ANOTHER BIRTHDAY

Sandwiched exactly eleven days between Landon and Colt’s respective birthdays rests another Buhr family birthday, which thankfully doesn’t garner nearly as much attention as the previous mentioned days. On February 28th I will be celebrating my thirty-second year on the planet. It’s been a very eventful year as described here previously, I would definitely rank it among one of the best years of my life, so I really don’t have anything to complain about for once. That being said, I do feel older, which I’m sure is from an accumulation of the years and the responsibilities I’ve added along the way. I have a few gray hairs, and often go to bed well before eleven pm, but I don’t feel like I’ve slowed to the point where I notice it during my rare bouts of physical exertion enjoyed in the ocean, along a trout stream, or sliding down some snow.

This past weekend both my parents and in-laws were gracious enough to take me out for a celebratory dinner on Saturday and Sunday nights. One night we ventured out for sushi, although regrettably Landon didn’t venture to taste the food this time, and the other evening was enjoyed over Chinese fare. Both meals were enjoyable, although neither night were the boys on their best behavior. Colt was noticeably fussy as he is still rebounding from a stomach flu he suffered through early in the week, and Landon was his rebellious three year old self, intermixing periods of excellent behavior with bouts of time spent standing next to or hiding under the table, refusing to remain seated like a “big boy”. Regardless it was nice to get out and the parents were all once again more than generous.

My gifts this year have included a small fourteen gallon aquarium that I plan to establish as a home to a small saltwater reef set up, as well as some funds to support all of the other gear required to get started in this hobby. It’s been over fifteen years since I maintained a saltwater aquarium at home, so I am expectedly excited about the endeavor. Technology has come a long way in the past two decades (again did I mention that I am getting old), so it will be fun to tinker with some of the latest innovations. I am also looking forward to the opportunity to use the tank as a launching pad to involve the boys with marine biology while still within the confines of home. It should be a fun experience, I will be shocked if Landon doesn’t request at least one “Nemo” representative in the tank, but it should also be a cool venue to introduce him to crabs and shrimp and corals among other marine fauna. I promised Rhiannon that I would hold off setting up the tank until after the big birthday bash scheduled for March 10th, so until then I will have to sit on my hands and wait.

Colt has been spending significantly more time standing while investigating things recently although he still requires at least one hand firmly planted on an object for support, he is becoming more courageous with a few small steps, and I anticipate he will take his first unaided steps before much longer. Colt has also increased his mimicry skills to include an adorable growl, as well as a woof-woof and a meow. All of these bursts of noise are immediately followed by a giggle and a grin. Only two weeks until his first birthday when aside from surviving his first year on the planet, some of his more obscure milestones will also be regaled, including turning his car seat to face forward, and switching over from formula to whole milk. Both of these smaller accomplishments are anxiously anticipated by his parents.

Since turning three, Landon has become a courageous climber, leaving behind the timid toddler of his past, and instead developing into some sort of monkey/mountain goat/boy hybrid. This past weekend at the park he ascended several climbing walls without any assistance, a feat that I had never even see him attempt let alone accomplish. He now gleefully also climbs into his high chairs and strollers without any parental assistance, and loves to squeal, “Look at me!” when he reaches some new height to claim as a perch. So far I have yet to witness a dramatic fall, but when (not if) that happens, I will be curious to se how his bravery rebounds. Landon is still sporting an ever-increasing curly mane atop his head, which is very endearing but also is evolving more and more into some sort of afro jungle. Either a trip to the barber shop or to his dad’s clippers sits in the eminent future.

So, in general, as my last days as a 31-year old fade away, I am pleased with where my life is right now. I have a tremendous wife, two healthy, happy children, a wonderful group of family and friends, a respectable job and house that feels more like a home every day. Things are almost too good, and I must admit that I find myself looking over my shoulder periodically, hoping not to catch a glimpse of the boogeyman sneaking up behind me.

FEBRUARY 17TH, 2007 – CELEBRATING 3 YEARS OF LANDON!

Well, as the above title suggests, this past Saturday was Landon’s third birthday. The past three years have seen our son develop from a writhing pink lump, to a bumbling toddler, to the dynamic little boy he is today. I’d like to think that during that same period Rhiannon and I have developed as parents as well, but more often than not I still feel like I could use some training wheels for the ride.

We started last Saturday morning as we do every Saturday; after Landon awoke he joined me and Rhiannon in our room to watch the weekly episode of Thomas the Tank Engine on public television. This ritual is always a treat for Landon as he gets to snuggle into our still warm bed and order where pillows get placed, and who gets to sit where. Colton usually attempts to participate in these viewing parties but often loses interest quickly and decides to investigate what might happen if he crawled right off the edge of the bed – so far I’ve only had to catch him once.

After the show we trudged over to the local breakfast joint, Cinnamon Productions, for some anticipated birthday breakfast, complete with chocolate muffins, cinnamon rolls, cantaloupe and bacon. We gave Colt his first slice of melon, soon after which Landon proceeded to mimic Colt’s attempts to eat the rind side of the slice all amidst giggles from all parties at the table. After breakfast Colt went down for his morning nap, and we informed Landon that as soon as his brother woke up we would be heading down to the train station for a birthday trip on the local Pacific Surfliner route. He smiled in anticipation.

