In response to this query, I ended up with a 15″ powerbook. It’s a pretty sweet machine even if they did just replace it with the “4-times more powerful MacBook.” I tried an Ubuntu install, but it failed to recognize the Superdrive as a source for the CD — apparently Apple made some change to the drive with the October(’05) model updates. There’s a patch in Gentoo, but not (yet?) in Ubuntu. Between that and iffy (at-best) support for the “airport” card, I decided to just deal with the Mac OS, and not chop up the drive for dual boot. I finally got it set up reasonably. My monitor has both DVI and D-Sub inputs, so I had the Mac in the DVI, my dual-booting Ubuntu/XP machine into the DVI, and (almost) all of the peripherals switching with just a switch of which machine had the USB connection to the monitor. Just when that happened, Penn State took back the loaner laptop that Carolyn had had. To be fair, she’d had it a good long time — longer even than scheduled. So, the powerbook had to move out from being entangled on my desk to where it could be easily accessible for Carolyn during nursing sessions, Carolyn for school work, and either of us for SamTrak updates. So, I still use it little bits, but not nearly as much as before. I’d even started playing with Objective-C and X-code thanks to a book I got from my sibling-in-laws for Christmas. So, I guess I need at least a little more work so I can at least get a Mini. But maybe this time, I should wait until the mini has made the Intel transition. Then, maybe I can tri-boot it with Ubuntu and XP.
Pop-pop (my dad) arrived yesterday evening, and in so doing, Sam has met her last biological grandparent — She still hasn’t met “Gramma Carolyn” — Pop-pop’s wife. I picked up Pop-pop from the Altoona train station after pretty much an all-day Amtrak trip from Richmond, VA. At least the price was right — less than he’d have paid in gas to make the drive. In a sense, he met Sam at a good time. She’s much less fussy generally than she’s ever been before. She’s showing off new skills like tolerating some tummy time, and rolling over. But she’s also starting to show people-preferences. I first suspected this when we had Erin over, and Sam didn’t seem to like Erin. Even though everybody likes Erin! But, it was confirmed with Pop-pop. Because Pop-pop is Santa Claus, he’s quite used to holding children of all shapes, sizes and ages. This year he even had two 3-day olds visit him on the same day! But when Sam was being held by him, she’d start to fuss. I tried to let them have as much time together as I could stand, but when she got really worked up, I’d take her back, and she’d calm almost instantly. This was disappointing, but also tremendously gratifying — she knows and trusts me. I guess in some ways, it’s still not sunk in that I’m a father. I mean, I get that I have a daughter — the sleep, or lack thereof, has driven that home. But what I’m only starting to understand is that I’m her father; The source of authority, knowledge, wonder, comfort, embarrassment, frustration, irritation — all the things that make up a father package.
I didn’t track the first time she did this, but it’s also of note that Sam has supported her own weight on her legs, and has been doing so for at least a week. She’ll “stand” up in our laps. I can hold her just above her waist, helping with core balance a little, but she can do all of the standing herself. I think if she just weren’t so top-heavy with her head, she could probably stand briefly on her own. No way to test that, of course.
The theme for this week’s Word-a-Day is interesting. It’s all about the positive versions of words we always hear in the negative. Here are the introductory paragraphs from today’s word (sipid):
Why is there so much negativity around us? Open a newspaper, watch
TV, listen to the radio, and you find nothing but negative words.
Ever wonder why some words almost always appear in their negative
forms? It’s completely evitable, as the words for the next five
Sam rolled over twice today from the much-despised tummy time on to her back. She is 15 weeks old today. I went to get the camera to capture the third time, but there was no third time. Instead, I recorded a couple minutes of a child fussing because she didn’t want to have to lift that heave head one more time. Or, maybe it was performance anxiety.
I enjoy puns, and wordplay, possibly to a fault. If I remember, I’ll post some shaggy dogs at some point.
I read somewhere earlier today about someone sidling up to a bar, and that made me think about the word sidle. It’s one of those words I only know from context, and that context is alwasy sidling up to a bar. I inferred that the definition was just “to approach”, but I looked it up today to learn that it means to approach or move sideways (or furtively).
It’s curious, though I guess not surprising, that becoming a father has given me some insight into my own childhood and my relationship to my father. A few things are starting to make a little more sense.
The first among these is bear hugs. I’ve been getting bear hugs from my dad for as long as I can remember. I always kind of figured it was an “alpha male” thing. He was showing me that he was big and strong, and I’d better keep in line. And, oh yeah, I was family so he at least kinda liked having me around. Now that I have Sam, bear hugs make a lot more sense. I squeeze her because I want to hold her so close to me — I want to draw her inside myself even. I just try not to squeeze her too much. Similarly, all those fairy tails with the potentially eaten children — Hansel & Gretel, Sleeping Beauty (orig), etc. And the little affectionate quips like “Daddy’s going to eat those widdle toes!” Of course WHY I want her so close as to internalize her remains a mystery to me. But maybe it will be solved by Samantha Fay Capehart, baby detective
It was one year ago today that I started blogging. This would be a good time for self-reflection on what’s changed in the past year. However, one of the things that’s changed in the past year, has me up at 3:00 AM warming up formula to feed her, and so I’m too woozy from need of sleep to be introspective. Maybe something more appropriate will come to me during nap time later in the day. In the meanwhile, I’ll simply note that being able to report news of Sam has multiplied my readership many-fold, and to thank you for reading.
Today was Mom’s first day back at work. Fortunately, as a professor, she has a pretty flexible schedule and is due home within the hour. Still, Sam and I were largely on our own. We’ve made it so far, though it was touch-and-go for a little while there.
One of the things that we did today before our early-afternoon nap was to go for a walk. It was a beautiful day (for January) here, and I’ve been noticing the lack of exercise brought about by the combination of having an infant at home and crappy weather outside. The private mailbox where my business receives its mail is about a 25 minutes away by foot, and I decided to risk it. On the way down, Sam was fine as I talked with Grandmère on the phone. On the way back, there was fussin’ then sleepin’.
Dear Sam,
Once again, I find myself writing your monthly newsletter well past the end of your month. I have a little bit better excuse this month — we were traveling back from Mom-mom and Granddaddy’s on the day you turned 3 months old. This trip was interestingly exhausting and recharging for me. You didn’t seem to care much one way or the other, except you seemed to like some of the music you heard while you were there. Mom-mom put Disco Inferno on repeat, and you calmed to dancing to that as much or more than to Boom Shak-a-lak. You managed to continue to charm Mom-mom and Granddaddy as well as Uncle John and Aunt Rika, despite not yet having let go of unnecessary fussing. You also met, and charmed, several other people this month including others from Altoona, more family around Philadelphia, and friends out of your mom and dad’s past.
