Digital Leon`s World

Last night was an amazing experience for me. While I’m not going to get into politics in this blog - I will make it clear that my vote for Obama had nothing to do with the fact that he is African American.

However that fact is very significant none-the-less. Never in my wildest dreams did I believe that America would elect an African American president. This is something that I have regarded as literally impossible for my entire life. But today that barrier has been shattered.

During Obama’s acceptance speech I noticed my son was transfixed on him. (I’m sure he thought the colors were pretty…) And I began to think about him and his life. There is literally nothing that this child can’t do. The ultimate glass ceiling in American has been conquered. Despite all of the hatred that was leveled against this man he pulled out a victory with dignity, class. and style.

I can’t help but to think about my family line. The great uncle who was one of the first African Americans to graduate from Case Western Reserve University with a degree in Electrical Engineering - only to find out that no one would hire him. My father - Tre’s namesake who lived through world war two and the civil rights movement, who was tasked with desegregating Cleveland public schools after Brown vs Board of Education. My grandparents who are in their 90s. To think about the totality of their experiences - Things that happened not hundreds of years ago - but within a few generations. And today we have our first African American president. I am moved.

Today I watched history - and while Obama and the democrats need to put their noses to the grindstone and get things done - yesterday was an amazing accomplishment. It’s one of those events where I will remember exactly where I was when I heard the news. And I will remember looking down at my son and thinking…..

Tre - the world is truly yours now. The potential is there - what will you make of that opportunity?
I can’t wait to find out.

We decided to take the little guy to our photography studio to document his first Halloween. As you can see by the photos he’s insanely cute. The little guy has been doing really well. He’s not crawling yet but he’s making big strides towards actually standing up. Perhaps he’ll bypass crawling altogether.

Well enough with the talking - the photos speak for themselves!

Well I remodulated my shields, I went to warp but unfortunately I couldn’t escape the borg tractor beam….. For those of you that aren’t in on the joke I have decided to return to Microsoft. I had a great year at Amazon.com but I decided that I really missed working on games. So I am returning to the evil empire working in the 3rd party group in the Xbox organization. My new position is called an account manager. This is a shift from the project management work that I did previously - but I’m really excited about the opportunity.

It’s great to be back - many of my close friends are still at Microsoft and you can’t go wrong with the fabulous benefits!

I guess resistance is futile…..

One of our really good friends is a professional cheerleader for the Seattle Seahawks and she was kind enough to provide us with 2 tickets for the home opener vs San Francisco today. At first we were going to look for a sitter but we decided to take Tre to the game. Unfortunately the hawks lost, although we still had a great time. I couldn’t being my pro camera into the stadium. (much less my giant professional lens.) But I was able to bring my consumer Nikon D40x with me. We were able to grab a few shots of the family together.

You might be wondering what’s up with the towel. I bought ear plugs for Tre since the stadium is really loud but we were having a hard time getting them to stay in his ears. The towel held them in place nicely. It also serves to ward off the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal.

The scary thing about the entire experience is that Tre slept through large portions of the game - despite the excitement - which was a problem when we got him. Since he was fresh and Malaika and I were exhausted. Oh well!

Enjoy the photos.

Thanks for the free tickets Auntie Randa! We had a great time! We really appreciate the gift!

Last week we went back to the east coast to hold an African naming ceremony for Tre. I didn’t know much about these things because I’m not really into any African traditions. But the ceremony was really nice - and as a bonus - my family traveled from Cleveland for it. (Tre seems to be great bait) Which was great because the families haven’t been together since the wedding.

It’s really nice being among family - it’s an experience that I don’t get much of anymore being in Seattle. It’s something I struggle with. On one hand there are so many opportunities for someone with my skill set on the west coast - but on the east coast there are so few. The problem is that for both of us - our home towns have been seeing some tough economic times. Cleveland has been hit hard by the lack of domestic steel production. And Detroit has backed itself into a corner by putting so much emphasis on gas guzzling SUVs that no one wants to buy anymore.

Add to that is the fact that I really like Seattle, it’s pretty, and clean, and I like the people. Not to mention we do have lots of friends that do live here. But as Tre gets older we’re going to have to revisit this issue - it’s equally important that Tre knows his grandparent and other family.

Anyway I’ll go ahead and post the photos since that’s what you crave!

Ok so it didn’t quite have the majesty of the rising sun of Simba and Rafiki but it was special to us none the same.

