Modeling Career

Recently, Casey got his first modeling job. He was asked to model diapers for a diaper company. Check out their website here: www.cuteybaby.com. I was approached by a professional photographer who was hired to shoot for CuteyBaby. Acting as Casey's agent, I presented Casey's requests:

Private dressing area
46" High Def flat screen TV
DVD player with Baby Einstein videos
2 boxes of Cherrios. (regular, NOT Honey Nut)
3 chew toys. 1 chilled, 1 frozen, 1 room temperature
Assortment of age appropriate toys
1 stuffed dog
1 15 minute nap period per every hour of work

Alas, exactly NONE of Casey's requests were honored. I think he babbled something about firing his dad/agent. Here are a few shots from the photoshoot.



A special thanks to Randy for the photos. Check out his website. www.randyschwartzphoto.com. His title is 'lifestyle photographer'.. whatever that means.. He assures me that people 'in the industry' know what that means. Regardless of what I think about his title, he takes some pretty damn good photos. All of you with children know how difficult it is to shoot photos of young ones.. Well, at this photoshoot, Randy was crawling all over the floor, rubbing himself in doghair, spit-up and whatever else was on that floor. He was making funny noises and gestures; all the while managing to capture the precious moments. So, if any of you want some SPECIAL shots taken, contact him.. Tell him Phil sent you... and also tell him to give you the special 'Phil price'.... and he'll tell you... 'wtf is that price???...' but he'll hook you up anyway...

Casey's World

Here are little glimpses into Casey's world, as it exists now-a-days.

I think there is a saying, 'Like father, like son'... or was it, 'The apple doesn't fall far from the tree'


Casey did this all by himself. Mom was in the process of packing, and Casey saw the suitcase open, so he ventured over to it, hopped in, and was entertained by a Costco sized package of diapers. Amazing what captures a kids attention. Babies-R-Us probably wont like this, but the 2 things that have entertained Casey THE MOST, far more than any overpriced toy... ceiling fan and baby wipe package.


Someone, somewhere thought it was a good idea to let Casey and his friend play with Jello, pudding and spaghetti. Reportedly, Mom was able to salvage the onesie!


Casey was appropriately dressed as a monkey for his 1st Halloween.

In the car on the way to his first Halloween party.

At the Green's Halloween party. Poor monkey is trying to raid the candy filled pumpkin, I tried to explain to him that this little monkey couldnt have candy.... Yet...

Colors

The past 9 months have been quite an experience. Its truly amazing how much both parents and baby experience in such a short amount of time. There are tons of little experiences that are priceless; I could literally write for days on end describing them. Alas, I have a day job, so I pick and choose what to share with ya'll.
Here, I return to a familiar theme of this blog... Poop. What amazes me is the variety of poop. Textures, amounts, thickenesses, colors, smells; there are no two identical poops. I've seen bright orange... not like dull rusty orange, I'm talking BRIGHT. I've seen green, red, black and many shades of brown. How is this possible? Is there some correlation between what goes in vs. what comes out? Or is there something more to it? The other day, we (Mom and Dad) had guacamole, chips, beans, rice and enchiladas. Let's be clear about something.. Casey DID NOT eat any of the above. 2 hours later, I was changing Casey's diaper.. See below...

This got me thinking, I probably should have been giving each of Casey's efforts individual names all along. Maybe I'll start now.. This masterpiece is titled 'Guacamole and bean dip', served on a size 4 Kirtland diaper.

Pumpkin Patch

In honor of Halloween, I've decided to create a post of Casey at the local pumpkin patch. He was most fascinated with... the hay on the ground. We held him so he could 'walk' on the hay. Well, he was slipping and sliding all over the place, so he got curious and tried to inspect the hay and figure out why he wasn't gaining proper traction. Nonetheless, we tried to introduce him to pumpkins...

Here he is, trying to figure out what this big round orange thing is...


Posing in his 'I love daddy shirt'


Compare the size of this pumpkin to Casey.

