My son likes girls

 Well, he enjoys seeing other kids in general.  But, what I'm talking about here is based on what happened a few weekends ago.  It was a lovely Saturday afternoon and it just so happened that neither I nor my wife worked that day.  And of course, our daughter didn't have any school that day either.  So, we decided to go "out and about" as a family.  

We first went to the Natural History Museum in town.  Then after that we strolled through a nearby park.  In our wonderings, we found a water park full of kids playing.  We were very certain that li'l Avery would easily have fun here.  We were correct in our assessment.  He love love LOVED all the little sprinklers that shot up water.  He could've played with those all day.  He also enjoyed all the slides and other fun jungle jims all over that park as well. 

But, his favourite attraction at this park a little girl he saw.   The girl looked about maybe 3 years old.  My son is 1 almost 2.  When he saw her he couldn't stop smiling.  You can tell when Avery likes something alot by his arms.  He gets what I call "hummingbird arms".  He flaps them back and forth as hard as he can.  When he saw that girl, those arms were flapping like crazy, practically a blur.  All he wanted to do was walk over to that girl and give her a hug.  The girl was NOT into this though.  She kept hiding behind her dad.  This is fine.  She has every right to refuse a hug she doesn't want.  But, I can say with utmost certainty that Avery meant her no harm.  And, thankfully, Avery was not disappointed by her reluctance for contact.  He was just happy to see her at all.

Anyway, me being an artist dad, I have depicted this moment with a drawing.  Here it is:

I gave it a "Pepe Le Pew" twist because that's pretty much what this encounter was like.  I'm sure that little girl is doing fine wherever she is.

How my son deals with Archie Bunker

 

A birthday present I bought for myself last June was the All in the Family box set. It's got all nine glorious and hilarious seasons. At this point I'm just about finished season 7. I'll be moving on to season 8 and 9 very soon.

However, of course, I have much more to do that just watch some old TV show. I have a full time job AND a baby son to look after.  He alone requires so much attention. He's got to be fed and entertained on a very regular basis.  Anyone who has kids or has raised kids in the past knows all of this and more I'm sure.

Anyway, like I said, I'm often called upon to keep my son Avery entertained whilst mom is busy with work and other things. While entertaining him, he has come to glance at the antics of the Bunker household now and again. He of course understands absolutely nothing of what he sees, but it does turn his head at times.  He definitely notices when Archie starts yelling. He certainly can't understand what Archie says when he yells and he most certainly can't understand to context of what Archie is yelling and who he's yelling at.  All he sees is a crazed and angry old man.

You'd think that my son would be saddened or even somewhat traumatized by seeing such vitriol being spouted like that. But no, that's not how he reacts at all. He has instead taken one of the small mallets used on his toy xylophone, walk over to the TV and hit Archie right on the head with it.  It wasn't a hard hit that could wreck the TV thankfully. It was just a tap big enough to express how he felt about Mr Bunker's bellowing.  I have made a quick drawing commemorating that very action:

He's only done that once, but for me it was quite memorable.  

Anyway, I do plan to keep working my way through the seasons any time I can.  I'll end this post with a song that I've been hearing so many times in the past few months as you can imagine.  It's stuck in my head so now I'm getting it stuck in yours. Enjoy!

Kenny Rogers was a skilled and masterful song writer

 That's quite a hot take I know, but I just have to say it.  It's true. Kenny Rogers was a highly talented artist who had a special gift for writing songs. He had that spark, that indelible flair for crafting songs that entertain and uplift generations upon generations of people from all walks of life. A true master of his craft if there ever was one.

I know a lot of creaky old boomers and various music nerds will read that line above and maybe respond with "WELL NO BIDOY! I've known that that since his work with the First Edition! I know what condition his condition was in! It's like common knowledge, man! Where have you been? Are ya deef and dum maybe?! What's the big idea?? Why I oughta........."

Whoa whoa whoa!  Calm down there you hyper hypothetical. Yes, I'm quite aware of how famous and well established he was in his lifetime. He had multiple selling albums and many hit songs to his name.  I know that full well.

However, my assessment of Kenny Rogers' music right now is not based on the usual criteria.  I'm not going by how many fans he has or any number of album sales.  I don't care about any sold out concert performances at all.  I'm definitely not going to use any measures or charts that musicologists use to over analyze a song to see if it follows a proper wave pattern or whatnot.  No, I am not using any method used by any of the most obsessed music nerd you can name.  My assessment of Kenny Rogers is based on my son Avery.

