Weasel Of Doom

D. continues to grow like a little weed :-) We went to the doctor on Friday, June 10, to see how his ears are doing (they were fine), and he weighed 14 lb 13 oz – a gain of 10 oz from two weeks ago. He is a squirmy little guy these days…

For a couple of times now, he managed to turn 90 degrees when laying on his tummy under Mr. Star. This morning, he located the tags at the side of it, and proceeded to chew them. I wonder if he is going to start teething soon, because he is quite a little chewer – and when he clamps down on my fingers in earnest, it is a bit painful :P He chews on everything – his fingers, his toes (if he gets lucky while being changed), his hands, my hands (and arms – he is nothing if not ambitious in the size of the things he tries to chew), B.’s hands, sheets, blankets, Mr. Banana, Mr. Octopus, feet of birds and elephant that hang over the baby gym, my watch (apparently, there is not enough leather in his diet), his bibs, his rattle – you name it, chances are D. has either chewed it or thought about chewing it. *smiles*

According to various books, by 5 months many babies are sleeping 10-12 hours a night, waking perhaps once a night to eat. D., apparently, has missed the memo. Last Monday, he woke up around 6 am. For the rest of the week, he kept pushing that time back 15 mins a day, so that by Friday he was waking up at 5 am, all happy and excited and ready to play. Considering that I usually go to bed around midnight or later, and that the little guy wakes up once or twice a night to feed, I thought I would join the ranks of the living dead by the end of the week.

Apparently sensing it, today D. woke up at 7 am. On the minus side, the last 2 hours of that he spent in my lap, because he fell asleep at the boob, and I fell asleep holding the aforementioned boob… As I gently transferred him to the bed, hoping to get another half hour of sleep in a non-sitting up position, he woke up. Of course. So for the next 15 minutes or so he smiled and gurgled and I rubbed his tummy and feet and tried to keep my eyes open. Once it was very obvious sleep was not on the agenda, I air-bathed him on his changing table, and we meandered over to the living room, where he got reunited with Mr. Star while I grabbed some cereal and got his laundry going in the basement. That’s when he managed to turn around 90 degrees on the mat and drool all over the tag on the side. I guess tags are yummy to chew on…

But back to the sleep thing. During the day, D. usually takes a nap (30 mins to an hour) before each feeding. At night, he does not fall asleep until after 8 pm. Last night he was wide awake at midnight (which might explain the reprieve of not having to get up at 5 am). Usually, though, we can count on him being sleepy after 8 pm. He will fall asleep on the couch to the sounds of gunfire or other mayhem as his Daddy plays video games, but the moment he is moved to his quiet crib, he wakes up and starts crying. Most of the time we can get him back to sleep in 5-10 mins, but occasionally he ends up back on the couch, sleeping on his tummy, with me stretched out next to him, providing the necessary barrier between him and the floor. Fortunately for us, D. is fascinated with the back of the couch, so when he does roll from his back to his side, it is usually in the “in” direction, as opposed to “off the couch.” Still, now that he is not just squirmy, but squirmy and mobile, we are very careful not to leave him on the couch unsupervised.

Well, it looks like even having an easier way to blog is not enough to actually enable me to post more often than once every few weeks. Eeep.

This being said, things are interesting (in a stressfull way) here. First item of news: there might soon be a new Casa. In theory, we are closing on a new house on June 29th, assuming the financing goes through. I guess we will know for sure by the end of the week.

The new house is very very nice – 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, great room with cathedral ceiling and skylights, laundry on the first floor, hot tub in the basement… Yet, I will miss this house, too. I regret not doing things around and in it – I think our house would have looked so much better if I actually applied myself to making it so. Oh well, let’s hope I do better at the new one – the previous owner had done a wonderful job decorating it, so it’s not like I have to do anything :-)

I can’t believe that our little boy is over 4 months already. He is such a little sweetie. At his last check-up, he was 25″ 3/4′ long and weighed 14 lbs 3 oz. Would have probably been a little heavier, except the poor little guy was sick for a couple of weeks before.