Rhiannon and I decided that we would celebrate the day together as a family, rather than having a full fledged party filled with family and friends. In a few short weeks Colt will be turning one, a truly immeasurable cause for celebration, the significance of surviving that first year on the planet seems particularly to warrant celebration both for the child and parents alike. But since we also didn’t want the impending festivities to overshadow or minimize Landon’s birthday, it was agreed that the party in March would be thrown for both Colt and Landon, although in reality Colt will get top billing on that incredible day. Rhiannon and Landon have been planning a bug-themed party for the event complete with a bounce house, and insect inspired activities – Landon is very excited. The original plan was to host the party at the local park located just across the street, however a phone call on Saturday informed us that the park had already been reserved for that weekend, so the party’s locale would need to be rescheduled for our house. I was amazed at Rhiannon’s resilience after receiving this unsuspected news, in a few seconds of conversation, an afternoon with family and friends at the park had transformed to over 40 people invading our small home, a daunting proposition, but one that Rhiannon took completely in stride.

An hour later Colt was awake, and we zipped out of the house and headed to our next destination, the Irvine train station. Throughout our drive there, Landon peppered us with questions about the train and the tracks and the station. He squealed from the backseat when he saw the train tracks upon our approach. We arrived at the train station only a few minutes before departure so Landon and I rushed inside to by tickets while Rhiannon and Colt got the prerequisite gear out of the car. Upon reaching the front of the line we blurted out our plans and destination only to hear the man behind the counter reply in a demeaning, monotone response that the trains were shut down this weekend for track repairs. Landon’s face dropped in recognition, and the lack of compassion from the ticket seller made me incensed. They had no information on the Amtrak website of this planned closure, and no signs in the station advertised this situation either, so his gruff rebuke seemed a little inappropriate. I guess I have matured a little as a parent, because if I hadn’t been holding Landon at that moment this jerk store would have gotten more than an earful. Instead I turned to console Landon and to try to salvage the day with a back up plan.

It was a beautiful day, with winter temperatures registering in the low to mid 80’s, so we concluded that a trip to the grand Pacific Ocean would be a sufficient venue to continue our celebration. We headed down to Laguna Beach and grabbed a quick lunch at a great local taco stand. Landon was not impressed with the bikini clad patrons there that began flirting with him when they found out that it was his birthday. Instead, Landon could see, the ocean and smell the ocean and wanted nothing more than to feel the sand as soon as possible. We obliged his wishes and headed down to a surprisingly crowded beach for a winter weekend afternoon. There was an outgoing low tide, so Landon and I spent some time exploring the tidepools while Rhiannon and Colt remained behind on the blanket, where Colt proceed to try and fit as many grains of sand as possible into his drooling mouth. Landon jumped over pools and pointed out the anemones and mussels and even found a shore crab. As I mentioned it was an unseasonably hot afternoon and since this wasn’t our original destination we were all overdressed and unprepared without sunscreen, so our trip was cut short by our impending heat exhaustion. We drove home with sand between our toes and smiles on our faces.

The boys settled down for their afternoon naps and Rhiannon and I got some much needed rest as well. Upon waking up, Landon and I spent some time on his train table constructing a new track design that would incorporate the waterfall tunnel he received for his birthday. Later we headed out for some birthday pizza at Selma’s and then came home to bake birthday cupcakes. Landon assisted in everything from cracking the eggs to stirring the batter, to making an immense mess. He blew out his three candles and inhaled a cupcake before going to bed.

It was a memorable day not only because we were celebrating the birth of our first son and our entry into parenthood, but also because we spent the entire day together, without any outside distractions, as a family – that alone can account for a remarkable day.

2006 – THROUGH THE EYES OF LANDON WYATT

In the following entry I hope to summarize some of the more prominent events in 2006 for Landon. The year marked his evolution from toddler to little boy, a striking transformation that was somewhat unexpected, it also marked his entry into the forays of brotherhood thanks to the addition of his young sibling.

By far the biggest change for Landon in 2006 came on March 11th, when his little brother Colt came screaming into this world. The idyllic tranquility he had become accustomed to, a world where he only had to fight for his parent’s attention with the family dog, now lay shattered beneath a crib with its new inhabitant. Initially Landon seemed very interested in Colt, but asked us on more than one occasion after we returned as a newly expanded family unit from the hospital, when we could, “take him out of here?” - here of course referenced our home. After awhile he adjusted to splitting time with his new brother, and would ask to hold the little pink blob, occasionally attempting to shove a bottle in Colt’s mouth as well. He also briefly attempted to become a baby again himself, often borrowing a pacifier and chewing on it as he played around the house.

More recently, as Colt began to develop, and became able to interact, play and locomote the boy’s relationship has deepened. Landon always wants Colt around, although that doesn’t necessarily translate into him wanting Colt to play with his toys, rather, he just wants Colt to, “come see what Landon’s doing”. Most of the time Colt can be distracted to enjoy another toy in the room, but when he does become overly interested in what Landon is playing with, inevitable conflicts do arise. These conflicts are usually resolved by Landon gently pushing or shielding Colt out of the way. That being said, he never asks Colt to leave the room, and becomes genuinely concerned when Colt isn’t around. One afternoon I took Colt to the store with me while Landon was sleeping – when he awoke to find his brother had disappeared - he threw a fit. Landon always reminds Colt to “be careful” and enjoys singing to him in the car, and making him erupt into giggles via a game of peek-a-boo.

