Conor and I spent the long weekend together as my wife had a weekend conference. We packed a lot into one weekend as he never let me rest the whole 72 hours and his attention span only lasts about 15 minutes. Here's a clever list of all we accomplished; 1. Cleaned out three boxes of junk so his baby toys could go where my big boy toys used to go. 2. Wrote a song together when he started pouting and I was tired of the old songs I usually sing. 3. Tried solid food and after he spit up the apple sauce we went back to drinking from a bottle. (My bottle looked different than his.) 4. Cleaned out his entire dresser, all because I couldn't find a bib and knew the solid food wasn't going to be pretty. 5. Watched Sponge Bob Squarepants for the first time. (A first for both of us.) 6. Spent an inordinate amount of time helping Conor practice standing up and keeping his balance. (i I figured out he's too busy balancing to cry in this position.) 7. Drove to Newburyport, NH and Kittery Maine for no good reason. Oh, except that he sleeps in the car and therefore doesn't cry. 8. Did tons of laundry, folded it and put it back in its place while he watched on grabbing the laundry and putting it in his mouth before I folded it. 9. Played the guitar while he watched, kicked, waved his arms and smiled. (I wish I had audiences like him back when I was a recording artist.) 10. Did some green screen filming with Conor for an upcoming music video called, "I Can't Go Nowhere Man." 11. Cleaned up the house before mommy came home and realized we were having lots of fun. Keeping a 5-month old happy isn't easy. But at the same time, it ain't that hard, either. What a great time we had.

Conor started to show signs of standing while we were visiting his Mimi in Austin, Texas last week. On St. Patrick's Day, this half Irish baby decided it was time to go for it. I was surprised at his effort. So I did a little research to see what was going on. I wondered if there were some exercises I should be doing to encourage this behavior. According to the Baby Center in the UK, "when it comes to motor development, you don't have to worry about any special exercises. Your baby will progress in a predictable pattern. First, she will achieve head and neck control, then torso and upper body strength, then lower limb strength. In early infancy, a baby may enjoy pushing with her feet or even bouncing as you hold her. Her natural reflexes enable her to engage in this activity, but she won't necessarily always want to take part in this type of play and some babies may not enjoy it at all. Later, when her torso is stronger and she is getting ready to walk, she will be able to stand upright."

Here's the link to the article i found at BabyCenter.com.

Tags: dads decoded, dads, sons, infant, st. patrick's day, milestones, steve kolander