May 8th, 2004

Ugh, the responsibilities of fatherhood, husband and work have created an overwhelming time suckage that has kept me away from this journal for far too long, and unfortunately the trend looks to continue.

The last week and a half have been relatively uneventful in the big scheme of things. Landon has discovered that he has two hands, and that he can bring them together and interlock fingers, and put the whole writhing mound into his slobbery mouth. Essentially Landon has quickly learned that anything that comes into contact with his fingers belongs in his mouth. He also has begun to kick his legs up in the air, and will readily wrap his feet around a parental arm if given the chance. I affectionately have begun referring to this period as his ‘monkey phase’, and envision that this must in many ways be what it would have been like if I had ever gotten the monkey I had always wanted as a pet - the only real difference being that this monkey looks way too much like me, and doesn’t have a tail.

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and Landon has promised that he will stop crying and begin to sleep through the entire night, at least that’s what I got out of his smile framed gurgles this afternoon. Truthfully though, as I have quickly come to appreciate in my brief stint as a father, the largest contributing factor to a happy healthy boy; is a caring, attentive, self sacrificing mother – luckily for Landon, Rhiannon is all of these things and a barrel more. I am constantly amazed at her selfless devotion to our son, it forces me to love her more than I imagined possible. And now tomorrow I am faced with the daunting task of impressing upon her just how tremendously incredible she is as a mother to our son. Truthfully, I haven’t got a chance.

Landon’s grandfather Sharp got in an accident riding his Harley today, on the way back from a bike ride to Monterey. Apparently he took a turn too fast and slid out, breaking his right foot in the process. Fortunately, other than probably a good sized ding to his ego, he is in good shape. I always have, and always will be wary of motorcycles. I’m sure that riding them is a great thrill, but I really don’t see the reward outweighing the risk. Landon could have easily lost a grandfather today, without really getting the chance to know him, all because he wanted to be ‘free’ on the open road. Maybe I’m just getting old and conservative - I may have Landon in a helmet by the time he starts to walk.