Tav life

Off the road again

Warning: this post does not contain any cute babies. If you're looking for one of those, you'll just have to wait for another moment of fatherly pride to overcome me. My sincerest apologies for your disappointment.

"Well, if you were directly above him, how could you see him?" "Because I was inverted."

Today, at lunchtime, I went for a dad-ride. This is a great milestone, much like yesterday being the first time Tav went to Costco. I think I got the better deal.

It's been too deep and fluffy to ride bikes in the snow lately, so I've been running in it. Logical folks out there might point out that I should be going skiing - but I can't do that immediately from our house (though who knows the way the snow is building), so I haven't. So there. However, last night brought in some heavy, wet snow that compacted all the fluff and resulted in my most exhilarating fat bike ride to date. I have the following notes to share:

1. The rut is my friend - as are all the dogs in Vernon who encourage their owners to go for walks and pack down the trail.
2. I am able to live out my fantasies of drifting all over the place like a silent Ken Block, without the obnoxious car and energy drinks.
3. I am able to do all the things grown-up mountain bikers don't do, without guilt. For example, today I did an infinite number of flamboyant skids and rode off the trail all over the place for fun. All evidence will be erased forever with the next snow. Like magic.
4. I can try things I don't have the guts for on a real bike... like full-speed (about 2 km/h in the snow) drifts into corners with my feet clipped in.

So there you have it. Fat bikes - they're good for something.

Wait...

I feel a strange new emotion coming over me...

What can this be....

Oh right, that one.

Tav says Hi, or at least he would if he was awake.

Inquiring minds wanted to know

Other than meaning "Peacock" (not sure how I feel about that exactly), here's what his name means and where it comes from. The where is more important that the what in this case.

Ref: Navarro Y. First Name Reverse Dictionary: Given Names Listed by Meaning. 2nd ed. Jefferson, NC: McFarland; 1993.

Oh, now what's this? That's right... it's another baby picture.

Tav showing signs of a strong work ethic. Seriously, he did this all by himself.

I am the daddy

So here I am, a father. I can't pretend that any of my thoughts on that topic are very informed as my fatherly role has lasted a grand sum of four days to-date. I do have some thoughts though. I've interspersed those thought with baby pictures, because they're always a crowd-pleaser I don't have any of cute kittens.

This is Tav's first attempt at "tummy time". He fell asleep.

I've learned that one of my greatest responsibilities as a father is making sure all the things that need to happen but my son doesn't necessarily like, still happen. Changing clothes, having a wash, lying on his front... all the things that elicit the "angry man" response. More on that later.

Tav's pretty keen on sleeping, when he's not eating. 

He calls this style "sideways bear-head blanket pose".

As the days go by, the moments between eating and sleeping where we're able to interact with him a little get longer. I'm looking forward to the days when this will involve going outside and exploring the world with him, but for now grabbing my finger is good enough.

Proof that babies love flannel.

All in all, things seem surprisingly normal around the house. This really is surprising given that I don't remember that getting up at 3 am to grapple a wriggly baby into his clothes was something I did much of before. I've got a feeling that our brains are programmed to enjoy otherwise un-enjoyable things when they're for the benefit of our offspring. Either that or I've totally overlooked the entertainment value in soggy diapers all these years.

Tav helping out with administrative duties. He must be a prodigy.

We've got a lot to learn, and will need to start figuring out how to re-integrate some normal pre-baby activities into our lives. But, we have the rest of our lives ahead of us to figure that out, and the most important thing feels like it should be to enjoy the ride rather than worry about where we're going.

Look into those eyes. You know he's deciphering the mysteries of the universe in his  giant brain.
Or maybe he just pooped.

Whilst of course Tav is the most attractive, intelligent, talented, and well behaved child that has ever existed (I think I'm obliged to make those claims), he has a dark side. I've named this "Angry Man Face". I can't help but seeing Henry Rollins...





And on that note, I just felt a disturbance in the force that is asleep on my lap - I think it's time to visit the changing table.

