Year 2004 is a very different year for me. I normally, for privacy reason, not talk too much about my personal life on this blog. However year 2004 has been a very personal year. After waiting a long time, I am now the parent of the smartest, cutest little baby in the world (personal bias noted). Therefore, the one big thing that is worth reviewing, is being a new parent. So here are my thoughts and observations for the year on parenting condensed down to one year end blog entry. [ Of course, the little guy has his own private blog that is available to friends and family only. If you think you should have access, send me an email] !

Late Life Parenthood

This little guy (Little G) is my first. Having little G later in life gives me the luxury of having more resources available to him. The top resource being time -- I half planned this, so I managed to take some time off work and spend about half a year with him being an almost full time parent. I am sure that this is a luxury that many parents do not have. This is precious and irreplacable time -- watching him grow day by day.

The only down side of this is that I better stay young to keep up with him as both of us gets older !

The Good and the Bad

Parenting is hard work. It is the hardest thing I have done in my life. I thought flying around the world running start-up speed software development in multiple countries were hard? This is order of magnitudes harder. In the business, and most of the time in the adult world, you can try to reason with others. You cannot reason with a baby. Luckily little G is good nature and always happy except when he is tired. He even laugh in his sleep (I am not kidding you).

The reward of parenting is, as cliche as it is, priceless. The first time he reaches out for me, the first time he cock his head to look for me when I am holding him, the first time I really make him laugh, the first time I manage to have him fall asleep in my arms...

The Deep Thoughts

Things that I think about:

For convinience, We are going through so much disposable products. Paper towels, diapers, trash bags, disposable bottle liners. This is not good for the environment I am sure.
Similarly, we have to wash cloths on average once a day, wasting a lot of energy again.
Should I have used boiled water to make formula? We use Brita filtered water only. It's too late now.
Should we have fed him only warm formula? We used room temperature. A friend said the little guy will grow up not liking hot food.
We started feeding him all kinds of solid food without much thought. First thing we tried was freshly squeezed orange juice, only to read that citrus juice is probably the worst juice to give him due to the possibiity of allergies. Oh well.