True Grit-a-goo-goo

"Well, pil-grum, that's a mighty big baby ya got there."

We flew into John Wayne Airport in Anaheim this morning, where we were greeted by the well-bronzed Duke himself. Mommy has meetings this week in Oceanside. Dash and Daddy have an appointment with the beach.

More about the trip later, except to offer a photo of the de-li-cious cheesy flatbread and spicy hummus at The Prado in Balboa Park, if only to make Grandma Laurie jealous.

Photos ©2011 Garrito

Dash Boom Bang

Somebody has a little extra energy.

Dash visits the zzzzzzzzoo

Daddy's fear that Dash would be completely disinterested with the Portland Zoo proved to be unfounded. Unless you consider sleeping through the entire zoo "disinterested".

We arrived Wednesday morning to unseasonably cold weather and an unreasonably huge crowd. Seriously, it's March, folks. Stay home! Daddy had to fight through a sea of strollers to get to the meeting spot for Portland Dads. After braving the elements and the families, surprise surprise, there wasn't a Portland Dad in sight. Well, not a "Portland Dad" Portland Dad. Just a lot of Dads from Portland.

Daddy quickly texted Keaton (see previous post), who, thankfully, was just parking. So, for the second day in a row, Portland Dads consisted of the two of us and our kiddies. We had a good time. Too bad Dash missed it. And even more of a shame that this is the only picture of him with an "animal" (just as he fell asleep):

As Grandma Laurie pointed out in the last post, Dash finally fits into his larger bear suit. (He had the same suit in white, only smaller.) He is getting huuuuuuge. This bear suit is perfectly fitting, in more ways than one! Here are a couple more shots of him in the outfit:

What, you demand more Dash, you say? Daddy likes to oblige when it comes to Dash. Enjoy! These are all from yesterday and today:

All photos ©2011 Garrito

Searching for others of our kind

Dash and Daddy sought out other Mr. Moms yesterday. According to the group Portland Dads, there was to be an outing at the stunning Rhododendron Gardens at 10am. We arrived to an empty parking lot at 9:55. Not a good sign. It was sprinkling out. Wimps! In the next couple minutes, a few cars pulled in. Alas, only moms with their kids. No men. While debating whether to bag it, a car with Minnesota plates pulled in. Promising. A man got out. Even more promising. He pulled a double BOB stroller out of his hatchback. Bingo!

So, it was just me and Keaton and his sons, Liam (22 months) and Alex (7 months). They and his wife had just moved to Portland last week. Real nice guy. We went through the garden, and then I took them over to the grounds at nearby Reed College. Here's the garden, not yet in bloom:

There's an outing this morning at the Portland Zoo. It's sunny. It's supposed to get warm. At least if no one else shows up this time, there are always monkeys to keep us company. We should fit in perfectly:

All photos ©2011 Garrito

Dash eats a foot-long

Yesterday, on the third full day of Daddy Day Care since Mommy returned to work, it was clear that Dash has quickly learned the futility of waiting for Mommy to come home with a more anatomically-correct milk delivery system. He scarfed down nearly 8 oz. of premium hooch from the bottle -- almost a third of his daily intake! And that doesn't even compare to what else he ate:

Yes, that's his foot. My boy, the contortionist.

Photo ©2011 Garrito

Misc. weekend pics

Stop at Starbucks:

Hanging out:

REALLY hanging out:

Heading out:

All photos ©2011 Garrito

Day 2: BOB and Weave

Like a boxing match, taking care of Dash for an entire day is test of endurance. Unfortunately, Daddy's stamina is undermined by a perpetually sore back combined with an incredibly giant baby. The real problem is, whenever Dash is ready for a nap, about the only way to get him to sleep is to wear him in the Moby (a baby wrap that makes Daddy look like a Bantu hutwife). Then walk him up and down the stairs. Repeatedly. In a moment of rare lucidity, Daddy realized that whenever he takes Dash for a run in the BOB Revolution (a stupidly named stroller), Dash falls promptly to sleep. So...Daddy threw Dash into the BOB (very, very gently) and proceeded to weave around the living room and dining room until, voila!, baby was fast asleep.

Now if Daddy can just figure out a way to get Dash to drink more than 5 ounces of milk in the 11 hours the lad is in his charge -- keep in mind he normally takes in 30 ounces each day! -- he will be able to declare another small victory.

Photos ©2011 Garrito

Daddy Day Care: Day 1

Daddy is happy to report he survived Mommy's first day back at work with barely a hiccup. Or spit-up. Or worse. Dash was on his best behavior, and he and Daddy shared a full day of activities: a luncheon, a visit to the vet (no, not for Dash!), a hilly run, a reading of Jack & Jill (spoiler: Jack receives a skull fracture!), and even a brief email message to Mommy.

Photo ©2011 Garrito

How our son rolls

Another day, another skill. Yesterday, Dash finally figured out this whole "rolling over" thing. No changing table will ever be safe again.

