Tidbits about Davis

John does a fantastic job capturing our weekend activities, but I wanted to add some little stories about Davis.

Davis gives kisses
A couple of weeks ago Davis looked at me and then very pointedly turned his head to the side.  I finally clued in and turned my head to the side and he gave me a kiss on the cheek!  Kisses are now a regular visitor in the Naegle household.  Dad is a little sad that they seem to be mostly reserved for Mom right now.

Davis is a total ham
Davis knows exactly when there's a camera pointed at him or someone is looking and he can really ham it up.  When we went to the soccer game on Saturday night, there was a row of teenage girls sitting behind us and he had them wrapped around his little finger.  I couldn't even count the number of times I heard "Look at those eyes", "What a happy guy", "Oh what a smile", or "What cute hair!".  Davis spent most of the time in his seat turned around entertaining them.

Davis has hair (unique hair at that)
We like to joke that Davis' hair growth has been the reverse of male-pattern baldness.  He started out completely bald, and stayed that way for a long time.  Then he started to grow "the ring" of hair.  Right now he has hair on top with a widow's peak that is slowly filling in.  The hair on top is still quite short and tends to stick up all over the place.  When we were grocery shopping this weekend the couple behind us in line asked if his hair stuck up like that naturally or if we styled it like that on purpose.

Davis is resourceful
Davis never ceases to amaze us.  Saturday morning the three of us were in the living room trying to wake up.  Dad was laying on the couch and Davis laid down on the mat that was stretched out on the carpet.  When I tried to join him he pushed me off and said "NO! MINE!".  So Dad was nice enough to give me a pillow and I laid down on the floor next to Davis (but not on his mat!).  Well, Davis decided my pillow looked pretty good so he tried to horn in on it.  In an attempt to teach a lesson, that feels borderline abusive, I said "No, mine.".  Davis just looked at me for a second, turned around and walked into our bedroom, grabbed a pillow off our bed and then walked right back into the living room and laid down with it.  Whatever misgivings I had about showing Davis what it feels like when someone doesn't share, they dissolved when we saw how resourceful he is!

Davis has a special spot in the living room
There's one spot in the living room that Davis will always go to for the following things:

• To put sunscreen on (you can usually get sunscreen on three limbs before he starts to run around)
• To put shoes and socks on
• To give the kitties treats
• To do the "bicycle"

Today, as I was getting ready in the bedroom for the bike practice we went to, I said to Davis "I'm going to ride a bicycle, do you want to ride a bicycle?".  Davis immediately ran to his spot, laid down on his back, and bicycled his legs in the air.

Davis has many words and phrases
Davis is clearly understanding a lot of what we say now.  However, I have learned it's important to realize the gaps in what he understands.  For a while we have been struggling with him throwing his food at meal times (dinner especially).  It's been getting a lot better, mainly John and I think because we have greatly de-emphasized our response to it.  A few nights ago, Davis had a great dinner with no food throwing.  I said "Davis, wow, THANK YOU very much FOR not THROWing FOOD".  Davis immediately, in short order, threw the two strawberries and the eggplant on the floor and against the bookshelves.  That folks was entirely my fault since I now see that what he heard are the capitalized portions of the sentence.  Here are some words and phrases Davis is saying a lot now:

• No, wait
• What's that?
• No way!
• Thank you
• Stop
• Outside
• Truck (by far his most used word it seems)
• Socks (sounds a lot like truck)
• Shoes
• Toes
• This
• More
• Mine
• No
• No, Mine!

Davis can play follow the leader
We have great fun playing follow the leader with Davis.  We can stand on one foot and he'll stand on one foot.  We can lay down on the ground and bicycle and he'll do that (sound familiar?).  He's great with songs too like "Head, shoulders, knees and toes".  Some things he's learned at daycare are "Cheers", high fives, and fist bumps (called "pound").   Another game Davis loves (particularly while naked after a bath) is chase. 

Davis loves music
Davis continues to love music of all sorts.  Anything from the ice cream truck to grammie's cell phone ring can elicit a dance.  Dad found a great musical set at a garage sale that has been very exciting for Davis (probably less exciting for our downstairs neighbors).  He loves to drum and play the recorder.  He also enjoys taking the recorder apart as well as using it as a drumstick.


Davis loves Domino
Davis and Domino continue to have a pretty close relationship.  We still spend most nights chasing Domino out from under the crib at bedtime and letting him in the room first thing in the morning.  One morning last week I was getting his lunch ready when I decided to peak in on them and found Davis carrying Domino.  Domino looked less then enthusiastic about it, but just hung there like a limp rag doll until Davis put him down, at which time he bolted from the room.  You'll notice we never mention Lilly and Davis' relationship.  Lilly keeps a large distance between them unless Davis is helping us feed them.  Davis is a great counter and table sentry.  Whenever the cats are somewhere they shouldn't be, he lets us know.

Weekend wrap-up

Labor day weekend was a good combination of being busy, relaxing and saying good-bye to summer.  Our heat-wave broke when Hurricane Earl passed off-shore and the weekend was a fantastic 70 to 80 and sunny.  A great break after 5 days of 94, 92, 96, 94 and 95 for highs.