A most discerning connoisseur.

I'll explain.  One fine day, not long ago, I was given the task to keep my son occupied so my wife could cook either a breakfast or lunch.  I remembered that there are several episodes of the original Muppet Show on Disney+ so I decided to check that out.  Yes, you guessed it, I selected the episode with Kenny Rogers in it.  I can't quite recall why I chose that particular show, but I'm glad I did.

I already knew that my son loves any show with music in it and I was also very familiar with the Muppets' proclivity to burst into song at any given notice (I was indeed a big fan of the Muppets back when they were originally on the air).  So, I figured he'd enjoy that.  Being that he's only a few months old, some parts of the show entertained him but other parts scared him.  I guess Jim Henson was a little TOO ambitious with his creations sometimes.

However, Avery's fear completely melted away when Kenny Rogers sang the final song of the show.  He just grabbed his guitar and softly played Love Lifted Me.  My son's reaction to that song is probably the most precious thing I'll ever witness.  That song makes him sad and happy at the same time.  It's difficult to describe, but that's how it looked to me.

Keep in mind that this is a months old baby.  Lyrics mean nothing to him.  They all just sound like babble babble babble to him.  My son reacted to pure melody.  That's the mark of a good song writer, really.  If just the melody or the hook can reach a person right in the soul, songs can't get any better than that.

Even though Kenny Rogers left us back in 2020, I'm sure he's happy to know that he just got a new fan in my son.  Here's a drawing I made of the two of them enjoying each others' company:

That's all I wanted to say with this post.  I just wanted to let everyone know that Kenny still inspires people and probably will for generations to come.  For those woefully unfamiliar with Kenny Rogers' Love Lifted Me song, I'll embed a video of him singing that song on The Muppet Show, the very same version of that song which delighted my son.  Show this clip to brighten the day of other people in your life.  Enjoy!

More pumpkin carving goodness

 Like I mentioned in the previous post, Halloween is once again upon us. Like other years previous, my daughter and I did some pumpkin carving to celebrate. The big difference this year is that my son Avery has joined us.

So, this year, I decided to take another approach to the jack o'lantern design. I tried to make it pleasent and somewhat baby-like rather than spooky or crazy.  I drew mine out on paper first:

I thought that looked pleasant enough. Avery would be sure to enjoy that. Raianne doodled a quick pleasent face too just a few minutes before carving. The full result with the lights added is below.

I thought I had achieved something that would please my one month old son. However, his mom (my wife) informed that he was indeed scared of this pumpkins. He put on a sad face as soon as he saw them. Oh well, he did see the both of us carving the pumpkins earlier abd seemed to enjoy that. Maybe next year he can participate. 

Until then, HAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYONE!!

My boy Avery is finally here!!!

 On September 17 at 4:46 am Mountain Time, my son Avery was born to very beleaguered and exhausted parents.  That is an ordeal that none of the parties involved will ever forget.

The adventure got underway at about 6:30 Saturday morning when my wife woke me up to tell me that her water had broke.  I knew that was a sure sign that the baby's birth was imminent so it was time to head out for the hospital.  There was literally no time for anything else.  We checked in and the doctors did their usual evaluation, looking at dilation of various parts and things.  We were initially sent home because we were told there were still hours to wait yet.  So we were back for for a small bit.  I took that time to have a shower.  Then, when her contractions were getting more intense and closer together, we were right back at that hospital again.

My wife assumed that this delivery would be quick because of previous experience.  When our daughter was born 14 years ago, there was only an hour between water breaking and full delivery.  She naturally thought that would happen again.  But nope.  This labour went on for hours and hours.  Of course, the maternity staff were busy with other babies being born at that time, so a lot of that time was just the both of us waiting on a bed in a room not knowing how any of this would go down.

When it was finally our turn, the staff was right there instructing my wife to "PUSH PUSH PUSH PUSH PUSH".  I acted as a "human stirrup" in that endeavour by holding her leg up.  What else are husbands for?  Sadly, all of that pushing was to no avail.  All that came out was a small amount of poop, but no baby.  At that point, they used the dreaded phrase "C section".  We were both taken to another room full of big lights and beeping machines (none of which went PING to my disappointment).  I sat near my wife while they put a tarp over her lower part so that we couldn't see what they were doing.