For the last two days, he has woken up around 6:30 am, gurgling happily in the crib. When I walked in and leaned over to pick him up, he smiled. In bed with us, he continued “talking” and reaching for our faces and fingers. When Daddy lifts him up, he gives us a big smile. Sometimes when he feeds, he gives the breast the sweetest smile. He looks at us with what my parents call his “devious” eyes – like he is up to some mischief.

He looks just like Daddy. The only thing that is mine are his blue eyes – and that might change. Everything else about him is changing so fast. He developed and lost so many little habits already.

For a week or so after his birth, he had the cutest way of sticking his little tongue between his lips. I wish I had a picture of that. He looked so adorable doing it. He also used to latch on the breast, slide all the way to the nipple, grip, and yank his head back. I am glad that little habit went the way of the dodo :-)

The first month and a half, all he did was eat and sleep. And I thought, “this motherhood thing is not difficult at all!” (Yeah, I was naive. Then again, we have been blessed with a wonderful baby who made it very easy for us.) Then DemonChild decided that sleep was over-rated. The next month and a half he would sleep for an hour or 1.5 hours before each feeding. And lately, the before-feeding naps have been only half-an-hour or so.

He is alert and wants to see the outside world. His preferred position is “sitting” in our arms, facing outside. The only time he would want to cuddle into my shoulder is at night, when he is sleepy. He likes tummy time. He likes being carried around, and dislikes when the person holding him stands still. He can grab things. He can easily achieve a death grip on my hair. He loves playing with Mr. Banana and Mr. Octopus. He chews on his rattle. He talks and smiles to the star on his entertainment gym. This morning, he fell asleep under it. All the way to daycare, I could hear him snoring in the back. He has an adorable snore.

He found his feet this past Sunday. Now when I change him, he grabs his feet and talks to them. When he is on his tummy, he lifts his head and looks around, like a little turtle. And when he sleeps, he sometimes makes little suckling motions, complete with sound effects.

For the past two days, he slept through one night feeding. After munching on mama’s boob around 10/10:30, little guy slept until 4 am or so before wanting another snack. He did that for a while way back in mid-April, but after a couple of weeks it was back to eating every 3 hours. Then came the issues with sleeping in the crib – he would be perfectly happy and asleep in our arms or on the couch, but the moment he got transferred to the crib, he would start crying. As soon as we lifted him up from the crib, back to peaceful slumber. I have slept on the couch for a few nights with him, just so we’d all get some sleep. Evil cold did not help matters, either – we could hear him start coughing and wake himself up. Poor little guy. Then he had an ear infection, and his 4-month shots, so it just was not a happy few weeks for him.

And talking about ear infection, I strongly suspect that he is not going to warm up to peaches right away, when we get to introducing foods other than mama’s milk. We had to give him amoxycillin for his ear infection for 10 days, twice a day. The first few times he accepted the little syringe in his mouth without protests. The kid catches on quick, however – the moment he would see me with the syringe full of peach-colored, fridge-cold medication, he would purse his little lips, clamp his little gums tight, move his head right and left quickly, and bat at the syringe with his hands (the last two actions he have been perfecting whenever I foolishly try to use a snot-sucker on him). Devious mother that I am, I managed to get the med in him by letting him suck on my finger, and then sticking the syringe in next to the finger. That worked for the last few tries, though this morning he was onto me again, and tried to chew my finger off. Amazing how much force these toothless gums can exert! Mental note to self: once teeth come in, kid is getting fed from bottles. We want to have more children, and it would not be good if the firstborn bites off the nipples that feed him.

But back to sleeping through a night feeding thing. If the pattern continues, I will start pumping at night, to get a frozen supply going in case I have to leave for a couple of days. Currently, I have 5 pathetic little plastic bags in the freezer. That won’t feed little guy for a day. And seeing as there is a possibility of my going to a 3-day conference in Maryland in July, I better make sure there are at least 30 bags there :-)