A year ago, Landon was still a chubby toddler, whose attempts at running often ended with a face first crash to the ground, and whose favorite word was “why?”, and who still took two long naps a day. Those days regrettably are long gone. Although at the time they seemed to be difficult, I now find myself missing the limitless devotion present in a toddler’s embrace. Today, Landon is a thin, coordinated little boy, complete with his own ideas and personality. He has a head of thick, crazy, light brown hair that sits atop a pair of fiery blue eyes, both of which he inherited from his dad. At one point this past summer, Landon’s hair was getting so out of sorts that we bribed him with a popsicle to sit still long enough so that we could buzz it all off. That was over six months ago now, and he hasn’t received another haircut since, so the curly mop is back in full effect. Landon enjoys running around playing tag, all the while explaining to us that, “he is fast now because he is big.” He takes only one nap in the afternoon, and if he had his choice in the matter he wouldn’t slow down at all – ever. Although still full of questions, Landon’s queries now are more elaborate and relevant questions than the monosyllabic inquiries he used to pepper his parents with daily. And more significant is the fact that Landon can entertain full conversations about a number of things complete with thought, analysis, and integration of his own opinions. His opinions however are also very strong, and can at times devolve quickly into tantrums complete with screams and flailing appendages.

My relationship with Landon has also changed as he has become more independent. The clingy idolatry of an infant or toddler has become replaced by a level of respect and friendship that I hadn’t expected to find in a relationship with someone so young. The experiences I share with him are invaluable – I am overwhelmed with how rewarding fatherhood is everyday.

Landon still drags his little orange friend Gully around with him. Gully is a small orange rabbit-shaped blanket that he has held since he was only a few months old. Actually the original Gully was blue, but he was lost and has since been replaced by an orange Gully which has since been replaced by another two orange Gully’s. Rhiannon and both of Landon’s grandmother’s have been responsible for losing a Gully while on their watch, thankfully, I have yet to join this somewhat embarrassing club. Landon shows Gully the dogs at the pet store and the cars on the freeway, and shares many an adventure with him.

Rhiannon has done an incredible job teaching Landon. With the help of an advent calendar, Landon was counting to twenty by Christmas, and thanks to an assist from the Letter Factory, if you catch Landon on the right day he can point out the letters and tell you what sound they make. He sings with his mom, including the alphabet song, and has learned about manners and rules and a number of other important lessons. I on the other hand, get the fun of passing along my love of biology to my oldest son. Over the past year we have taken numerous trips to the local zoos and aquariums each complete with a plethora of interesting questions from a two-year old mind. It amazes me what that brain can absorb. Landon shares some of what he knows, but every so often he divulges a nugget of knowledge that I had no idea existed, I’m pretty sure his mind is full of similar bits of information. Landon also enjoys pretending to be a variety of different animals, taking on different traits of each animal that he is mimicking. Bird nests have been built on the couch for him to perch in, and we have howled at the moon like a pair of coyotes.

Our house is home to few pets, most noticeably our first ‘child’, our chocolate lab Dakota. She is a great companion for Landon, and she even begrudgingly shares her food with him from time to time. Most of the time Dakota is cautious enough to miss stepping on Colt, although the occasional tail slap to the face is really unavoidable. A little over a year ago, one of the women at Rhiannon’s work gave us a baby desert tortoise for Landon to care for. We named it Sam, since its sex won’t be discernable for a few more years and have set it up with a nice cage in our office. Landon enjoys feeding Sam and watching him/her crawl around on the floor, he is respectfully gentle with his little shelled companion, and they often play together over a shared piece of broccoli. In the back yard we also have a small whiskey barrel pond with a few goldfish in it, and hopefully in the next few months we will be setting up a saltwater tank as well. Growing up I had innumerous pets, and this is a tradition that I will happily pass on to my boys.

As I think I have referenced previously, Landon is a train addict. What started as an innocent introduction to Thomas the Tank Engine over a year ago, has morphed into a full fledged addiction that dominates Landon’s play time. He has at least four different train tracks in our house and a train table in his room, and a ride-a-long train that currently loops around our dining room floor. He has train videos, and train t-shirts and a train night light and train sheets on his bed. When we are in the car he is constantly scanning for train tracks and the occasional diesel engine. At the shopping mall he knows every store that has anything even remotely resembling a train. When we visit Disneyland, our first stop is always the Disneyland Railroad. I think that there is a realistic chance that at three year’s old he knows more about trains than I do at thirty-one.

Speaking of Disney, for Landon’s second birthday we picked up season passes and since the park is only a half hour car ride away we have spent many afternoons over the past year laughing away at the Magic Kingdom. Other than the train rides there, Landon also enjoys numerous other attractions including: It’s a Small World, the Jungle Cruise, and Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters, to name a few favorites. He has also embraced several of the more recent Disney films. We limit Landon’s exposure to TV, or “tvd” as he refers to it, but most night’s before he goes to sleep we allow him to watch fifteen minutes from one of the movies in his collection. Some recent favorites include: the Lion King, Finding Nemo, Cars, a Bug’s Life, Toy Story and Monster’s Inc. A few months back after watching Monster’s Inc, Landon became convinced that there was a monster named Shadow living in his room, it took a few months to get him back into his bed from the safety of his pack-and-play, and as one might deduce, Monsters Inc has been removed from the bedtime viewing list for now.

Landon has become more coordinated and has also begun to develop an interest in sports and games. He likes to shoot hoops in the backyard, and has become quite accomplished at hitting a ball off the tee with a plastic bat, he also has a soccer goal in the house and will shout, “gooooooaalll” after kicking (or throwing) the ball in the net. During the past football season, Landon wore a lucky Chargers jersey every Sunday, unfortunately that jersey lost its luck during the playoffs. He also is always interested to help with the yard work and has also become a very willing assistant for a numerous of home repairs. For this past Christmas he received some plastic tools including a hammer, screwdriver and wrench that he used to help me assemble a baby gate atop the stairs last month.

