Truman’s Faves

Now that Truman is almost 2 months old, we are starting to see his personality developing. He is a happy little guy - he smiles a lot and doesn’t cry much. Here are a few of his favorite things; the things that make him most happy (besides eating, sleeping, and pooping).

1. His Bink. This little boy loves to suck. Straight from the womb he loved sucking on his left pointer finger, but sadly he has slowly forgotten his favorite finger now that he has a friend in Bink. He would suck on Bink all day long if we let him. He loves falling asleep with Bink, and sometimes at naptime as soon as we put Bink in his mouth his eyelids get droopy. 

2. Being cuddled and rocked. His absolute favorite position is to be held up against our chests, and if he is also being rocked he is in heaven. When he is in a bad mood or gets sad, all it takes is a cuddle from Mom or Dad and he is fine again. I love that he loves cuddling so much and I hope he never stops.

3. Getting his diaper changed. He used to hate diaper changes and it took 2 people to get the job done because he kicked and squirmed so much. Now he loves to sit quietly and get all clean. He stares at the dresser while we wipe and change him and he smiles – sometimes at us, sometimes at the dresser.

4. Bath time. I think most babies love taking baths, and Truman is no different. He especially loves it when we pour water on him and let the faucet run on his skin. He likes it when Mom and Dad sing to him at bathtime. Truman has also developed a new favorite bathtime ritual: peeing. His bath is in the kitchen sink, so we always have to make sure the counter is clear of dishes because it’s amazing how far it can reach. He definitely doesn’t need Urigro.

5. Truman loves his carseat. When we buckle him in, he knows he’s in for a ride and a nap. If we take too long to get going once he is buckled he gets a little impatient. But almost immediately once we are in the car, or start walking with the stroller he is relaxed and on his way to falling asleep. Car and stroller rides mean naptime, but he has an uncanny ability to wake up the second he senses the ride is almost over.

Happy Halloween!

Here are a couple of pictures of Truman on his first Halloween, wearing a cave baby costume made by his Grandma Paula. He was only awake for about 30 minutes while wearing this costume, most of that spent at home and in the car. By the time we got to our Halloween get-together he was asleep. Typical.

Social Skills

Since we had a baby, Cassidy and I have been slowly accumulating children’s movies to have in store for when Truman gets older. Every now and then we swing by Goodwill and pick up a Disney movie on VHS for $1 that we can watch while we are rocking Truman to sleep. Often times when we are shopping for movies we find ourselves discussing our favorite Disney cartoons. Cassidy is a Beauty and the Beast/Little Mermaid person, while I tend to favor older classics such as Robbin Hood. However, the Disney cartoon that I remember with the most fondness is a 1944 release called The Three Caballeros.

Cassidy has never seen The Three Caballeros, so in an attempt to demonstrate its merits I logged on to YouTube and looked for some clips. We watched a few scenes and laughed a little, but I soon started noticing things about the movie that I had never really noticed as a child. In fact, before too long I had realized that Donald Duck might be the worst possible influence that a child could possibly have. He is impulsive, angry, short sighted, corrupt, unstable, and derogatory. In short, he is every parent’s worst nightmare. A short description of my two favorite scenes from the movie will illustrate my point.

Scene 1: Donald’s friend Jose invites him along on a short trip to Brazil. Soon after they arrive, Donald becomes infatuated with a woman who sells cookies. He quickly pushes his friend Jose out of the way and begins dancing around the woman, thrusting his pelvis in all directions and yelling “Boy, oh Boy, oh Boy, oh Boy!” When the woman’s boyfriend arrives, Donald turns into a devil and tries to kill him using a large mallet. The rest of the trip is somewhat of a daze, but we know that Donald and Jose smoke cigars, stagger around the streets of Bahia with compromised equilibrium, and attend at least one cock fight.

Donald is too busy oogling the cookie vendor to notice the boyfriend that he will soon attempt to murder. His friend Jose looks on happily, cigar in hand.

Scene 2: Donald and Jose meet up with their friend Panchito for a magic carpet tour of Mexico. Along the way they stop at Acapulco Bay. From an altitude of about 60 feet, Donald pulls out a telescope to get a closer look at the women on the beach as they sunbathe. After spotting a particularly attractive group, he yells “Oh boy! Hot stuff!”, whistles, and then says “I’ll be right down toots!” He then blindfolds himself, runs around the beach, and pinches any woman that comes within grabbing distance. At one point, he accidentally loses his clothes.

Donald, Jose, and Panchito take the magic carpet for a low pass along Acapulco Bay. Donald keeps his pinching fingers at the ready, setting his sights on an unsuspecting Mexican woman's bottom.

I could not believe that as a child, just as I was learning the essentials of social interaction, I was given such a horrid role model. I feel like I really beat the odds by growing up watching that video without receiving a single criminal charge in Mexico or Brazil. I just hope that Truman is able to overcome the odds like I did (…the music is way too catchy to not let him watch).

