Where did summer go?

We spent as much of this weekend outside as possible. Gavin now walks around in his shoes with confidence, even on rough(-ish) terrain. Confidence, mind you, not so much gracefulness, but then we all take our share of tumbles in life. Actually, in the last week or so he's begun moving at rate that might just qualify as "running". We think this is a good thing, but will reserve judgment until the cold hits in a couple of months and we're all trapped indoors. In Chicagoland, Autumn doesn't last for long (it's the shortest of our three seasons). And so we'll be squeezing in as much outdoor time as possible, as our boy never grows tired of going out the "doh" to "guh" play "ah-hide" ("door", "play", "outside", for those requiring translation).

That was a fast year

This morning at 12:59 a.m., Gavin completed his first official calendar year of life outside the womb. As I reflect on the year, I'm amazed at how much less than a year it feels like. And I'm frightened that some measurable percentage of the time I have with my son is already expired—my computer-obsessed mind visualizing the progress meter crossing the 5% mark. God, let me waste no more moments worrying about how many moments I have left.

Amy and I spent hours this week watching video footage from when Gavin was between three and seven months old, chuckling about the differences (mostly in appearance) between the extremes. These days, though, his growth is mostly related to dexterity and language—precisely placing Fisher Price™ stacking rings; open and closing doors and drawers; saying "mama", "dada", correctly answering questions about the sounds that cars, dogs, cows, lambs, and donkeys make, uttering near-hits for "bye-bye" and "more", as well as not-so-near-hits for "down" and "bottle". Yesterday he even took his first few unassisted steps between Mommy and Daddy. He's smart enough to stay on the exact opposite side of the papasan when we chase him around it, recognizes the dull grinding noise of the garage door opener (which sends him searching and calling for Daddy, typically), and knows exactly where to crawl when Mommy says, "Let's go change your diaper."

Despite the number of times we heard how great it was to watch kids grow, we weren't prepared for it being this great. So happy birthday, son. Your mother and I love you very much.

Milestones

Last week was wonderful. I began last weekend with a move of the CollabNet office to the fabulous Monadnock Building. Then, our family spent the beginning of the week in the St. Louis area, where we were able to relax and enjoy the company of Amy's extended family. Amy's three paternal aunts even watched Gavin for us so we could have an evening to celebrate six years of marriage (dealing with runaway mushrooms and sleeping parking garage attendants, even). Gavin was wonderful on the trip, and when we returned home, he continued to impress us with newfound skills—starting to stand unsupported, giving kisses, and trying out new vocal terrain. And as if that wasn't exciting enough, Amy added another year to the count of her age!

Finally (x2)

Two long-awaited and exciting things have finally occured:

1. Gavin has begun to crawl. We suspect he's been practicing in his crib in the wee hours of the night, but he recently he decided it was time to demo his new-found skills. Our house now sports a stylish new baby gate.
2. My co-authors and I have handed Version Control with Subversion off to our editor, in whose hands the rough stone will become a work of art.

Subversion 1.0 ships

Subversion—the software on which Mike spends 30% of his time working—officially released its 1.0 version yesterday. The announcement was actually leaked a day early to Slashdot (News for Nerds), so in the past couple of days, Subversion's web servers have been hammered with visits by folks interested in the product. In fact, there were over 118000 visits to the web server which houses Version Control with Subversion, the book I'm co-writing!

Holiday wrap-up

Well, the holidays have come and gone. The season officially ended as we strolled out of Cafe Le Coq this evening with my co-workers and their families. What a great way to return to Chicagoland! Earlier this week, we returned from a three-week vacation to North Carolina, complete with snow-hindered driving through Tennessee, much-needed time spent with our families, and of course, Gavin's first Christmas. And so we begin a new year. I wonder what it holds…