This past summer Landon and I went on a few fishing trips to the local pond. We hooked a number of little bluegill and Landon seemed to relish in all of it from the worms to the hooks and bobbers to giving the fish a little kiss before he released them back into the water. Now he will ask when we can go fishing again which always makes me smile, and during the colder winter months he has created an indoor fishing pole out of some plastic chain and a stick that he uses to fish for “daddy-fish and colton-fish”. Landon has visited a number of streams and rivers, including the Provo, Big Wood, Merced, San Joaquin, Yuba, Silver Creek and Mammoth Creek. He also is proud to announce that trout live in rivers and streams, and that his daddy likes to catch trout. I can’t wait until our next trip to the banks of a flowing stream.

Another one of Landon’s favorite destinations is the beach. He loves to dig big holes and trenches in the sand for his trains to drive through. No seagull is safe from his giggling chase. More recently we have begun to introduce him to the animals of the intertidal; his fingers have already felt the tug from large green anemones. In general Landon seems to prefer to conduct his adventures outside whether at the beach, the park, or even within the confines of our backyard.

The year ahead should be filled with more incredible milestones for Landon Wyatt. He will start preschool next fall. Hopefully sometime soon he will transition out of his diapers. This summer I plan on teaching him to swim, and to ride a bike, and next winter he will get strapped to a snowboard for the first time. We will go on his first camping trip and maybe even try to catch his first trout. I can’t wait, but at the same time I want to hold onto each precious minute just a few seconds longer.

2006 – THROUGH THE EYES OF COLTON LUKE

The following entry will hopefully give Colton Luke a little of the description and background information that he so justifiably deserves. That being said, I will be attempting to summarize events from the last 11 months, and since lunch yesterday is barely a foggy rumble in my digestive tract and memory banks, I will undeniably skip too much and gloss past some details.

The first few months of Colt’s life were a pink baby blur filled with napping, nursing, cooing and occasionally crying. Thankfully this period was void of traumatic events, and gave our family time to adjust to its newest member. He spent quite a bit of his time relaxing in a ‘Moses’ basket that Rhiannon would drag with her throughout the house. We didn’t use a basket for Landon, but in hindsight it proved an invaluable tool for our early care of Colt, allowing us a portable bed that could be taken virtually anywhere, and at the end of the day fit snuggly into his bassinet. We could, and at times did, swing it through the air to not-so-gently rock Colt to sleep when he was fussy. The combination of the basket and a stuffed animal that played water sounds (rivers, rain, etc) and Colt spent many peaceful hours resting and cooing. I often found myself jealous of his plush accommodations.

I also want to take a sentence or two to describe Colton’s nickname selection, as I often refer to him as Colt rather than Colton. Rhiannon and I both selected the name Colton Luke because of the uniquely American, somewhat rugged image it elicited, similar to his brother’s moniker, Landon Wyatt. As inevitably happens with names, shorter versions evolve and Rhiannon and I squared off somewhat between Colt and Cole as developing nicknames for our new son. Rhiannon had always been a proponent of Cole, even as a unique name all unto itself, whereas I preferred Colt, again for its unique imagery (there was also the problem that ‘Cole Buhr’ sounded a little too much like ‘Colby’, an ex girlfriend that now lives happily in the back woods somewhere as a married lesbian – no joke). Over time I recruited Landon to the Colt nickname team, and between the two of us, Colton is often referred to as Colt, but rarely if ever as Cole. I guess if he wants he can always run with the Cole handle when he’s older if he prefers.

After a few months, Colt quickly adopted a snuggle buddy that would exist as his drool depository, milk absorbent pad, comfort blanket and midnight pal. He selected a small blanket with the pattern of a giraffe, complete with a little giraffe head and tail emerging from opposite ends of the blanket. We had originally tried to introduce this blanket to Landon during his infancy, but a frightening experience where he wrapped his head up in the material left us fearing suffocation, and instead Landon grew up holding tight to a smaller, orange, rabbit shaped blanket named Gully. Maybe the second time around as parents we were a little less cautious, anyway Colt and Raffi got along well right from the start. Of course it also wasn’t long before Colt would have trouble falling asleep unless Raffi was placed squarely over his face. This was unnerving for quite some time, but it did help get him settled in at night, perhaps from lack of oxygen, but regardless, after a few weeks without any deleterious reactions we grew accustomed to his habit and he has stuck with it ever since. Today Raffi still accompanies Colt around everywhere, although his yarn mane has been completely plucked clean by his owner and friend, and one of his nostrils is a little unraveled, his horns still complete their function as a chewing oasis, and his worn cotton keeps Colt warm at night.

A description of Colt physically is probably also warranted. Colt is slightly shorter and stockier than his older brother was, a little more of a butterball, probably due to his eating habits which I will need to discuss later. He has large, bright blue eyes, with a slight puppy dog slant at their corners similar to his mother’s. His hair is straight and straw-blond, until just recently it would stick straight up in a natural mohawk – we recorded several instance of this on the photographic record as it was undeniably adorable – our own mini punk. Currently, Colt has four, big, white chompers, and by the proliferation of drool flooding from his mouth, signs point to more teeth arriving soon. Recently he has begun sticking his tongue out, with or without provocation, and upon its extension I always laugh at how big it is. He has been sitting up for several months now, and started aggressively crawling just before Christmas. Before that he would propel himself by implementing a backwards scoot on his belly and then spinning to orient his face in the proper direction after he either reached his destination or crashed into something along the way. He also implemented a soldier style crawl for a short period of time. When so inclined he will pull himself up to his feet while holding onto adjacent furniture, but no attempts at walking or standing have been witnessed. He claps excitedly when happy, and will wave, and occasionally even extend a slow motion high five. His hands rise up in the air when he wants to be picked up and he giggles uncontrollably when his belly is tickled.

