I have more photos and videos coming, but a couple of incidents have stuck out lately that I thought were worth writing down.

First, the sentimental one. Debi has class late on Wednesday, which makes that my night to put Toren down. He usually eats solid foods around 6:00 then has his bottle (or Debi feeds him) around 7:30, then falls asleep around 8:00. Around 7:30 on Wednesday I gave him his bottle, which he loves, and cuddled up with him on the couch. He reclines slightly in my arm while he drinks his bottle. He finished it in about 10 minutes (he takes his time), then sat there softly babbling to himself for another 10 to 15 minutes. It was a very cute moment. My son was just relaxing in my arms, feeling secure with his Dad.

Second, the funny-ish one. I had Toren for several hours yesterday while Debi took care of some class-related stuff then went to the ballet. I took Toren shopping, making two stops. I forgot to take him any real toys and we were gone for about 2 hours. I improvised and gave him various items I had around the car (an accessory to his carseat, a child mirror, etc.), but what he ended up playing with more than anything else were… his socks! Yep, every time I’d put him in his car seat, he’d take off one sock, play with it, then toss it and take off the other, then play with it. I caught him at one stoplight slowly trying to pull his sock apart when he found a lose thread. At another stoplight I saw him raising a sock into the air as though it were a championship trophy. Who needs toys when you have socks!

As far as milestones go, he’s still not technically crawling (on his knees), but he’s getting very good at his army crawling and is starting to explore. He can cover quite a distance now and is starting to get into things (garbage cans, cupboards, etc.). He is also starting to pull himself up from a seated position to a standing position, though he’s still pretty wobbly standing holding on to stuff.

We finally made our pilgrimage to a 3D theater to pay our respects to James Cameron’s latest blockbuster creation, Avatar. As a science fiction lover, I wanted to see it as soon as it came out. But I’m also a workaholic and finding the time just wasn’t happening. However, when I read that it was finally going to be replaced in theaters at the end of the coming week I figured it was now or never to see the movie as the director intended, in 3D. After cajoling Debi into it, she agreed to go. She wanted to, but she was unwilling to pay $40.00 for a sitter so we could spend $30.00 to see a movie. The compromise: we took Toren. I don’t think he loved the experience, particularly not the really loud parts, but he likes getting out of the house. He didn’t make a peep the entire 2 hours and 40 minutes of the movie. We got some really strange looks taking our 9 month old son into the theater to see Avatar, but no one complained.

As for the movie… First, the technology behind it really is remarkable. The 3D effect was very cool, though it seemed much more noticeable in the slower sequences when you had a chance to really focus on depth than in the action sequences where there was too much movement to make the 3D effect really matter. The Navi were also very cool, considering they were a combination of computer generation and human actors. And the world of Pandora was spellbinding. The luminescence was absolutely stunning, especially in combination with the 3D. What a remarkable feat of human ingenuity to create a visual experience like that.

As far as the movie goes, I enjoyed it. It’s not the most amazing story ever, but certainly compelling in its own right. The best part about it is that it takes place in an utterly believable alternate world. Of course, what I mean by that is not that the supernatural elements of Avatar are believable, but assuming a suspension of belief, it is a well-developed alternative reality. And the quality of film production made it possible to disappear into the alternative reality of Pandora for nearly 3 hours and not realize what was happening. I loved that.

The story was good, with its respective twists – just enough people dying to make it believable but not so many that you consider it a full-on tragedy. The take home message – don’t spoil the beauty of nature – is a good one, that I support. And I’m even fond of the criticism of corporations, though the irony is funny: a corporation (20th Century Fox) made the movie possible; no corporations, no Avatar. But certainly corporations can be driven by greed and many are. Maybe that will change one day. The tie-in with the situation with the Native Americans was also nice, though I think the Navi took their “Native American-ness” a bit too far, unnecessarily. It wasn’t really a bad thing, but it also wasn’t necessary to make the Navi full-on Native American.

I’ll be intrigued to see if this film does change the movie industry, permanently. It did get us to the theater, and we rarely go to the theater, preferring to watch movies at home where they are much, much cheaper. I’m not sure we’d go just for 3D in the future, especially if it’s just a character-driven film. But it is experience-enhancing. Anyway, anyone else want to comment on Avatar?

Toren has had a good pincer grasp for a while. Apparently he knew he did as he stopped wanting to be spoon fed at around 7 months and instead insisted on feeding himself, as he attempts in this video:

I’ve posted photos and video of Toren hating his Johnny Jumper earlier on here.  Well, it took a while, but now he likes it:

Its over 6 months since it was published, but apparently I was mentioned in a news story in the Guardian, a prominent UK newspaper. Yeah for me!