In just a few short minutes it was done.  Little baby Avery was finally out of his mother's womb and amongst the rest of us.  It was a joyous and happy moment for me of course.  However, I really really felt so bad for Avery.  Upon being birthed, he was placed on a small bed surrounded by people wearing yellow gowns and face masks (me being one of them).  One nurse felt there was still too much amniotic fluid in his system.  So, to alleviate that problem, she inserted a hose very far into his nose in order to suck it all out.  Then proceeded to insert another hose into his mouth to catch what she missed.  To me, that looked like a nightmare scenario, especially for someone who has just entered to world having no idea what anything is.  Yes, I know that all of that needed to be done in order to ensure survival, but Avery didn't know that and there's no way he could've known.  He was having a miserable time at that point.

It didn't stop there either.  They let my wife hold him for a bit.  Then, while he wasn't looking, a nurse gave him a quick Vitamin K shot in his leg and slipped away before he knew what was happening.  I'll never forget Avery's reaction to that.  He didn't just cry.  He had gotten a lot of his crying out during the previous ordeal I mentioned.  No, this was more of an angry cry.  I was reminded of every Al Pacino performance I had ever seen.  Avery's cry seemed to be saying "HEY! WHO DID THAT?!  WHO STUCK ME?!  I WANT ANSWERS!!  WAS IT FREDO?!  THIS WHOLE SYSTEM'S OUT OF ORDER!!! ATTICA!!! ATTICA!!!"  That's my interpretation anyway.

Thankfully for Avery, things calmed down very quickly and he could finally relax.  That's when I was given a chance to hold him for the first (and definitely not the last) time.  The look he gave me was the greatest look.  For about half a second, his look seemed to say "who's this guy?".  But, it immediately changed to a "oh ok, I recognize him now.  He's good people."  I was at first puzzled by how he could've known me so fast.  But then I remembered something my wife kept telling me during the final few months of the pregnancy.  Apparently, while in the womb, Avery would always react whenever he heard my voice.  So, that's how he recognized me then.  He knew my voice.

I think Avery still has a memory of his tumultuous first few minutes of his life.  We were discharged from the hospital two days later after had deemed both baby and mom to be healthy enough to survive out in the world.  So, we went straight home and put little Avery into his new sleeping quarters: his bassinet. Just a few days after that though, a nurse came right to our house to check up on us to make sure Avery was still healthy and that our home environment was ideal for a baby.  After the nurse was done giving Avery a check up, I put him back in his bassinet while she gave my wife instructions about caring for newborns.  The look on Avery's face was not a friendly one.  He had a "get her out of here" kind of face.  He was NOT in the mood to be dealing with medical professionals at that point and I can't blame him.  No, I'm not going to help him with a vigilante quest to "punish" all medicos.  I'll simply say that Avery has already learned a valuable lesson about the world: there are people you cannot trust.  That's a lesson everyone should learn.

I'm ending this post with my first glance at Avery the moment he was born.  This is what he looked like to me:

Most parents get freaked out by this site and nearly faint.  They consider the baby to be "hideous" at this stage.  However, to me, he just looked cool.  If he stayed looking like this, I'd be fine.

If anyone out there reading this has a baby in their lives, keep being good to that baby.  To anyone out there who doesn't, I recommend it.  Happy parenting!

It's going to be a boy and Avery is his name-o

The wife and I had the big anatomy scan ultrasound just recently.  It is now confirmed that the baby developing inside her body as we live and breathe is indeed a boy.  As I mentioned in this blog's title, we've settled on his first name being "Avery".  He's named after the great animation genius Tex Avery of course.  Will my son live up to the amazing legacy of Tex?  Um......... geez! Way to put pressure on a kid before he's even out of the womb.  Back off a bit, you weirdo!

Based on what my wife has experienced so far in being Avery's portable incubator, we're sure he's going to a spry and energetic little man who will give us plenty of excitement and exercise.  I'm sure he can't wait to come out and meet us all as well.

"Thumbs up, doc! Thumbs up!"

See! He's already giving the world a big thumbs up.  He's ready for us, but are we ready for him?

Also, according to my wife, Avery likes to kick and punch a lot inside there.  All fetuses (feti?) do that to some degree.  But, that seems to be Avery's favourite activity so far.  So, in that spirit, I've created an artist's rendering of what Avery could look like when he finally out of the womb.

Is this accurate?  Well, he's due in September so we'll know for sure by then.  I'll certainly keep everyone posted when that happens.

A preliminary welcome to the world, little Avery. We can't wait to meet you.