I know that most if not all parents think that their children are the absolute cutest things on the planet. And I also know that it’s probably not politically correct to make comparisons but I’m going to go ahead anyway. Colt really is downright adorable - cutest baby I have ever seen. There I said it, and I’ll stand behind it, and that previous statement even includes his older brother who was/is incredibly adorable in his own right. I’m speaking from a position of experience here, I was after all voted the “cutest baby in Poway” in 1975, and Colt blows my baby pictures out of the water.

Colt’s language skills continue to entertain him. He is a very vocal baby, although 99% of his current evocations are comprised of babble, he most definitely seems to understand the dialogue flowing from his lips. Following in his brother’s footsteps, his first word was “Dada”, a fact that we tried to keep hidden from his mom until the evidence was simply to omnipresent. Shortly thereafter he introduced, “Mama” to his vocabulary, and I’m convinced I have heard his emit some derivative of, “Andon” as well.

It is apparent and openly welcomed that Colton loves his parents. That being said, his love for his older brother far surpasses his affection for anyone or anything else he has come into contact with to date. When Landon enters a room, Colt’s face lights up with glee, and he immediately crawls over to investigate what adventure Landon is currently involved in. His infatuation is endearing and more often than not it is returned in varying degrees by his older sibling. Unfortunately this worship also can evolve into a source of tension in the house. Landon has toys that he has identified as exclusively his; most of these are trains, but a few other possessions also fall into this category. Colt never has seemed to pick up on this distinction though, which often results in a confrontation where Landon either rips a toy away from his little brother or simply pushes/blocks him out of the way. This often Leaves Colt frustrated and upset. Conversely, there are situations where Colt will discover a toy, or a spoon, or stimulating object that will provoke giggles and smiles from Colt’s exploration of said discovery. This often is followed by Landon coming over to investigate, and if his interest is peaked, he will simply tear the object away from his little friend, which is consistently followed by wailing tears and disbelief. To try to alleviate this situation we have tried to enact a ‘trading rule’ where if Landon wants to take a toy away from Colt he must replace it with one of his trains. This occasionally works, although often Landon will drop by a different, forgotten toy to complete the transaction that he has no desire to play with.

I am often asked what are some of the more glaring differences between Colt and Landon when he was his age. I guess comparisons between siblings are unavoidable, although I imagine detested by those involved in the side by side investigation. That being said, the answer I most often deliver, is that one primary difference between the boys at this age is their independence. Colt will entertain himself independently for long periods of time, often crawling away from those around him, setting off on his own investigation of the world around him. He has learned already who to pull open draws, and makes a bee line for the refrigerator when he views its open door. Conversely Landon was always in need of attention, and would rarely stray out of sight. I’m sure to some extent Colton’s independence has evolved out of necessity due to his inability to compete with his larger and more actively coordinated brother. It probably also has something to do his own unique version of reality – he has never really experienced a world devoid of other competing distractions, so he has developed accordingly. That being said he has been becoming more aware that the squeaky wheel gets the grease and has become more insistent with his attention grabbing wails.

Colt has maintained a steady growth rate throughout his development; characteristically he falls into the 50th percentile for height, weight, and head circumference. He is an extraordinary eater, at no time has he ever been fussy or refused food except for the few weeks following his bout with the stomach flu last December. Initially he would grub on baby food, repeatedly voicing his disappointment when the spoon scraped the bottom of the bowl. We began fortifying his food with rice cereal or oatmeal, and eventually began to offer him two jars of food per feeding. In the past few months he has drifted away from baby food and has begun to incorporate more solid food into his diet. Whatever meal is being served, small morsels are distributed around the tray of his hi-chair where they are scavenged up by his little fingers and shoved excitedly into his mouth. Although sometimes a messy event, Colt always enjoys mealtime. He has yet to incorporate utensils into his feeding regime although I’m sure that event waits eminently on the horizon.

Most evenings the boys take a bath, in the past few months they have begun spending their time in the tub together. Landon often refuses to take a bath without Colt. Both boys love the water. Colt splashing and drinking the water, while Landon devises various games involving bath toys and occasionally trains. Landon also incorporates his brother into his adventures, a recently recurring installment involves Landon pretending he’s a shark, and then informing Colt that he is a sea otter, the shark then swims over and carefully begins to attack his prey carefully with the teeth. On most occasions this game resolves itself nonviolently, albeit with constant reminders from dad to be gentle. It should be interesting this summer when we take the kids to the local lagoon.

Colt was introduced to his first trout stream in July. We went on a family vacation to Sun Valley, Idaho for “Nunle” Justin’s 30th birthday celebration. The trip their also involved Colt’s first airplane ride, followed immediately by his first propeller plane ride which he seemed to enjoy much more than his grandmother. On the prop plane, seating was limited to 14 people, and the children were required to sit in our laps, with no more than one child per row. This meant that Rhiannon and Colt were scattered away from Landon and I during the flight and made all of us a little more uncomfortable than otherwise might have been expected, especially after Colt decided to poop one minute into the take-off. Once we arrived in Sun Valley we had a great time. Several friends also made the trip which involved plenty of relaxing, fly fishing, and catching up. Colt was introduced to the Big Wood River and Silver Creek, and cooed appropriately for both. Unfortunately he was not successfully introduced to a trout at either location, that meeting will have to wait for a later date. We caught plenty of fish on the trip, just none when Colt was around; hopefully he isn’t some sort of trout deterrent.

