Pride and joy My cousin graduated from high school today, and there was a big garden party at their house. The entire family and all relatives were invited. We got all dressed up - Hannes got to wear his new shirt and pants for the first time - and drove up to their house. It was a sunny and beautiful day.
I am repeatedly amazed at what a baby does to people. There were people that I have known my entire life (literally) at the party behaving nothing like the peopl I have known all my life. Literally. We had been at the party for about 10 minutes when my aunt's husband asked if he could hold Hannes. And from there on the line just grew longer: my parents, my aunt, my cousin, my aunt, my cousin... even my grandma's brother's wife got on her knees in the grass to make funny faces at Hannes. And Hannes rewarded it giving her his biggest smile. Meanwhile, I was sitting somewhere, chatting with an aunt of my own, while keeping my eye on Hannes all the while.
Francis wrote once that baby smell should be bottled and sprayed at people at riots. Or something. I agree. I think babies should be taken into business meetings as well, just to make everybody act human. Stop the mind games.
Hannes's Dad goes sailing Tomorrow, I will go sailing with my team at work. And since I am a terrible leaver and since our mornings at home are just too damn cozy and nice, I really don't wanna go. I know I am going to have fun (although I don't really like water, or toughing it out in the woods) I also know I am going to miss waking up to Hannes laughing and Jessica trying to catch one extra z.
Pause for applause I got a big lesson of positive feedback yesterday. Hannes gave it to me.
We were (read: Hannes was) lying on the washing machine, getting ready for a diaper change when I started to play our usual "Hannes runs, Hannes runs, Hannes runs .... Hannes jumps!" game. (We'll change it to "Hannes shoots, Hannes shoots ... Hannes scores" in a few years). But this time, Hannes would just flex all the muscles in his legs so that he looked like a future Olympic skeleton rider.
I was impressed by his strong legs, really. So, I smiled and clapped my hands.
Hannes smiled his one-toothed smile back at me.
So I clapped my hands some more and yelled, "wow, Hannes, awesome!!"
And he did it again. And I was just as impressed. So he did it again. And I clapped my hands. And Hannes flexed his legs. And I yelled and applauded. And he... you get the point. It was very impressive to see him impress me.
And seriously, he does have really strong legs. I wasn't just pretending.
I love you, tooth Hannes being our first - and only, at least for now - child, we're going through a whole bunch of firsts these days. Hannes's first summer, our first summer as parents, Hannes's first ball, Hannes's outgrowing his first clotes, Hannes being sick for the first time... well, you get the point.
So, you can just imagine how overwhelmed we were when we noticed that Hannes is teething. His first tooth! Lower left. Could it be the most beautiful tooth in the world? It could and it is. It first showed up on Saturday, at 9.35 a.m. Both Hannes and Tooth are doing well, Jessica and I are tired, but happy.
We don't get to see the tooth much, with Hannes stuffing his mouth with all kinds of things. But it's there, and it's his first. 19 to go.
G'night, drive safe "Hey, hey, hey, heyyyyyyyya, heyyyyyyyyah, how're ya doing, how you doing, you doing ok?"
[giggles]
"Yeah, yeah, YEAH, yeah, YEAH, yeah, YEAHAHAHAHAHAHAH"
[laughs]
"Prrrrrrrrrrrr!!"
[banging of the table] THUMP, THUMP, THUMP
"BBRRBBBRBRBRB"
[more banging of the table, laughs]
"Check this out, baby, check this out" [throws a raisin in the air, catches it in his mouth]
[loud giggle, laughing, banging of the table]
"You liked that, eh? You like it? Let's see if I can do it again ... PPPRRRPRPRPRPRRRR" [makes a weird sound with lips]
[staring]
"BRBBRPPRRBBRRRPPRRR"
[laughs, banging of the table]
[man throws a raisin in the air, catches it in his mouth]
[GIGGLES, LAUGHS, DROOLING!]
"Thanks, Hannes, you've been a great audience, g'night, sweet dreams, see ya tomorrow!"
Hungry like a wolf How many times have I said that Hannes is a very cool, calm and collected little guy -- and very nice. He's more often happy than not, and wakes up with a smile on his face. Really.
The only time he screams or cries or fights against us beyond any control or reason (yes, I do try to discuss the matter with him in a civilized kinda sorta way), is when he's hungry. When he's hungry and tired, you'd better get outa his way, because nothing will stop him from getting food.
As long as it's kept in a breast container and attached to Jessi and he is carried to it. But you know what I mean. I am sure that he will learn to walk one night when he's hungry. He'll just get up and grab something from the fridge.
Dad mad When I was a kid - this according to a fairly well documented family legend - whenever people would get angry with me (after I had done something I shouldn't have), I always said: "You shouldn't get angry with me, because that would make me sad." Apparently, it worked well for me when I was like 4.
I felt like that last night, when Hannes (!) got very upset with me, for some weird reason. Whether it was the fact that he hadn't seen me all day, or that I showed up home with two friends, smelling slightly of beer, but he simply refused to be near me. He freaked out and cried his cute little cheeks off, when I tried to hold him. And if that wasn't enough, he surely rubbed it in by smiling the sunniest smile at Jessica when she came to his rescue.
I really felt like a piece of shit stuck on a sole of a boot. I was simply not worthy. So I went to bed and dreamt about Hannes peeing straight onto some old lady's face, and the old lady demanding money from me, for damages.
And then I got up early in the morning when I heard moaning from Hannes's bed. I picked him up and managed to get a smile out of him. And I was so happy. I was ecstatic. I was ready to be the Superdad I wanna be. This would be the day we do some serious bonding, I thought.
Jessica said, "It's 5.15 ... five in the morning ... but I can feed him."
I laid Hannes next to Jessica and held his little hand. And fell asleep.
That weird old lady had disappeared. Superdad was back.
