Waking Up Sydney

Sydney & The Goofy Dragon

Sydney Can Sleep Anywhere

Seriously:

Baby Cooking

Last week I took a class on how to cook for baby humans.

Please forgive the little Simpsons/Twilight Zone reference... I had to make it.

In a little over a week, we will get our first share from our CSA: Brooklyn Beet CSA. I'm pretty excited and looking forward to preparing little meals for Sydney to eat... so when my friend Randyhate clued me into a class at The Brooklyn Kitchen, I jumped at it.

I attended the Cooking For Baby class last Wednesday. The Brooklyn Kitchen is located on the corner of Lorimer & Skillman, in Williamsburg, just off the Lorimer/Metropolitan stop of the G/L. The shop maintains the perfect merchandise for city chefs.

The class was taught by a chef, and her child was strapped to her chest for most of the time. Good form. It reminded me of chopping up salad while Sydney was in the Baby Bjorn. The focus of the class was technique for cooking for both a couple and baby. She prepared several meals, from which all students snacked upon. I was the only male in the class, so I held back on devouring entire plates until others had their fill. Seriously, no one was eating! If that class were full of men, we'd be breaking each other's kneecaps for a tablespoon of pureed carrots & dates.

The class gave me some extra confidence that I am able to cook for Sydney, so I recommend it for any parent looking to prepare baby food. Keep in mind that the class does seem to be geared towards those without much cooking experience to begin with.

Sydney Laughing - Really This Time

OK, the last post was a bit of a joke. Here's the real thing:

Sydney's First Laugh

Sydney's very first laugh, cpatured on video!

Play Sydney Off, Keyboard Cat

A remix of a Sydney Classic:

Learning to Laugh

I've been enthralled by Sydney's growth since before she was projected from the womb, but this latest bit is the biggest crack-up.

Seriously, I would stare in awe at the black and white pictures of the little one growing from the size of a kidney bean to the size of a head of Swiss chard. Though I never did get the food obsession when it comes to size comparisons. We subscribed to BabyCenter.com's updates, and I think the last email that came before Sydney's birth said that she was the size of a leek.

A leek? Really? I understand that it's hard to find a an object that most Americans would be able to relate to, but picking a vegetable most of us probably remember from studying Chaucer doesn't help. How about, "By now, you're baby is about as long as a MacBook Pro." And the heads reading this would nod, "ahhh, I see... 15 inch or 17 inch?"

I digress. Of course. I'm always digressing. Must I now regress?

So, while Sydney was progressing in utero through the various kingdoms, divisions and classes of the culinary world, we were expecting a little human. Thankfully, this is what we got, not a head of Chinese cabbage (week 28).

I guess I should not have been surprised by the fact that she wasn't born fully up to speed, given the fact that she was used to living upside-down in a liquid-filled belly, and we are used to arguing over morning radio and laughing at people who ride Segways. I was still amazed by the things could not do and how she learned to do them. For example, I remember the day that her tear ducts began functioning. A baby's cry is alarming, but with tears streaming down...

It was really enjoyable to watch the smile develop, but the laugh takes the cake (so far). About a week ago, Sydney giggled. Now she'll laugh if you can do something that she really finds amusing. She's a tough critic. Usually she looks at you like Jackie Mason looked at me when he said, "It that the best joke you got?"

Yeah, Jackie Mason said that to me what I was 14 and thought it would be a good joke to bump into him in the cafeteria of a Catskills retreat and drop a bunch of silverware, as if he were trying to steal them. As Alf once said, "I kill me." (Jackie Mason = Mrs. Ochmonek)

Sydney's laugh is taking form... I started to think about the laugh and realized that her laugh will likely stay pretty much the same for her entire life. The pitch will change, of course, but the underlying nature of it will stay the same. Sydney's laugh is a big belly laugh. A "heh-heh" as her stomach bounces. It takes some work to get a laugh... usually when one of us repeats a line from the Great Master, Jim Henson.

"mahna-mahna" is a good one, as is "do-do-dee-oo" from "Rubber Ducky."

She squeels and smiles plenty, but the laugh... working on the video...

Sydney & Friends

Here's a rather large gallery of Sydney with some of the many interesting people she has met. Can you pick out The Transvestite Spock?

Sydney Makes Her Demands

Sydney is 4 months old, and she has decided to make her needs clear:

Cheeks

Sydney Meets Herself

Ayden Tries to Eat Sydney

Sydney with her cousin, Ayden:

Sydney Working Out

Syd isn't the biggest fan of belly time, but she's starting to get the hang of it:

Sydney Finds the Camera

The other morning we heard some rustling coming from the monitor. (The morning before I mistook a flock of migrating geese for Sydney.) When we flipped on the screen, we saw this kind of creepy scene: 

Easter Chocolate

That's Sydney in her first (of three) Easter outfits. Isn't she a cute little Easter egg of a baby human? Yes, and she's really testing the gross-out limits of her daddy.

On the Saturday before Easter, Sydney was much fussier than usual. I held her little legs in place while Dana took her temperature - Sydney thanked me with a full cloud of butt-breath to the face after Dana removed the thermometer. No fever, but something was up. Thankfully, she was in much better spirits come Sunday morning.

About ten minutes before dinner at Tracy & Alan's, Sydney was acting up again. Diaper change needed. Location: Tracy & Alan's couch (Their kids, Brendan & Brianna are way past diaper age.)

Dana: "Do you want me to take care of the diaper change?"
Me: "Nah, I'll take care of it."

Sure enough, Lil Sydster had a good load in her pants. No problem. I started the standard procedure, and with a new diaper in place, the unloading began again. Seriously, this was like a volcanic tube of shitty toothpaste. We had wipes nearby, and I was catching the load with fresh wipe after wipe as it was unleashed, creating a pile of nasty naps in my left hand until it became overwhelming. It was like the scene in I Love Lucy when Lucy and Ethel get the job at the chocolate factory. No, I did not resort to that, but my left hand was full, and I did resort to holding out an open right palm to the onslaught. All the while, Sydney smiled and cooed.

After boiling my hands for several days, I am back to normal. Of course I'm joking - I have had my hands replaced with bionic hands. No, actually, I was susprisingly still-stomached throughout this adventure. I suppose this is because this is my little Baby Being, and I would do whatever necessary for her without flinching. Ask me again in 16 years.

Talking Tuesday

A Sydney Double Header

The old one-two punch:

Happy 2 Month Birthday, Sydney!

We let Syd relax with a nice cigar to celebrate.

Syd's Attempt at Saying Good Morning