Other adventures that Colt has been party to in the past year include the following, presented in no particular order or significance. We have taken several trips to the beach and at least one tide pool expedition, most excursions have been to Laguna, and most trips also involve wiping sand out of Colt’s mouth at some point. We have also introduced Colt to fish via the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, he appears to thoroughly enjoy following the swimming fish around the tanks, which always warms his dad’s heart. Colt has also been to a number of local zoos including the San Diego Zoo, the Wild Animal Park, the Santa Ana Zoo, and the Orange County Zoo. In the past year we have also made numerous trips to Disneyland and Colt willingly or not has been subject to a number of rides all of which he seemed to enjoy except for perhaps Pirates of the Caribbean. He has also survived his first holiday season complete with gnawing on a turkey leg and drooling on Christmas wrapping paper. This past New Year’s we visited the Reynolds and Slater clans in Brighton, Utah complete with Colton and Landon’s first introduction to the silent wonder of falling snow.

So there in a few paragraphs is a completely inadequate description of Colton Luke and his adventures and development in 2006. There is so much more to add surrounding this incredible little person, hopefully the future will provide the opportunity to do so. He is a joy, and already I feel honored to have him as a son.

UPDATE?

So much time has passed since the last time I sat before the keyboard to recording the happenings in my life that I find myself making one excuse after another to continue to draw myself away. Now that I have that first sentence recorded, hopefully the rest will go a little easier. A lot has happened in the past eleven months, the primary event being the birth of our second son Colton Luke. Additionally, Rhiannon has begun teaching at a different school, I have changed jobs not once but twice, and my last, dear, remaining grandmother passed away. So its been a year of more ups than downs, which is good, but it has also been a year with little free time, and what time I found was spent sloshing through streams or floating around in the saltwater.

The driving force bringing back to this forum is the disservice that I feel I have done for little Colt. The first year of Landon’s life was recorded with some regularity in this journal, and yet as Colt’s 11th month birthday rolls around I have yet to type one sentence about his wonderful life. Recently I have used this journal as a reference to compare Landon’s development with that of Colt, each time thinking that I should record the more recent updates in our lives as well. Always I left disappointed with my diligence toward this task. So that is where I will begin this entry, with no idea exactly where I will end up.

In the month prior to Colt’s birth Rhiannon was experiencing intermittent bouts of extreme pain associated with pre-labor. Her checkups showed very slight progress, but the general tone from the doctor was to come back when something really significant happens. Several times we were just a few steps from the car ride to the hospital. Although it was a stressful situation for myself, I must assert that more than anything else it made me glad that the female bears the burden of child birth and not the male version in our species - I know I couldn’t take the stress and pain associated with child birth. The actual estimated date for Colt’s arrival was March 17th, however on the cold Saturday morning of March 11th we awoke from another restless night filled with Rhiannon’s labor pains and decided that we had reached a breaking point and that today would be the day we actually crossed the threshold into the maternity wing of the hospital. So after breakfast, we packed the car up, dropped Landon off at his grandparent Sharp’s house and proceeded to St. Joseph’s with the goal of welcoming our new son. The night before it had snowed on our local mountains, the air was crisp and alive, it occurred to me what a perfect day to begin a life on this planet.

We arrived at the hospital right around 9:00am and they checked us right in, no questions asked, no quick inspection to ensure Rhiannon’s progress in labor, just the standard, “sign right here, and follow me to you room.” It made me wonder why we hadn’t done this week’s earlier and circumvented so much of Rhiannon’s distress. Shortly thereafter our nurse introduced herself, after a year’s time I have regretfully forgotten her name, but she was a very happy, middle-aged woman who had worked at the hospital for the past 25 years. She had the same post-sixties, flower child, hippy mentality that my mom so often exudes. She had a familiar smile and was very attentive to Rhiannon which was most important. She started administering pitosin to accelerate Rhiannon’s labor, and by shortly after lunch Rhiannon’s epidural was injected. The morning was proceeding very smoothly, unfortunately that was soon to change.

Around 2:00pm we were introduced to the doctor who would be dragging Colt into the daylight. Regrettably, Dr. Fiorentino, Rhiannon’s obstetrician, would be unavailable to help her through the last leg of her pregnancy marathon. We were disappointed, after 9 months of regular visits (not to mention Landon’s pregnancy and delivery) a strong relationship and comfort level evolves with your particular doctor, it’s a little disorientating not have him guide you across the finish line. Dr. Ackerman was a young, red haired doctor from Spain with heavy framed glasses and an even heavier Spanish accent, and a decidedly non-American personality. He radiated energy, and lacked several of the filters that so often encumber our overly political correct society. At one point he joked about Rhiannon’s age, saying she was far too young to be having a baby, later he said something about her baby weight.

Shortly after exchanging further pleasantries Dr. Ackerman checked Rhiannon’s progress and determined it was time to break her water to speed the labor along. I should recall that Rhiannon was carrying extremely low during her pregnancy, and was also extending a very full belly. The consensus was that she was carrying a large amount of amniotic fluid and that was the cause of the extra protrusion. So, not shockingly, when Dr. Ackerman proceeded to rupture Rhiannon’s amniotic sack the ensuing flood of water was reminiscent of the blow out a stream might experience after a winter’s run off finally reaches its banks. The only problem was, the surge of water also dragged along with it a portion of the umbilical cord, causing a dire situation wherein if not attended to immediately the cold ambient air would cause the blood vessels in the cord to constrict, preventing the flow of any oxygen to the baby.