Resume

With the economy in the state that it’s in, we have decided that it is time for Truman to pick his career path. With at least two decades in front of him before he has to enter the job market, we figure he will have plenty of time to pad his resume and come out as a top competitor in 2029. We decided to start, like any good job seeker should, by identifying his strengths and then finding a career that matched.

As a way of illustrating our search, we have matched Truman’s talents up with those of a prominent member of his future professional field. We will list Truman’s talents, and you can see if you pick the same career that we did.

First, Truman has a way with women. Let’s face it, some guys have got it and some guys don’t, but our little boy really knows how to turn on the charm around members of the opposite sex:

Clue #1: Both Truman and his professional mentor have a way with women.

Next, Truman has a great smile. At the age of five weeks, Truman already has a smile that will really turn some heads:

Clue #2: Both Truman and his professional mentor have picture-perfect smiles.

Finally, Truman is not afraid to throw on a skimpy outfit, strike a perfect pose, and show off his well-chiseled physique:

Clue #3: Neither Truman nor his professional mentor are afraid to strip down to their underwear and strike a perfect "Mr. Universe" pose.

With a list like that, I’m sure that we have all come to the same conclusion. Cassidy and I are very pleased to announce Truman’s candidacy in the 2031 race for the office of Governor of the State of California.

A New Hope

Since the day he was born, Truman has been a very suspicious little boy. Almost anything that we do to him is met with a scowl. Giving him a kiss, smiling at him, feeding him, putting him to bed, taking him out of bed, burping him, holding him…he doesn’t seem to like any of it.

With a fresh diaper on and his stomach full from a recent feeding, Truman becomes upset that he can't think of anything to be upset about

For a while we were worried that we were stuck with a child who was condemned to be miserable for the rest of his life. We wondered how many hours of Barney episodes and Teletubby footage it would take to finally give him a positive view of the world. After weeks of worry, we uncovered some archived photos that gave us a new hope.

At first these both seemed like simple pictures of the Larsen children spending time with their Grandmother and cousins. We invite you to take another look. Upon closer inspection, you will notice that Truman’s father had the same scowl on his face as a child.

A young James is angered by the fact that he has been placed in a comfortable stroller and surrounded by supportive siblings

James nearly chokes on his own cheeks as he protests of the fact that he is being held by his loving Grandmother

The discovery of these pictures was understandably reassuring. We now have hope that Truman will grow out of his “grumpy” phase by about age 5, and then enter a “nerdy” phase which will last until at least age 27.

One Month

Due to constant demand for more pictures of Truman, we decided to post a few of our favorites in honor of his first 4 weeks of life. It’s hard to believe we have had this boy for 4 weeks, since at the hospital it seemed like 4 weeks was a really long time away. Here’s an update on what Truman has been doing lately:

“Tummy Time”, which is very passive when you are 4 weeks old.

During tummy time Truman usually just lies there and sucks on his fingers.

Falling asleep and staying totally out even while LOUD firetrucks and mopeds (yes, the mopeds are insanely loud for some reason) drive by, while garbage trucks beep incessantly and smash old couches and mattresses right outside our apartment, and even while I vacuum under his crib. He is no light sleeper:

Sometimes while he is asleep he starts sucking an invisible binky.

Making funny faces. Here are some that we see a lot around here:

Suspicious

Annoyed

Crosseyed

Just cute

Sadly, Truman is no longer very small. No one is shocked – James and I were both grotesquely huge as babies. But it’s kind of scary how fast Truman has grown. At his 2 week appointment he already weighed 10 lbs 7 oz! I would say he is probably over 12 pounds now. My back already hurts. He is seriously one fat baby. His pediatrician said he had been gaining about 2.5 ounces a day and that .5 ounces a day is considered pretty good. We’re not really sure how this is happening, since he only wants to eat every few hours and only eats for about 15 minutes. Yet here he is, already getting man boobs and working on developing a third chin:

Fatty McBaby Pants

Before Truman was born I was worried that other people would consider him kind of an ugly baby and that James and I would be the only people who thought he was cute. That still might be the case. But I don’t care, because James and I do think he is the cutest baby in the whole world.

Grammy Jo

I am so happy that my mom was able to make it here in time for Truman’s birth, and even happier that she stayed and helped us get used to caring for a newborn. We had some fun times, some meltdowns, and some good laughs while she was here.

The first couple of nights at home Truman didn’t like going back to bed after eating during the night and his Grammy Jo was sweet enough to take him and rock him back to sleep so I could go to bed and rest. My mom also made lots of yummy food and desserts while she was here. James and I didn’t have to lift a finger at dinnertime and that was such a relief! She also gave Truman his first bath, since I was too scared!

