Let's try that again.

Yet again, a huge, huge break in postings. Most of this is explained over at Jack's blog -- really, it's been a combination of parental visits, adapting -- or rather, trying to adapt -- to being stay-at-home Dad, which hasn't been easy because in the main Jack's not been very cooperative -- and dealing with a flurry of school-related activity in terms of planning for next year's thesis projects.

Dealing with those things one at a time . . . Mom and Dad came here for a week, which was a great time. It has been a long while since we have been able to visit Albany, what with my job constraints, Genevieve's school, moving, my school. We had an excellent time together and had a lot of time for visiting and chatting about everything. Mom and Dad especially enjoyed havig a lot of time to spend with Jack.

Trying to be Mr. Mom -- well it has been harder than I expected, mostly because in the four or five days I have been doing it solo, with the exception of the second day Jack has been really craving being held, coddled etc. It is devilishly hard not to oblige,. He has also been eating verrrrrrry slowwwwwly. A 4-5 ounce bottle can be an hour's work. Add in burp time and diaper change and that's 90 minutes 4 or 5 times a day, and then there's the general holding and playing time.

So it is exhausting AND I am hardly able to eat my breakfast, bathe and walk the dog while keeping Jack in my sights. I am trying new little tricks as I go along, and hopefully Jack's eating habits will be adjusting in the next week or so (praised be Allah) -- not to metnion his sleeping habits. The last two days he has been awake at 5 am and with only a 20-minute nap or two, awake and grunting and kicking the whole day. The house is a mess by the time G gets home, with half-consumed bottles of formula or milk lying around and most of the time, my breakfast dishes still on the dining room table because Jack shifted into high gear halfway through my bagel. Thus far dreams of doing some work while Jack sleeps during the day have been just that == dreams -- until he sleeps during the day, that's all they will be.

But as exhausting as today, for example, was, it was all worth it when a mellow Jack lay in my arms and just positively beamed with pleasur as I did his favorite thing -- just rubbing my hand over the top of his head and talking gently to him. He just smiled bigger and bigger and bigger, and I would have kept doing it until my arm fell off. Just wonderful, a happy, happy, happy feeling.

As to school -- I am pretty much burnt out on school for a few days. Between running about while my folks were coming to fielding calls and questions from my (wonderful, don't gte me wrong) teammates and still kind of reeling from the frenetic assembly of "Tag" I need a long break from even worrying about school. Fortuantely my two thesis projects roll beginning in January and then into next summer.... so technicall I can afford to do what I've done, which is more or less advise my teams that I will be out of touch for a week or two, adapting to my new life at home.

Meanwhile... saw the new Hayao Miyazaki picture, Howl's Moving Castle, last night at the El Capitan. It was the first LA screening and a panel discussion featured director Pete Docter, actress Jean Simmons and other filmmakers involved in the English-language dub of this remarkable piece of work. I am not really a big fan of anime, but Miyayzaki's work is so richly detailed and so incredibly imaginative and creative and beautiful and rich, it demands to be seen on a big screen. Take the kids.

Also, as you can see in the pic above, saw the incredibly cool, kickass Batmobile from Batman Begins being unloaded out in front of the Chinese for the premiere of the flick. Can't wait for it. It looks badass.