Dr. Ackerman thrust the cord, and his hand, back into Rhiannon and held it there, while also jumping onto the frame of her bed and shouting that the nurses needed to wheel her into the surgery room for an emergency C-section. Rhiannon burst into terrified tears during the commotion, prompting a sincere exchange where Dr. Ackerman looked like he was going to tear up as well because of Rhiannon’s distress, begging her, “Please don’t cry,” it was a touchingly tender exchange. I was utterly at a loss for words, my supportive attempts to assure Rhiannon that everything was going to be okay seemed hollow at best. And then to accelerate everything to a new level of panic, as I tried to follow the gurney as it wheeled down the hall with Dr. Ackerman surfing on its frame still with one hand wedged up against Colts’ head, a nurse abruptly blocked my way, informing me in a cold tone that I would have to wait in an adjacent room. Rhiannon’s tears returned at this news and my world went spinning.

They shunted me down to an empty delivery room across the hall from the surgery room and left me alone, saying that someone would return with more news. I called both of our parents and updated them with the news, my parents had yet to arrive at the hospital, and Rhiannon’s parents were just arriving. Through a choked up throat I again gave hollow assertions that everything was going to be okay.

A few minutes passed and a nurse entered the room complete with a jumpsuit, funny hat and socks for me to wear over my shoes. She informed me that the situation had bettered, the cord and baby were still within Rhiannon, and that she was doing well. They were going to keep her in the surgery room until Colt was actually delivered as a precaution. She also said that none of the nurses, in their combined experiences stretching back over 25 years, had ever seen a prolapsed umbilical cord resolve itself, the outcome was always a C-section – except this time. Apparently Colt’s big head was wedged in such a way that Dr. Ackerman was able to slip the cord back up behind it.

The surgery room was far different than the comfort filled confines of a normal delivery room. The soft pastels and flowers were replaced by cold blue tile stretching from the floor all the way to the ceiling, which I realized was probably for easy cleaning – yuck. A myriad of robot-like machines beeped and flickered. Rhiannon looked obviously uncomfortable at best, lying on her side as her labor slowly progressed. Remember too that she was still anesthetized from the chest down thanks to her epidural; she was essentially immobile and obviously still shaken. It felt incredible to hold her trembling hand.

I trudged down to the waiting room in my surgery room gear, and informed the now filled house, which included Andrea, and Rhiannon’s grandparents Alonzo as they had also arrived to join my parents, and Rhiannon’s parents, and a room warming Landon, that they would need to continue waiting, but that all were doing well after the brief trauma. I don’t think Landon knew what to do about my funny hat and shoes.

Finally by 6:00pm Dr. Ackerman gave the signal that it was time to begin pushing Colt out into the world. So Rhiannon pushed, and she pushed harder, and harder, and no baby came out. Dr. Ackerman joked that she wasn’t pushing hard enough, comparing her to a senior citizen at one point. This left Rhiannon devastated, and I was convinced by the white spots that were popping up on her red face that if she pushed much harder her head would explode like a champagne cork. After over an hour of debilitating pushing Colton Luke’s head began to appear. He came out looking straight up at the world, and not in the normal face down position that most babies emerge in. And as we expected he was a big baby. So couple this with the “sunny-side up” birth position and Dr. Ackerman was noticeably impressed that Rhiannon was able to complete such an event, shaking his head again and again, muttering how someone so little could produce something so large and in such a difficult delivery position. He apologized in his heavy accent for saying she wasn’t trying, obviously pushing a baby this big out, in such a painful pose, was not what he anticipated when he was poking fun at her lack of effort.

Colton Luke weighed in at 9 pounds 6 ounces and measured 20 inches long. He was shorter and stockier than his older brother had been. He emerged with same heart tingling wail that is impossible to recant. There is no feeling like being introduced to your son for the first time, and after such an obstacle filled day, seeing his pink little arms and legs flailing against there first exposure to cold, and air was definitely tear evoking. After marveling at him and his mother I slipped out to tell Landon and his posse that he had a new baby brother, a concept I am sure he was nowhere near ready to comprehend or accept. Rhiannon and Colt were wheeled back into our original delivery room which seemed to emerge from ancient history, the day had persisted for what seemed like a month.

Shortly thereafter the cavalry was ushered in, flash bulbs exploded, oohs and ahhs were exchanged, and then everyone was hustled out, it was late, close to 9:00pm, over 12 hours since we first entered the hospital. We were anxious to get to our recovery room and enjoy some peace and quiet getting to know our new family member. We even stole a few hours of sleep.

Our stay at the hospital was extended by an extra day because of concern that Colt may have picked up a bacterial infection. It was tough to be away from home for a total of three days and nights – we missed Landon, and his incremental visits during every day were not nearly enough. On one visit I gave him a pair of toy trains that I explained to him was a gift from his brother Colt. The trains were brothers too I continued, and Landon seemed to grasp a little bit the idea of brotherhood, and if nothing else seemed to like the idea that his new brother might, on occasion shower him with gifts. By the end of our stay we were ready to get home and begin our new life as a bigger and ever changing family.

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A few short weeks after Colt’s arrival, my last remaining grandparent, Harriet, took ill. My mom called to inform me that she was taking her to the hospital, an occurrence that had become more and more frequent over the past year. For whatever reason, I informed her that I was on my way down to San Diego to help, some how I guess knowing that this might be the last time she made the trip to the hospital. It was around 8:00pm. I reached the hospital and found my parents t the foot of the emergency room bed. Justin arrived shortly thereafter.

Upon my arrival, grandmom was coherent and interacting in some conversations, though obviously struggling, and in a good deal of pain. The memory that I will hold onto from that night will be holding her hand and telling her about her newest great grandson, whom she had yet to meet. She smiled, and squeezed my hand and asked that I tell him that she loved him, she also wanted me to deliver a kiss for him. It was one of those emotional scenes that remain when everything else blurs away. The rest of the night involved an increase in pain medication that rendered her in and out of consciousness. By the dawn hours of the following day she passed away. Rhiannon arrived with her great grandsons only a few hours later. A meeting between Colt and Harriet would have to wait for another arena.

