I suppose I should write one of these, too

I had to go back to my previous entry in order to figure out what has been going on since I last wrote. I know it's been a while, but I'm busy, usually either working, taking care of a baby, or resting to recharge my battery to do one of those things again.

So the cats first. They've gotten over their fear of each other and the house is much improved. I couldn't tell you if there is one alpha cat between the two of them. I've seen them both at the top of the cat condo. I've seen them both chasing the other one around, though it does look like most of the time Nagano is the one in charge of deciding when it is 'run around like a maniac' time. They mostly eat out of their own dishes...mostly. And they have even occasionally been nice to each other.

Gizmo is a great cat. I'm really pleased with him. For starters, he seems to have, mostly, lost the habit of trying to wake me up in the middle of the night with head bonks. He mostly just finds a nice spot under my armpit and curls up there. For some reason, whenever we're in the bathroom he decides he desperately needs attention like right then, and whenever he does he's astoundingly vocal about it. He likes it when I pick him up and let him nuzzle my face, as well as being a fan of good, hearty haunch scratches and even the occasional thumping. He's very good with Tyler and a sweetie all around. I'm glad he's mine.

Anyway, Tyler. His walking progress has really taken a good turn, recently. We went to a birthday party for one of Tyler's school-mates. Her third birthday. Very mature. Anyway, there were a lot of kids there of all sorts of ages, and Tyler, evidently, got very inspired by all the kids running around and doing things with their feet. Ever since he's been really interested in walking . He can cover a lot more distance on his own, for once, walking from the living room all the way over into the library sometimes. And more than that, he seems to be using walking to cover ground, rather than crawling everywhere. He's definitely more of a toddler than a baby at this point. Still cute, though.

More teeth are coming in, too. He's been a little fussy the past few days and I daresay we figured out why this morning when Jess had me flip him over so we could check his top gums for new teeth, and there was a new one already through. The one on his left side is through, the one on the right side is on his way. He's had some fussy times but for the most part has been weathering the trials like a champ. Still sleeps all night. What a trooper.

He's also down to just one nap a day. Not on his own, we've been trying it out for him. You see, once you hit 1 year you become eligible to move up to the toddler class, but you have to be able to do certain things, they don't just toss you over the fence on your first birthday. One of the big ones is be able to sleep in a cot and only take one nap. So we had the day care try it out for us, and they've been putting him to sleep at around noon, completely exhausted, (seriously, like a wet noodle) and he's been taking good, long 2 hour naps. Course, he does tend to sleep on the drive home with us too, but that's allowed. We kept it going over the weekend, and even on a day last week when he had to stay home sick with a fever. Of course, I had to stay home sick that day too, and Jess was kind enough to relieve me at about noon from my babysitting duty so I could take, no like, a 4 hour nap in the middle of the day. I can see why he likes it so much.

Tyler's birthday is this weekend! A fairly low-key affair, all told. We'll invite a bunch of people over, have some cake and ice cream, let Tyler open some presents, if he feels like it, and then allow a bunch of other kids to play with his toys. Oh, and also Jessie's mom and sister and nephews will be coming to visit. Such fun! I'm looking forward to letting him make a gigantic mess out of some cake.

Cooking! Nothing impressive, mind, but we have managed to clear out most of our pre-made casserole dinners from our freezer, so I took it upon myself to stock us up this weekend. I made double-batches of three different casseroles on sunday and froze the lot. I'm not actually sure how any of them will fare in the freezer, but they all seemed pretty tasty when I sampled them before they went in. I can send you guys recipes, if you want.

Other than that, it's been a lot of video games and the occasional spot of music production. I am, however, considering shaving my facial hair in the interest of looking a bit younger. I'm all old and everything, and while the facial hair is nice and dignified, inceasing the perception of my age really isn't a boon anymore. I'm a dad. I'm old, you see.

-N