The Watch

When I'm on vacation I am not a schedule guy. I like to just glide through my free time and do what I want to do whenever I feel like doing something. When I'm home, I have my routine and keeping up with Matias feeding schedule and Lucas's bedtime is easy. While I'm here there is no routine. Matias , as I keep repeating on this blog, is an angel and never complains. Sometimes I will realize that it has been a long time since he last ate and feel terribly guilty. What calms me down is that the only times he usually makes himself heard is when he's hungry, so if he wasn't yelling, he probably was not that hungry.

I haven't been strict with Lucas's bedtime either. We're on vacation and I don't think he should have a strict bedtime. What I do try to do is start to calm him down when it starts getting dark so he has an easier time to go to bed. Today I caught myself proposing we go for a walk at a mall at 7 PM, his usual time to take a bath and to start winding down before his 8 PM bedtime. I realized what a bad idea it was and stopped myself, but the thing is that I had not seen the clock before I had proposed it. He was already dressed and waiting for an activity, luckily I managed to convince him just to go to the drug store to buy some formula for Matias. It still took me until about 10 PM to get him to eat, bathe and sleep.

When we first got to Florida the sleeping arrangement was Alegna, Lucas and me in a bed in the guest bedroom and Matias would sleep on a pack and play next to us. Lucas moves a lot when he sleeps and when we got tired of sleeping with his feet on our face we sent him to my parent's bed. It is a king size mattress and they all fit comfortably. When Alegna left I thought Lucas would want to come back to the guest bed with me but he rejected the proposal. Grandma and Grandpa's bed is too comfortable. My father wears a sleep apnea mask. When Lucas saw him for the first time with it on he laughed and called  him a Teletubby.

Another part of my routine that I haven't been doing as you may have noticed is watching movies. I haven't seen one in more than a week. That is a lot for me, but I honestly don't miss it at all. I am happy spending time with my family that I don't get to see as often.

The Wait Out

Matias behaves all day like an angel. He will get hungry when it is expected and maybe cry a little but I am usually prepared with a bottle and as soon as he starts eating he will calm down. If he is sleepy he will usually just go to sleep. .He does not suffer from colic and burping him is a walk on the park. Except at 7 PM in the evening. Alegna calls it "Aleli" time, I have seen it mentioned online as "The Witching Hour" but I like to call it the "Wait Out". He has been waiting patiently all day to spend some time with mommy and now he is demanding her attention.

It is very surprising that it comes like clockwork, every day around 7 PM. It does not matter if he just woke up, if he just ate or anything that has happened the rest of the day. This is the only time when he seems to be inconsolable but I think I am getting to the bottom of it. I have noticed that the cry is very similar to his cry when he is hungry. At first, I was incredulous because at 7 he has usually just eaten so he shouldn't be hungry. But by reading online I have found out that there are some babies that cluster feed in the evenings so they can sleep through the night. Thinking about it, it fits his pattern of behavior. He has been getting better and better in sleeping longer hours at night. So the past couple of nights we have tried just feeding him a bottle when he gets this way and it seems to be working. Hopefully this will lead to even better nights, who knows if soon I will be sleeping the whole night for a change?

What did I see?
Take Me Out to the Ball Game: Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Esther Williams in a Busby Berkeley musical about baseball. I am a big baseball fan and I had really enjoyed On the Town with Sinatra and Kelly. But this one was kind of disappointing, nothing really memorable about it.

A Touch of Zen: The winner of this week's poll and it was a gem. Although it was 3 and a half hours it did not feel that long. You can see how this movie influenced the newer artistic martial arts movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero. The monk character is really cool, he is so bad-ass that he bleeds gold. It has one of the best endings I have seen on any movie. Beautiful movie!

The Seven

Sometimes raising a baby unconsciously becomes a race to the next milestone. Does he hold his head up? Does he follow your face? Then comes turning over, sitting down, crawling, walking, talking, etc. These are all important milestones in their development and of course you want to help them achieve them. I try to do some tummy time every day with Matias so he can gain some muscle strength for his next milestones. But I have another set of milestones that I find more interesting and amusing that I observed on Lucas and I am curious to see how Matias develops them. I will call them the Seven Vinciguerra Milestones.

