Jason | Cooper Camp

Secret Smile

by Jason | Dec 12, 2012 | All Things Coop, Fatherhood

A little smile… close but not quite it.

I’ve delayed posting this for a little while because I’ve wanted to see if there was actually anything to it, or if it was just a happy coincidence. And after a couple weeks of testing, I’m pretty pleased to find that it’s a real thing. At least mostly.

So the backstory is that I’ve been given the duty of feeding Cooper a midnight bottle. Chris feeds him around nine, gets him all tucked in, and goes to bed, and then I get him up at midnight for a commando feeding and put him right back in bed, which ideally gives Chris a bigger window of sleep. And it seems to be working, he seems to be sleeping longer and longer. A few times he’s slept through the 3am feeding; hopefully soon it might be eliminated altogether.

In any case, you’ll note I called it a commando feeding, and that’s because I try to do it very tactically. I have the bottle and everything else ready to go before I even pick him up, and I try to get him from sleepy-stretchy to eating as quick as possible. It appears to work best when he doesn’t completely wake up; he sucks down the meal with his eyes half-open, and literally begins to nod off when I’m burping him.

If he’s at all awake after the bottle, I swaddle him back up and hold him for a while, and the pacifier usually finishes him off. During this time I usually have a little music going as well, and sing (horribly) to him a bit. And there’s where I got the secret smile.

The Paul Simon song ‘Born At The Right Time,’ was playing, which seemed very appropriate, and every time I sang the chorus:

Never been lonely
never been lied to
never had to scuffle in fear
nothing denied to
born at the instant
church bells chime
the whole world whispering
born at the right time

Right at the last line he’d make a little happy smile. Three choruses in the song, three smiles.

It was so sweet and ridiculously perfect I almost couldn’t believe it.

So of course I tried it again the next night. Same results, smile at the same line, although we went 2-for-3 because he was sleeping by the third chorus. I tried to not do it every single night, but nearly every time I did, I’d get at least one and usually two or three smiles. If he’s too awake or distracted, it doesn’t work, but if he’s calm and dozing off, it’s pretty regular.

And even though I’m sharing it with everyone here, I still consider it a secret smile just for me.

Penny Arcade

by Jason | Dec 1, 2012 | Uncategorized

A little change of pace here.

I’m a big fan of the long-running webcomic Penny Arcade. For those of you, likely many or most, who’ve never heard of it, it’s a comic about videogames: games themselves, gamers, the gaming industry, and many other tangents relating to videogame culture. The strip is by turns clever, rude, snarky, obscene, surreal and occasionally targeted at things so specific that it can make no sense at all if you don’t get the reference. Personally, I love every flavor and eagerly look for new strips every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

And over the last few years, as both PA creators Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik (aka Tycho and Gabe) have become fathers, on occasion the strips have become something else. Poignant.

Click for full comic.

Which is exactly how the strip from this past Friday struck me, particularly in light of the little dude currently sleeping upstairs. Even though he’s just nine-weeks old, and we’re likely a few years away from the kind of interaction and rule-setting depicted in the strip (based on a real discussion between Mike and his son), I couldn’t help but feel a very real empathy for Gabe in this strip.

The world today is so much different than it was when I was a kid–and I quite honestly can’t even imagine how different it will become in every passing year–that this kind of sentiment is going to hit me again and again. It’s a crazy feeling to want for Cooper to grow up and go out and have a life, and at the same time want for him to never have to deal with all of the bad things that life has to offer.

Sometimes fatherhood is a very strange new perspective.

Big kudos and thanks to Mike and Jerry for doing what they do.

—

It’s also worth mentioning that Mike and Jerry have also used their vast Internet power (in 2010, Time Magazine included the PA creators in their list of the 100 most influential people in the world) to do some incredibly great things, including the foundation of Child’s Play.

Child’s Play is a charity dedicated to getting games and consoles and other donations for kids into hospitals. It started out as something akin to a glorified toy drive in their home state of Washington, but thanks to PA fans worldwide it quickly bloomed into a significant charity. They’ve already raised $2.1 million in 2012 so far, and the year’s not over just yet (hint hint).

Two Month Checkup

by Jason | Nov 27, 2012 | All Things Coop

Not a whole lot to report from today, except that Cooper isn’t particularly fond of getting shots. Three of them today, plus a tube of goo. But on the bright side he has flourescent bandaids on now, so he’s ready to go raving.

In developmental terms, he’s right where he’s supposed to be.

Statistics Update:
Head circumference: 16″ (88%)
Weight: 13lb 10.5oz (79%)
Height: 24.9″ (100%)

The percentiles are best explained like this: “If your 3-month-old son is in the 40th percentile for weight and the 80th for height, for instance, that means 40 percent of 3-month-old boys in the United States weigh the same as or less than your baby and 60 percent weigh more. Similarly, 80 percent of boys his age are the same length as or shorter than your child and 20 percent are longer.”

So Cooper weighs more than about 80% of other two-month boys, has a bigger head than 88% of them, and is taller/longer than 100% of them.

He is the longest two-month-old in the country. 🙂

Way to go, kiddo.

Thanks!

by Jason | Nov 22, 2012 | All Things Coop

Ask and ye shall receive, apparently.

As it just so happens, the very day I’d made my post about wanting the mustache pacifier, Cooper’s Auntie Heather had seen one and thought about getting it for him, but took a pass. However, upon learning my desire, she followed through. It arrived on Wednesday, just in time to crack everyone up for Thanksgiving (as well as for Cooper’s 8-week anniversary).

I can barely keep a straight face when he’s wearing it, so I’ve realized I have to save this thing for special occasions. It’s powerful magic.

Thank you Heather!

We had a lovely small T-Day here with just the grandparents (both sides). Had a lot to eat and way too much dessert – and a moderate success on my first attempt at cheesecake – and a surprisingly simple cleanup. We should do this every year!

Happy Thanksgiving all.

Cue the Christmas music.