Uechi-Ryu.com

You are all simply fantastic. Thank you so much for the well wishes and Heather really appreciates all the good wishes to her too.

We had nicknamed him "butterball" when he was gestating and that is, believe it or not, the first thing the anesthesiologist said when he saw him pop out -- "Wow, that's quite a butterball!"

Cory's Stats:
Born 6:53 PM
9lbs 8.5 oz
Length: 19 inches

We are the two luckiest people on earth at the moment...a wonderful new son and an amazing community of support.

10,000 thanks.

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Congratulations. The things you miss when you don't read the forums for even a little while.

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The martial arts begin and end with respect...

Congratulations, Dana and Heather!

Thank you so much!

It is like watching a miracle in motion...

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Oops, once again I'm slow off the mark. a little late, but no less heart felt -- congratulations!

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Chris

Hey, congratulations, that's awesome.

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- Justin Powell

Rich

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Member of the world's premier gun club, the USMC!

Thank you for the good wisehs.
He just tested in the 95% for height and weight today. I guess he's eating ok.

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Wow, Dana! Congratulations to all three of you!

With that little guys height and weight I'd be pushing for a judo gi. He looks like a natural.

Rory

Hah! Yep - and he's got a nice long torso, so that should help keep his center of gravity a little lower!

Colors kicked in last week, so he's much more interested in looking around at everything. And of course, we're still very interested in looking at him!

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Hey Dana and Heather, how's your little baby bear doing? Did you two have a fun Christmas with him? What is he doing now as far as developmental things?

Regards,
Vicki

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"Cry in the dojo, laugh in the battlefield"

He's doing great! He's not yet grown into the wonderful gifts that you, Bill and Mary S sent - ( again - thank you all SSSooooooo much!) but he's sure doing his best to get there quickly. He moved his way out of 0-3 clothes a month early. He's holding his head up well, moving all the right bits for crawling (though not with enough arm strength to make it work just yet) and tracking movement with his eyes. He's also babbling and smiling lots and lots now and starting to mimic facial expressions.

And we love him a little more every single day!

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He is so darn cute...better watch him around Bill. He loves babies and may try to steal him away.

He's so adorable and, wow, is he the spitting image of Heather.

Great pictures, Dana!

Take care and hope you are both getting more sleep now.

Always,
Vicki

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"Cry in the dojo, laugh in the battlefield"

He is definitely Heather's child. You could pick him out of a nursery no problem.

Both beautiful human beings, by the way...

I have a recommendation. This is something I would have done had I known then what I know now.

1) Learn sign language ASAP.

2) Start communicating with your child via sign language as you speak to them. They understand speech before they're able to articulate phonemes. You'll find that they'll take first to the signing, and ultimately will convert to both sign language and verbal speech.

I've seen this in the works with one of our new karate students. Crystal has a very active and precocious 2-year-old. She communicates simultaneously via sign and verbal language now. Crystal is also teaching her both Spanish and whatever Japanese she learns from me.

Babies' brains are very plastic to language at an early age. The earlier you learn a language, the more likely your brain will treat it as a first language.

Boys in particular need all the head start they can get. We're great on the spatial, but a little slow on the language development.

One more thing... Here's a trick on how to teach them to do a sokusen when they grow up. You start at this age. It's very simple, and kind of sweet. Take your finger and have them try to "hold finger" with their toes. They will do it naturally. It's a reflex that has been in hominids for tens of thousands of years - probably back to the days when we could hold onto branches in trees with our feet, or on to mommy's fur when she had to swing from the trees. When doing this, you can adjust their grip so that they do it with a sokusen-like orientation.

- Bill

What a beautiful baby! Look how many friends he has made already! :") Maybe when I start teaching the toddlers class you guys can bring him here :")

What a blessing!

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Life is a series of quests - become your own hero.