I didn't do it. Instead I just left it there, promising myself I would get it later, when my hands were not full carrying a clean load of laundry. I figured I'd get it later that day.

Or maybe the next day. Well, at some point this week, definitely.

Eventually I convinced myself it didn't matter if I picked the bag up. It was the basement floor, and nobody ever really sees our basement. 

I should have just picked the stupid bag up.

It was one of those plastic shopping bags you bring home from the grocery store if you are not vigilant about environmentalism. We try, but we don't always remember to use our reusable shopping bags. Nor do we remember to ask for paper instead of plastic. Shame on us.

Of course, the plastic bags come in handy. We bring them to day care with the Little One, and his soiled outfits come home in the bags.

Which is how that fateful bag wound up in our basement. As I emptied his dirty clothes into the washing machine, the shopping bag fell to the floor. After loading the washer, I folded the stuff in the dryer, grabbed it to bring it upstairs and briefly debated between leaving the bag or putting the clothes down to pick up the bag and throw it away.

I chose the lazy way and left it there.

Days went by and the bag remained where I left it. Then one day, the bag disappeared. Not that noticed.

Right around the time the bag disappeared, the washing machine stopped working. We bought it a little more than one year ago, so it should not have been malfunctioning yet. Still, the spin cycle would not work, leaving our clothes to sit in a pool of sudsy water.

It took more than a week to get a repairman out. The Wife tried taking a hose off the back of the machine to see if a small item (like maybe  a sock from the Little One) got sucked into the wrong place.

No dice.

The broken washer left us
a backlog of laundry.

We went several days with our dirty clothes piling up. I was getting dangerously close to reverting to the college days of flipping some undies inside out to get a second day of wear from them.

We were really worried that the machine was in deep trouble.

Of course, it took the repairman all of one second to figure out the problem. He got on his hands and knees, looked under the washing machine and said, "Oh, wow."

He had me get down and take a look. There was that plastic shopping bag, wrapped around the fan that powers the spin cycle. Soon as I saw that bag clogged in the fan, my heart sank.

It would have taken me one second to pick that bag up.

It took the repairman one second to figure out why our machine wasn't working.

 The cost of laziness: A little more than $100, and a lot of my dignity. 

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

The Little One was sick last night and nothing is right in the world. At least that is how it seems to the Husband and I. 

So far the parenthood ride has been mostly smooth. The few bumps we've faced didn't cause any damage. Tonight though, with the Little One snuggled into his dad's arms and a pout on his face, we are feeling every bump.

That was exactly the kind of tough night I was having years ago when I made my first "favorites" list. I don't remember who gave me the idea, but this list of favorite things has brought more than one smile back to my face. When I am down, I read through my list and remember that life goes on. In honor of the Little One and his miserable cold, I listed a selection of my favorite things. These are truly something small today that are making a big difference on a difficult night.

FAVORITE THINGS

- snowman "body parts" that are still around long after the rest of the snow in a yard has melted.

- how the Christmas tree needles will freshen the air every time we vacuum throughout the winter or until we change the bag.

- freeze pops are sold all year… just in case someone craves one in January.

- the feel of a cool pillow.

- the feel of a warm hug.

- eating cereal for dinner on busy weekday nights.

- naps on the couch… honestly, any spot will do.

- tea with honey.

- putting on soft, fuzzy socks after a hard day at work.

- hearing the Little One talk to his monkey mobile.

APPRECIATING THEIR SPIRIT

For whatever reason, yesterday's travels around the wild and crazy world that is the Internet brought about two separate examples of spirit from homeless people. Stories of different kinds, both of which left me smiling.

Figured what the heck, why not share them?

It started with a visit to a blog called Single Dad Laughing, one of several that we follow with regularity. Dan's entry about dancing with homeless people in downtown Salt Lake City on Christmas day was intriguing.

In short, he was a bit down in the dumps and looking for a pick-me-up. He and his friends certainly found it in the people that encountered. The blog entry, titled Dancing with the Homeless, includes a fantastic video of Dan, his friends, and several homeless people dancing in the streets. 

I can't quite explain why, but I smiled broadly while watching the entire thing. 

Later in the day, my old friend Tim R. posted on Facebook about Ted Williams. Not the Splendid Splinter, but a homeless man in Ohio with a golden set of pipes.