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As if additions and subtractions to the life cycle weren’t enough during this time, I finally received a job offer that would take me away from Hubbs-Sea World and into the environmental consulting field as an environmental planner. It was a welcome and long awaited change, although the actual timing could have coincided with a little less hectic point in my life. I left behind an important program at Hubbs, and a job where a few of the perks involved weeks at Catalina and lobster diving across the street. Unfortunately those perks didn’t outweigh the negatives which included a work place with little room for growth and a job that primarily involved transporting fish throughout the Southern California freeway system in a rusty old pile of crap that sooner or later I am convinced would have rendered my end on this planet in a snarled traffic collision with little seabass flopping on the freeway gasping for air around me.

Pacific Municipal Consultants welcomed me aboard with little experience in planning, with the hope that my scientific background could help bridge the gap. I am indebted to them in the risk they took with me.

My new office was located in Torrance, 50 miles of congested freeway away from our home in Rancho Santa Margarita. In order to escape the gridlock that awaited me on my commute, we decided it was time to sell the pick up truck and get a more environmentally responsible car that would also allow for transport in the less crowded carpool lanes, even with only one person in the car. We purchased a Honda Civic Hybrid and after some initial trepidation about not having a truck for the first time in the past 13 years I have learned to really enjoy and appreciate my new ride.

The job at PMC allowed me to work at home two days a week which provided an incredible chance to spend time with my two quickly developing sons. By the end of the summer, Friday’s became Daddy and the Dude’s Day, where the boys would stay home with me for the day instead of going to day care, and we would head out on all sorts of different adventures. We spent time going to Irvine Park and riding on the railroad, having picnics, and visiting Yoyo the bear at the zoo. We went to the aquarium, and the beach and a number of other places throughout the county. What initially started out as a day where I would be filled with terror at the overwhelming possibility of watching two young children, and the myriad of bad things that could happen, quickly evolved into my favorite day of the week.

Regrettably the same freedom that allowed for my Friday’s with the boys was also the downfall of my time at PMC. I took my position as an environmental planner hoping to gain insight into a new profession and to develop new skills that would prove invaluable as my career path continued to be blazed. At PMC however most of my days were spent in an office that could hold 30 people comfortably with only myself and one other coworker present other than our boss. The workload was non existent. I would struggle to make it through the days I went into office without losing my mind from boredom. I spent way too much time thinking about fly fishing and managing my fantasy football teams. The tedium and lack of development couldn’t outweigh the freedoms that I experienced the rest of the week; especially since I was attempting to jump start a new career while the sands in the hour glass of my life continued to fall. I contend that this would have been the perfect just out of college with no responsibilities gig. I became stressed about the future implications of this job environment – I didn’t want to spend several years at PMC and have nothing to show for it on my resume, and with no other skills hanging from my belt. I was stressed about having two little mouths to provide for, a mortgage payment, and the prospect of getting older. I even contemplated returning to Hubbs at one point for less money only with the hope that my career might benefit, which in hindsight was a ridiculous stretch and only mirrored how desperate I was becoming.

Luckily, one day while I was wasting away the hours at the office surfing the internet I stumbled across an interesting opportunity. I was looking through a few state regulatory agency sites, and ended up on the site for the California Coastal Commission. It had a link to “employment opportunities”, which I followed and was interested to learn that there was a position open in the Long Beach office for a Coastal Program Analyst. The job description sounded interesting. So I filled out an application and sent it and my resume to San Francisco. This was in late September. A week later the Human Resources office for the CCC called and asked if I wanted my application forwarded to the test taking office. Sure? I replied. In my abbreviated research for the position I had neglected to notice the application procedures for the position. It’s the kind of bone head maneuver I execute with remarkable consistence. The challenges seemed innumerous. Passing a written test that was offered only once annually was required; coincidentally that test was scheduled for 2006 in October, only a few weeks away. A second oral exam awaited those that succeeded on the first test, followed by a state ranking of all applicants by their respective scores, followed by district interviews, followed by an offer for employment if one was really, really lucky.

Unfortunately the written and oral tests did not cover material that could be crammed for in a few short weeks, so with low expectations I proceeded. After several long and nervous months I somehow I managed to cross the hurdles in place and landed firmly on the tenth floor of the Arco Building in Long Beach with a view south to Dana Point, west to Catalina, and with a position as a Coastal Analyst for the CCC. My first day on the job was January 3rd, 2007, quite a memorable start to the new year. The position is far more competitive than I originally understood when I started the application process, which was fortuitous because I probably wouldn’t have even attempted to apply if I had realized that I would be one of hundreds vying for the position. Things have ended very well in the sense that I am now in a position where I will gain valuable experience in environmental planning, working for an agency whose mandate is to “protect California’s coastal resources”, a responsibility I am honored to try and uphold, and furthermore it means that at times I will be able to take my background in marine science off the shelf, dust it off, and put it to good use.

Life is an interesting path. A year ago I would never imagined that I would have changed employment twice and ended up far ahead of where I started off. I would have never guessed that having a second son goes farther than just doubling the joy in one’s life, the smiles and fatigue compound exponentially. The whole bit about the light at the end of the tunnel coming from the headlight on a train isn’t always true I guess. So that’s the update of the largest events of 2006, soon I hope to catch up on where the boys are presently, and hopefully continue to keep these updates a little more frequent…we’ll see.