Random cutness on the trip.

3 Leon’s and two of them Leon the III - unfortunately Tre couldn’t quite manage the three but I do appreciate the large raspberry he was trying to give me.

Well 3 of us were looking at the Camera…. Tre was trying to get to Grandma.

This child finds me absolutely hilarious - unfortunately like many of my peers growing up he’s likely laughing at me and not with me….

Dad - I think I let one fly towards Uncle Eric.

My Sister’s are absolutely smitten with the little guy….

Although I think Tre is giving Pam the stink eye….

When he grows up I will explain that his Aunt Nett has issues….

Ok there were just too darn cute to not share.

It’s been a while and more than one person has commented that I’m overdo for more stories and photos of Tre and our life in Seattle. So I’ve finally carved out some time to give everyone an update.

5 months - He’s growing like weed!

(Yes I’m one of those parents that shamelessly dresses his child in the clothing of his alma matter - come on Tre - say Go Blue!)

This baby is extremely healthy and he’s growing really fast. He’s finally outgrown his bassinet and is now sleeping in his crib. It’s actually hilarious because he tends to roll around the entire crib in his sleep. He definitely gets the wild sleeping from his father.

He can now flip over on his side which means we can no longer leave him on the couch and go somewhere else. He will quickly roll right off the side an onto the floor - so now we have to keep him in his play pen or at least in the middle of a bed surround by pillows - we call this the pillow fort.

Cognitively he’s really growing. He can now reach out for objects that he wants to play with and can keep himself busy by playing with toys. His favorite toys are a stuffed dog named Mr. Puppy and a keychain with lights on it. He recognizes Malaika and I now. When he sees us we always get a smile. It’s amazing you can have the worst day and this little guy looks at you - smiles and it’s all better.

Teething
Unfortunately we have a new problem - Tre is teething. Just when we got to the point where we were sleeping through the night this problem creeps up. We’ve been able to medicate him with oral gel and tylenol… unfortunately when you give him the medicine he actually starts to scream louder because it’s disgusting….. It eventually starts to work and he’ll go back to sleep.

Solid Food
We’re also now giving him solid food - just rice cereal to start. Many of my veteran parent friends warned me about certain gastro-intestinal changes once he was on solid food. Oh my God they were right…. Again thank God for the diaper genie.

Meeting the family

The Pryor Family

(My mom and Grandchild 7.0)

(My mom and Grandchild 7.0)

We had a large family reunion and Tre finally got to meet my side of the family. Needless to say they barely noticed Malaika and I because everyone was immediately taken with the little guy. We had a great time and even though plane tickets are ridiculously expensive I’m going to have to make the effort to take Tre back east to get to know both sides of his family.

Dogs with Cancer

While on our trip we had a bit of a scare. We got a call from the dog sitter saying Cookie had developed a huge growth on her paw. It was angry and red and the size of a toe. The sitter took Cookie to the vet who extracted a tissue sample for testing but they weren’t able to get it to the lab in time.

After returning to Seattle I went to pick up Cookie and I saw that the growth was enormous. It wasn’t causing Cookie any pain but it was something I wanted checked out immediately. I got on the road and took Cookie straight to the vet. After arriving in the vet’s office we agreed that we should remove the growth and send the whole thing in for a biopsy. So we scheduled emergency surgery for 7 am the next morning.

The surgery went well and they removed the entire mass and sent it in for analysis. Cookie was fine although she was heavily sedated and had to wear a cone on her head for 2 weeks. (Which means we were in for 2 weeks of her bumping into walls and cutting into our legs with hard plastic.)

About 8 days later the tests came back - the mass was a Tumor called a Mast cell tumor. Cookie had a type 1 tumor which means that surgery corrects the problem in over 90% of the cases. No one knows what causes it but research on the internet revealed that it tends to affects Labradors, dogs with skin allergies, and dogs with light colored coats more than others - great we had all three cases.

Cookie is expected to recover completely and permanently however we have to pay extra special attention to her skin - every day I’m inspecting her looking for any signs that the cancer has returned. It was a pretty frightening experience - especially considering that in human years cookie is about 28 years old - is in perfect shape, exercises 2x a day, and eats a scientifically balanced diet.

So that’s about it - the Seattle Pryor’s are hanging in there - but life is good and we’re managing. And I promise to write more frequently!