1. Holding their own bottle: My least favorite part of taking care of  a baby is feeding it. You are pretty much trapped and you can't do anything else except just sit there. When you can finally free your hands while he is feeding feels like a great advancement.
2. Understanding the concept of blowing their nose: There is nothing worse than hearing your baby breathe through some nasal congestion. I have become an expert in using the suction nasal aspirators but it is a relief when you can just put a tissue on his nose and say blow and he knows what the hell you are talking about.
3. Understanding the concept of pointing: The moment when a toddler finally understands that when you point at something he should be looking in the direction of your finger instead of at your finger feels like a great advancement in abstract thinking.
4. First fart joke: This might be a boys only milestone, but I can't deny I was very proud the first time Lucas imitated a fart sound and had that grin that said to me "See what I did there?". I find the whole process of developing of a sense of humor very interesting.
5. Jumping with both feet at the same time: Apparently this is one of the most complex motor skills a human can do. Try asking your toddler to jump at different ages and you will see how hard it is for them.
6. Kicking a ball: I love soccer so it's obvious why this is important for me.
7. Sitting through an entire movie in the theater: As you can probably tell from the blog movies are important for me and being able to share that with my kids is important for me. I tried having Lucas watch a Star Wars movie for the first time in a theater but it didn't work, he was too young and Rogue One was darker than your average Star Wars movie. Disappointingly, his actual first movie was Despicable Me 3. I hope I have better luck with Matias on this one.

For the other parents that read the blog feel free to comment on what other non-traditional milestones you enjoyed watching on your kids.

What did I watch?

The Misfits: It was good, not very special or memorable. Clark Gable's performance is pretty good but the movie felt too long.

Please remember to vote before noon tomorrow on the Friday poll.

The Serenity Now

So it finally happened, I had a tough day. I know everyone has been expecting it. I kept getting questions of "This can't be that easy?". But it is still worth it. I would not trade this bonding leave experience for anything.

It started early in the morning, I felt I had just gone back to sleep after the 3 AM feeding but I heard cries from my two sons. I look at the clock and it is 6 AM, Alegna has already left and Lucas is asking if it is morning yet. I yell no you need to go back to sleep and I place a pacifier in Matias's mouth to see if that will calm him down. None of it works and they are both demanding my instant attention at the same time. I think quickly and tell Lucas to go pee in the bathroom and then he can come back and watch some videos so I can handle Matias. I go prepare his bottle with the pressure of his full blown hunger melt down, he's yelling at the top of his lungs. I start feeding him but now Lucas is hungry too. I do some juggling with Matias and the bottle in one hand and free up my other hand to quickly get him a yogurt and a spoon. Lucas decides that his teddy bear wants to eat yogurt too, so he stuffs the bears face into the yogurt pot, I try to stop him but I'm still feeding Matias so I can't do much. All I do is scare him so now the yogurt is all over the floor, chair and Lucas. He starts crying. I calm him down but I still can't do much for him because Matias is still eating and getting upset whenever I try to do something else. I'm overwhelmed and it is only 6:30 in the morning. Serenity now!

I managed to get everyone ready and now we are about to leave for daycare. It's raining hard and not the kind of rain that is nice, this one just mixes with the high temperature and everything just feels very humid. I struggle to get the two kids in the car under the pouring rain and get Lucas to daycare. I also need to do some shopping so I decide it's best to just go straight to the supermarket. It is a struggle again to get out of the car with Matias and the rain but I get it done. I get home exhausted, luckily Matias has fallen asleep in the car. I finish storing the groceries and collapse in bed. Matias starts to cry, he wants to feed again. Serenity now!

The rest of the day is a haze of tiredness, I do get a few breaks which I use to watch a movie. Alegna gets home and I do what I promised I would never do. I dump the kids on her and ask her for about 30 minutes off. She looks at me with my battle wounds of spit-ups and baby poo and agrees. I go to the yard, that now looks like a jungle, and decide to mow the lawn for the first time in a couple of weeks. I put on some headphones and listen to the Talking Heads at full volume. It is relaxing and I am myself again. Same as it ever was.

I'm ok. This was the toughest day since I started the blog but I survived and I am stronger for it. Matias and Lucas bring it on! I can take it!

What did I watch?
Fort Apache: Another one of the poll losers. John Wayne and Henry Fonda are great, there is also a surprising appearance by an adult Shirley Temple. As every John Ford western the scenery is breathtaking, even if it is in black and white. It's good but I liked She Wore a Yellow Ribbon better.