Conversation

Mommy was away enjoying a Mom's Night Out. So, Casey and Daddy had guys night in. I want to share the exchange between father and son. To give some background, it was getting late, about 8:30pm. I was going to give Casey a bottle of milk and put him to bed. So, I heat up the milk, and bring the bottle over to the couch. Casey is on the ground, and he sees Daddy with the bottle... and he fixates on the bottle. I set the bottle down, and pick up Casey and lay him in my lap. I reach behind his head, and get the bottle. He must be hungry, because he attacks this bottle. He finishes about 1/2 the bottle, and I take it from his mouth. (And set it on the table, behind his head) All I wanted to do was quickly burp him. Casey starts crying, and while I pat him on the back, I say, "Its ok baby, burp for Daddy". And he looks at me and wails... He doesnt have the vocabulary to say the words, but the expression and the sounds said it loud and clear.. " Gimme the d^%^$ bottle... F&&^% burping, I want the d*&^ bottle. Stubborn me, I keep trying to burp him. His next expression/cry said, "OK a*^hole, forget you, I'll get the d*&^% bottle myself"; and with this, he turns his head, locates the bottle, and starts twisting and crawling to reach for the bottle. Being such a reasonable guy, I give in, and get the bottle for him, put it in his mouth and let him finish.. He slurped the rest down FAST. Now, the contents are all gone, so I take the bottle from him again. He starts crying, so I tell him, "All done baby, good job". He basically says, "F&$& that, I'm not done, I'm still hungry".

"Thats it, there is no more, see the bottle is empty"
"Well then, make me some more"
I see this is an argument I can't win, so I do the logical thing... I take him upstairs, distract him, and get him settled down and ready for bed.
I can't imagine what our conversations will be like in a few years when he develops the vocabulary to replace the censored words above!

Race

Red alert! Little Casey is fully mobile! I had a moment last week when I realized it was time to child proof. I was on Casey-watch. We were downstairs, in the living room. Casey was on the floor and I was on the couch... and I had to pee! Ever since Casey was born, there has been one constant. If you leave him somewhere, and later come back.... he'll be in the same place as you left him. Umm, not anymore. Knowing this, I put him in the far corner of the room, and took off to the bathroom. For those of you who dont know the layout of Casa Wang, the living room, dining room and kitchen take up the bottom floor of the Casa. There are stairs leading both down to the garage, and up to the bedrooms. Directly in front of the stairs headed down, there is a bathroom.

So, I set Casey in a far corner, and take off for the bathroom. I am standing up, doing my business, and I hear Mommy call out, "Here comes Casey!". Testing my flexibility and control, I attempt to continue aiming the stream while leaning left, and poking my head around the corner to find Casey. (Right about this time, I stop hearing water splashing, and begin hearing porcelain...) Anyhow, Casey is CRAWLING over towards me... and the stairs. The race is on! I re-focus on the task, re-aim to water, and increase the pressure to increase flow volume. Finally, finish, shake twice and zip.. And Casey is literally 1 foot from the top of the stairs! I scoop him up, and reset him to the far corner again...

A few days later, we got the safety gates installed!

Olympics

Casey just celebrated his 8 month birthday yesterday. He is developing his own personality more each day. From what I have seen, he's a pretty active, daring kid. He loves it when daddy throws him straight up in the air.. err, I mean , gently moves him in a vertical direction, in a controlled manner. (See, no need to to alert CPS). He also loves to do plyometric jumping exercises. But, for all I know, this might well be normal behavior for a boy of his age. But Casey takes it a step further. He loves doing back-flips. Who knows, maybe its something he got from his daddy. After all, daddy made an ill-fated attempt to learn back flips... when he was 35 yrs old... Yup, landed flat on my face. Thats when I was told, "gymnastics is something you learn when you are 5 yrs old, not 35!"

Casey just might be competing for a spot on the 2028 Olympic team.. Wait, what am I saying.. He's part Chinese. He can represent Team China in the 2016 Rio Olympics.. He'll be 7 yrs old.. Perfect age for the Chinese gymnastics governing body to claim he is 'of legal age' and produce a birth certificate to back the claim.

In these photos, all we do is support his armpits, and give him something to rotate around. He does the rest; note the perfect landing!