Dash takes a stand

With a little help from Mommy, Ahab gets his land legs.

Also today, Daddy takes Dash for a bridge run. Dash wishes Daddy would take him running somewhere that doesn't include bridges, but that would mean Daddy would have to push Dash up a hill. Dash may have to wait until he can push himself up a hill.

All photos ©2011 Garrito

He bad

Dash, perhaps letting his recent 100th percentile ranking go to his head, cops a bit of an attitude. (Why, yes, Daddy is Dash's publicist.)

Photo ©2011 Garrito

The vote is in

According to the girl behind us at Voodoo Doughnut Too yesterday, "OMG, that is the cutest baby ever!" Who were Mommy and Daddy to argue?

Photo ©2011 Garrito

A bear of a baby

Dash went in for his 4-month checkup today. Mommy and Daddy try not to put much stock in such things -- big emphasis on "try" -- but the baby behemoth measured 27 1/2 inches in length/height, putting him in the 100th percentile in that department. Basically, he's off the chart. It certainly explains how he has quickly filled the bear suit Grandma Laurie and Grandaddy Don got him when he was one month old. This suit was twice his size three months ago.

Photo ©2011 Garrito

"Show me the Monet."

Dash visited the Portland Art Museum today. Sadly, it didn't leave a very good first impressionist.

Photos ©2011 Garrito

Just hangin'

Mr. Cool appears nonchalant about his new-found sitting skills. "Oh yeah? Now try that without any support," taunts Daddy. (Daddy's still a little sore about Dash's decision to turn 4am into play hour.)

Photo ©2011 Garrito

You have to laugh a little, sit a little

Mommy shot this video of Dash showing off his skills.

A little culture

So yesterday, Mommy was all set to bring Dash to the Portland Art Museum (it's free the last Friday of every month, between 5-8). The plan was for Daddy to drive them down the hill -- it's just a mile away from home -- and drop them off, but when we arrived we found that a few other people had the same idea. I'm sorry, I meant to say a few hundred. The line was waaaaaay out the door and going nowhere fast. Compounding the horrendous wait was the miserable cold (mid-20's). An executive decision was made; Mommy was craving a Banzai Burger (featuring, ugh, pineapple and teriyaki sauce) from Red Robin, so off we went to the "charming" Lloyd Center neighborhood.

A thousand amazing restaurants in Portland, and we go to Red Robin, home of the unsavory, perpetual crowd. Yes, we traded in the museum for the zoo. Anyway, this little sloth tried her best to spread her nasty germs to Dash the entire meal.

Photo ©2011 Garrito

A battle of wills. And nipples.

Don't let the adorable face and innocent pie eyes fool you. You're looking at 16 lbs. of pure cunning.

With Mommy's return to work a mere three weeks away, today was Day 1 of Pater Training. Yes, Pater Training. The course description reads: "A baby boot camp for Daddy, wherein he is thrown in to the lion for half a day with nothing but a fistful of clean diapers, a fresh bottle of milk, and what's left of his wits after almost four months of sleep deprivation." So, from 7:30am until noon, it was Daddy vs. Dash. The score after Day 1?

Son: 1. Father: 0.

In shorter encounters, Daddy has had mixed success with the bottle. Some days, even with inferior equipment, Daddy is almost Mommy's equal in the delivery of vitamin D*. On other days, the only D is his grade for feeding his son. Today was something new altogether. Dash long ago figured out that he could wait out Daddy until Mommy came home with nature's bottles. Well, this morning after a string of unsuccessful attempts to feed the bugger, and the bugger realizing Mommy was nowhere in sight (she was hiding downstairs the whole time), the bugger went to Plan B. He hibernated. This was no nap. He actually went into suspended animation for over two hours, until Mommy woke him up at noon. Dash, wishing to rub it in Daddy's face, promptly fed.

If you come across this boy, careful, he's crafty.

*[UPDATE: Mommy has informed Daddy that Vitamin D is added to milk to improve its nutritional value, thus rendering this joke not only lame, but broken.]

Photos ©2011 Garrito

Monkey see, monkey coo

Dash's pal Marcel swung by for a visit today. Slow news day.

Photo ©2011 Garrito

Homeward frowned

Our beach weekend ended today, and so we shook off the sand and returned to the big city. Well, the city, anyway. It sure was nice to lose sleep in a more beautiful location. Dash must have been dreaming about car seats last night (see previous post), because he barfed all over Daddy at 3 am. (Somewhere out there, grandparents are undoubtedly experiencing a bit of schadenfreude.) By morning, all was forgiven.

Dash fast asleep in the back seat and Mommy chauffeuring, Daddy was left to slumber and awaken occasionally to look for shapes in the clouds. Look, it's a hippo with Marty Feldman eyes!

All photos ©2011 Garrito