Birthday

Today is the last day of 2015 and the first day of Tavas' life. Here's how his day went.

In the morning, everything was nice and warm and dark, the way it's been forever.

...but something was afoot. A fool in scrubs was a clue to the day's grand events to come.

Mother was ready in her birthday party outfit.

Inside the party tent, the magicians performed a great trick... and Tavas' made a spectacular entrance to the party.

It turns out all the blue-hands people are very interested in you when it's your naughth birthday.

Trust me, I'm a doctor. Not that kind of doctor... but whatever.

The rainbow sunshine panda measured Tavas' weight. This is the sort of fun fact inquiring minds want to know.

Mother was stuck in the party tent, but did get a chance to wish happy birthday.

Even on your birthday, there's always some kind of paperwork that needs to be done.

Tavas' birthday hat was a hit at first - until he discovered that what goes on, can also come off.

More than one of the people in this picture might be ginger. Sorry son.

Mother eventually got out of the party tent and came to join us.

Happy 2016 everyone - it's time for a nap.

Stocking Stuffers

Happy holidays, Christmas, and anything else you celebrate!

Jingle bells

Lately here in Vernon, everything has turned white. It turned brown for a while, but it's white again now. I don't think anyone around here is going to win anything for betting on a white Christmas...

Due to all the white stuff on the ground, my bike - the one with the big tires which according to our local bike shop owner, I'm not allowed to call it a Fat Bike or a Snow Bike - has been coming in very handy. On Tuesday night I did my first bike ride on groomed snow trails up at Silver Star, with an experimental slide run down a ski run. There was a predictable amount of going sideways, backwards, over the handlebars, and generally getting away with things you can't do on dirt without losing a lot of skin. Fun times indeed. Kal Park is also all white again (as it just about everything), so rolling on the fat tires looks to be the way I will keeping things - unless I get around to going skiing.

During the brown phase, before the white came back, Lina went for a paddle which I just found the pictures of:

Hello ducky

So many browns

Is that some green? No, just greeny-brown

During this period I got around to finishing a project I started months ago, which coincidentally is mostly brown:

I finally got my welder hooked up to something appropriate - the power supply for the oven.

Don't worry - the oven still works, but we can't weld and make granola at the same time.

Here we are - our neighbor in Vancouver's old stairs combined with some stainless rod from Chris' family's cabin roof. Mix together with some electricity and you get shelves.

And speaking of making things, it's getting very close to the time something small and loud will come out of Lina's belly. Whenever we're asked whether we're ready, I find it hard to say yes... but we've run out of things to do to get ready. We are at least feeling ready to meet Junior when they come out - which is now tantalizingly close. Things are about to get very different.

The last belly picture?

The weather forecast

Being a British person I pay attention to the weather forecast. You don't have to be British to be interested in the weather, but it helps. Here's what the forecast says:

That's right - our recent run of sub-zero weather, that has been keeping everything crisp and frozen for the pat two weeks, is about to end. That's going to bring brown goo that snow turns into when it reaches the end of it's life. Yuck.

I've been enjoying the cold and clear days, especially for riding my newest bike.

And then this morning we got what I missed the first time around. Freshies! Ok, it was only about 2 centimeters, but it was fresh snow. I also used this opportunity to test out two things:

Thing #1 - Uphill vs. downhill grippiness. I claimed in conversation at the bike shop that the bike with 5 inch wide tires was good for the uphill but "had too much grip" on the downhill.

Thing #2 - New cranks. Due to a combination of good and bad fortune, I have a fancy new pair of carbon fiber cranks on my Banshee. I broke the fancy pair of carbon cranks I used to have, but I won the warranty department lottery and got fresh new ones. Happy days.

Evidence

So here are my scientific observations:

Thing #1 - The uphill was mostly nasty, on the fat bike it was fun (as much as uphill can be). The comical sliding all over the place on the downhill was worth it.

Thing #2 - They go around and around. Success.