This weekend we:

• Went to the Y.  Freddy's class was cancelled because of the holiday weekend, so we went a little later than usual.  However, we ran into Freddy in the gym and he gave a special 6 person extra hard version of his class.  It was a great workout, much better than we would have done by our selves.
• As part of the next bullet item, we made a quick trip to Ikea for dinner and a new table and chair set for Davis to play with in the living room.  So far, both the cats and Davis approve of the new plastic furniture.
• Saturday we went to our first Revolution soccer game.  Kristen got deeply discounted tickets from Groupon that included a free shirt.  The game was at 7:30, a little late for our little guy, but we went anyways for an adventure and to start testing our parenting comfort zone.  The game, what we saw of it was fun, but Kristen was expecting a European atmosphere as was a little disappointed by the lack of passion from the American fans.  I spent a lot of time out of my seat with Davis walking around, but was rewarded by catching a tee-shirt thrown into the stands at half-time.
• Sunday we went peach picking in North Andover.  Davis had a blast running around the orchard then feeding the animals afterwards.  We fed llamas, goats and a cow.
• After a family nap and sleeping on dad Sunday, we went to our friends for a BBQ.  Davis again had a blast running around, climbing in chairs, eating and playing chase / hide and seek between the air whole-house air conditions.
• Monday we took Davis to a cyclocross practice in Lexington with a few people from Quad Cycles. Kristen and I are both planing on doing a race next weekend so we wanted to get our bikes tuned in and get some technical practice in.  We took turns practicing and supervising Davis eating donuts, peaches, water mellon, water and blue berry muffins by the handfuls.  Unfortunately, I did crash and hurt my right knee a little bit.
• After we got back from practice, Davis took a long nap and we cleaned the house and yard. 
• After naps and an early dinner, we skyped with Grandparents then headed to the nearby sprinkler park for the last time this year.  School starts tomorrow in Arlington and the sprinklers get shut off.

I have some videos from this weekend that are not uploaded anywhere yet, but here are a few pictures from the soccer game:

Exploring the seats before the game

Seattle Fans

With Mom

Hey mom, there is a soccer game over there!

Mom watching the game, Davis watching something else.

Tired guy, right before heading home

Riding to work in the winter

I often get called crazy by my co-workers when I ride my bike to the work in the winter.  Maybe they are right, but I don't view it as being much different than growing up playing in the rain in Seattle: if you don't go outside when it is raining/cold - you don't go outside for months at a time.  For the last 3 weeks or so, our weather has generally be under 20 in the morning, and right around freezing during the day.


Riding home is fine, but my morning rides generally go like this:


First minute: Think about turning around and either working from home, taking the bus, or driving in.  Wonder if I should have worn more clothes or if I misread the forecast and it is in the single digits or below zero.


First ten minutes: spend the whole time cursing myself and wondering why I'm doing this.  Try to avoid looking straight ahead as much as possible to avoid cold wind in my eyes causing tears.  Shake hands and arms vigrously to move as much warm blood to my hands as possible.  Try to pedal at a high cadence to get my legs warm.


Second ten minutes: finally warm up.  Start to think its a pretty pleasant day for a ride.  Notice the frozen lakes and wonder if they are thick enough to skate on.  Feel happy that I'm riding and not driving.


Last ten minutes: lose feeling in my toes and fingers.  Start to dream about warm shower and coffee at work.  See people running their cars in their driveways so they can run from a warm house to a warm car and then into their warm office and wonder how much a remote starter for our car would cost.  Question my sanity.


Arrival at work: glad I rode in.  Think about how I don't have to sit in traffic on the way home.  Get called crazy by at least one person in the office.

Today's weather:

MRC Cross

This Sunday, I did my first bike race in 14 months. I hadn't planned on taking this long off of racing. However, with the combination of 12 weeks off for medical reasons and having less time to exercise and train due to Davis' wonderful arrival, I'm just now getting back into cycling.

This weekend, the Minuteman Road Club hosted a cyclocross race in Wrentham. There are a lot of nearby cross races, but we didn't have any plans for Sunday, and if the weather had cooperated, we could have all gone shopping at the outlet malls afterward. However, toward the end of the week, it became clear that the weather would not cooperate (the forecast was for 40 degrees, rain and 18 mph winds) and I would have to go to the race alone.

The race itself was pretty uneventful. I arrived about 80 minutes early, registered, pre-rode the course a few times and sat in the car to keep warm. The weather wasn't as bad as predicted (rain but no wind). I knew right away that the course wouldn't favor me: lots of long sections where power is better than skill. Right now, I have some fitness, good bike handling skills, but not a lot of power so I just aiming to have fun.

About 50 people showed up for the race and I lined up mid-pack for the start. This would be the closest I got to the front. After a few delays for cars on the course, we got started a few minutes after 9. We started on a 100 meter gravel uphill with two sharp lefts onto a grassy section of the course. After a switch back and a long straightaway, there was a log barrier, followed by another grassy switch back section, a set of barriers, single track through the woods and more grass sections. I managed to stay mid-pack until the single track widened enough for people to pass me, then it was just a matter of riding my own race and enjoying the technical challenge of the grassy / muddy corners. I was pretty demoralized to see a lap card with 3 laps to go when I expected 1 to go, but that just meant two more laps to enjoy riding my bike. On the last lap, I was able to take a beer feed -- something I've always said I would do if it was available and I was so far off the back it wouldn't matter. I think I finished about 40th of 50. It was great to finish the race with my teammate cheering "Welcome back John Naegle" when I crossed the line.

After the race, I chatted with my teammate for a few minutes before cleaning up and heading to the outlet malls and Ikea. With the shopping it ended up being a long day and I missed a lot of weekend time with Davis. My next race will probably be in mid-November and hopefully Kristen and Davis can come cheer me on, or pass me beer feeds.