We had fun hanging out with my mom while she was here. We laughed a lot because of Truman’s ultra stinky gas, we laughed during all the King of Queens episodes we watched, we laughed at College Road Trip (which seriously saved my sanity one night) and we laughed when we got trapped in our apartment with the building’s water shut off all day. One day while Truman was napping my mom gave me a wonderful pedicure, with a foot massage and everything!

One evening we ventured out of the apartment and took a walk at Ala Moana Beach Park. It was so nice to be out in the real world, even if it was only for an hour. Truman was not too happy about the car ride there, but his Grammy Jo never complained about having to sit next to a screaming baby boy the whole time. After our walk we got some delicious malasadas at Leonard’s Bakery.

Another really fun outing was our drive around the southeast side of the island. Truman was a champ in the car. We stopped at the Halona Blowhole and a lookout near Makapu’u Beach, we got plate lunches in Waimanalo, walked on the beach in Kailua, and talked to Dad on the phone while we stopped at the Pali Lookout. I’m glad my mom got to see some of the beautiful places on Oahu.

We all miss Grammy Jo already, but I miss her the most! We had a good time, and it was so comforting to know that if I ever got overwhelmed or nervous she was right here to comfort me and take care of Truman. Luckily she left Truman an adorable quilt, blankie, and the sweetest book to remember her by.  As soon as I’m not so emotional I will read it to him and we’ll remember the fun time we all had with Grammy Jo.

We wish we were closer to family so that seeing them wasn’t so rare, but we are so happy when they visit.

Nature vs. Nurture

Years ago, Truman’s dad used to look like this:

James' extra-curricular activities in college fueled an aggressive debate between social scientists about the origins of human behavior

At the time science was unable to explain whether this behavior, so unexpected in such a socially reclusive bookworm, was due to genetics or environmental influences.

Today, in light of new empirical evidence, the debate has resurfaced.

Truman baffles the scientific community by reaching for a pair of sticks before he can even pronounce the words "Buddy Rich", "Mike Portnoy", or "Alex Gonzalez"

While the evidence must still be considered inconclusive, the scientific community is holding its breath to see how this new development evolves in the years to come.

Suspicious

After only one week of life, Truman has already learned to be suspicious of those around him. After seven days of being poked and prodded by multiple nurses, rubbed down by washcloths on the kitchen counter, being burped, and being forced to endure  hourly diaper changes, he has started to carefully evaluate the intentions of anyone who enters the room. The result is a little scowl that makes him look like he would rather be left alone to soak in his own filth.

Truman expresses his concern over bath time procedures. Experiences like this have made him suspicious of his parent's intentions.

Truman was, of course, rather suspicious when Cassidy entered the bedroom with a camera strapped around her neck.

Luckily, Truman has had some enjoyable moments at home already. The withered, prune-like umbilical stump that had been hanging on to his belly button finally fell off, he took his first walk along the beach, and he has turned peeing on his parents into an art form. Here are some highlights from his first week:

With socks that matched his shirt so perfectly, Truman could have easily been confused for a member of the cast of West Side Story.

Truman elicited a storm of criticism by releasing this photo after promising his fans that he would never pose topless

Having inherited his father's cancer-prone skin tone, Truman chose a sensible beach outfit that covered every inch of bare skin for his first outing.

Truman puts on his most intelligent looking facial expression for this quick pic

Truman shows off the fact that he can already grow sideburns as long as his father's

An unsuspecting Truman falls victim to the old "pull my finger" gag.

During week two of Truman’s life, Cassidy and I have decided to launch a three-pronged plan to regain his trust. 1) No more diaper changes. 2) No more baths. 3) No more bedtime. We’ll let you know how it goes.

TKL

In an amazing act of pure athleticism that would have brought Lance Armstrong to his knees, Cassidy delivered our first baby boy on Wednesday at 12:33 pm. Truman Keel Larsen was born on 9.9.09 at Moanalua Medical Center in Honolulu, HI, qualifying as a heavyweight at 8 pounds, 10 ounces and measuring an impressive 21.5 inches.

We are happy to report that Truman is now back at home with both of us and is doing quite well. His head, once the shape of an NFL regulation football, has rounded out nicely, and that weird belly button thing should be falling off in just a few more days. He just keeps getting cuter by the minute.

It would take an expert's eye to pick Truman's head out of a lineup like this one. Luckily, it has rounded out quite a bit in the last few days.

Since the minute he was born, Truman has spent most of his time sucking on his pointer finger (when he can find it), stretching his neck, violently protesting diaper changes, and escaping from swaddling blankets with Houdini-like precision. He loves cuddling with his mom, dad, and grammy, and snorts like a little pig while he eats.

Meanwhile, James was happy to find out that not only are Doritos allowed in the delivery and recovery rooms, but that they are in fact sold at the hospital cafeteria. Modern medical practice is a wonderful thing.