Seriously, the man was blessed with a radio voice. Odds are you've seen his story in the last day or so, as he was featured on the Early Show yesterday and then this morning he appeared on The Today Show. No doubt we'll be seeing - and hearing - from this guy for the next several days.

Williams certainly has a checkered past, much by his own doing with drugs and alcohol. Heres hoping he can capitalize on his second chance, and that this sudden onslaught of notoriety doesn't overwhelm him.

AND THE WINNER IS...

"What if?"

Every so often, maybe once every month or so, The Husband and I treat ourselves by trying to answer that question. Yesterday was one of those days and I'm sure we weren't alone. I'm talking about the 355 million dollar Mega Millions lottery prize that was up for grabs last night.

We didn't win the big money, but once again we managed to fill a day with daydreams about what would happen if we did. The Husband wants the major life expenses taken care of first and then he'd like to dabble in feeding his hobbies. Me, on the other hand, well, my ideas are more basic.

First, I'd like to sleep until noon. I imagine that would be the most amazing sleep I ever got. No worries. No stress. The Little One likes to eat every few hours though, so I'd have to sleep until noon in chunks of time.

Then we'd go out to lunch with as many friends as we could find on a weekday afternoon. I'd order double desserts for everyone and not think twice about it. The Little One isn't restaurant-trained yet though, so that limits where we can go. I may have to settle for burgers and fries at McDonald's while the Little One bounces on my knee.

Finally, I'd start planning a big family trip. Maybe we'd go around the world. Maybe we'd just stay around the States and head south to Disney World. That makes sense since we'd have our little guy in tow. And since he isn't sitting yet that probably counts him out of riding anything. Maybe we'd just stay home and plan for "someday."

On second thought, an afternoon with The Husband and the Little One, talking, reading and eating burgers and fries together sounds pretty good. It sounds like a jackpot to me. No ticket required.

FIRST IN FLIGHT

Nobody wanted to sit near this guy.

For several weeks, we had been nervous about taking the Little One on his first plane ride.

In all our years of traveling together, the Wife and I have never needed more than two bags. For the trip we just returned from, we had six bags.

SIX! 

We spent a great New Year in Pittsburgh visiting with friends and family from the Wife's side of our family. Of course, to get there, we had to fly both ways. 

We anticipated the worst. So too, it seems, did everyone else who was on our flights. If you want to know what it feels like to be a pariah, bring a baby with you to the airport. Seriously, hold a baby while you stand in line to board a plane and you'll get more dirty looks than a Yankee fan at Fenway. 

That's before we even got on the plane.

When you fly Southwest, there are no assigned seats. Clearly, nobody wants to sit near a baby. We had a total of four flights - on the way there, a stopover in Philly, and a stop in Baltimore on the way home. On two of the flights, the absolute last seat taken was the one in our row. On the other two flights, nobody sat with us at all. 

Turns out, our Little One is a tremendous traveler. We were pleasantly stunned at how well he did, barely making a sound on any of the flights. He essentially fell asleep during takeoff and then slept through all four flights. Before falling asleep, he smiled and made nice with those who "got stuck" sitting near us.

By the end of every flight, several people commented to us about how well behaved the Little One was. We just smiled and said, "Thank you."

I don't know whether we were talking to the strangers, or to the Little One.

ON THE 12TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

No, we didn't forget about sharing what we did on the 12th day of Christmas. It's actually been on my mind quite a bit lately because I knew that we never posted anything about it. Technically we aren't late though. The twelve days actually don't start until December 25th, making January 5th day number 12. (I'm am no wiz about English folk songs or the history of any kind of music. I learned this from Wikipedia, which, let's face it, is how many of us get answers to those random questions that pop up and no one in our office at work knows the answer to.)

This holiday season was full of special moments. The 12th day of Christmas was, by far, our favorite day of the bunch. We started that day like every other day, but, instead of heading off to work and daycare, we hit the road for some serious holiday visiting. Maybe it was the fact that the sun was shining, or that all of our holiday prep was done, leaving us time to relax and enjoy ourselves, but there was something wonderful in the air that day. The Little One napped in the car as we criss-crossed the state to reach family and friends. Nothing extra special or fancy happened at these destinations. We just laughed, talked and smiled together-simple things that meant the most. The Little One didn't know the faces he saw or what the visits meant to all of us, but I hope he does someday. And I hope it makes him smile.