#9 Growing so much

Snippets from September 2009 (3 months)

Oh man, if possible I actually think I’m starting to love him MORE. This last week he has grown so much and it’s like he is no longer just a "baby”, but becoming a little person, and I can see snippets of his personality developing which is such a beautiful thing to be a part of. Usually at night Greg and I prop him up on our pillows and “talk” to him or read him a story or shake Mr. Butterfly in front of him or something. Well, last night for the first time he “talked” back. I don’t mean his usual coos. I mean he had this loud booming sound. It was SO hilarious. Greg and I both just couldn’t stop laughing. And he looked so indignant, too. I’d say something to him and then he’d respond in this booming voice. Of course, as soon as Greg got out the camcorder he went back to his soft coos, but it really was the cutest thing to see. He smiles a lot now and for long periods of time and he smiles when he sees his toys. He grabs Mr. Butterfly now and gives it a shake or puts some part of it in his mouth. I also bought him a new rattle and he likes it, too. He also seems to love birds. You know he is fascinated with that toucan on his wall? Well, the jumperoo has this parrot hanging off one of the leaves and it is his favourite thing to stare at! Speaking of books, I always read him his Little Hoot and Disney books and he loves touching the pages and trying to turn them on his own. He also constantly sticks his tongue out now (even when he isn’t hungry) and has a great big smile for you when you do the same. Oh, and he loves his fingers. He is always playing with them, staring at them or just stuffing them into his mouth.

Of course that brings me to the magic that is the jumperoo! It was expensive, but oh, so worth it. (oh, and as an aside – it was Greg who mentioned keeping it until “after the second one”. Haha! Not anytime soon, though). We don’t put him in it for too long, but it is such an awesome thing for when I need to get dressed and Greg isn’t home yet and the nanny hasn’t arrived because you know exactly where he is and there is no way for him to fall out or hurt himself. He can spend a good 15 minutes in there on his own and more if you play with him in it and point to stuff and swivel his chair. So it’s great if you need to do other stuff, but also if you do want to play with him, but just need to give your arms a break. The chair turns 360 degrees and there are all these little toys and activities for him on each side. His favorite is this lizard that is inside this cylindar and you spin it and there are all these tiny balls inside so it rattles. That and the dangling parrot. He hasn’t tried to reach for it yet (it’s up quite high), but he does stare at it for ages. It’s very colorful and there are all these lights and music. There are different settings so it can either keep playing or you can set it that if he touches something, spins something or bounces, it’ll play this short jingle of animal sounds and stuff like that. As I mentioned, he has also started playing with those two dangling toys on the side of his mechanical swing. He never cared about them before and I wondered if he ever would, but finally he has started tugging on them. It’s so lovely watching him develop. As far as actual jumping in the jumperoo goes, he hasn’t mastered that yet, but he likes being upright and manages to bob around a bit which he likes. If he is tired and we bob it for him, it puts him right out and sometimes he just falls asleep on his own. He is a little young for it, usually most babies really start playing in it from 4 months, but he can hold his head upright so it’s safe for him. And already I can see that his bobbing has become better coordinated so I’m sure he’ll be jumping before we know it.

Last night he gave me 9 hours sleep! He only went to sleep very late (2:30am), but then he slept until 8:30am, fed for about 10 minutes and went right back to sleep for another 3 hours. It suits me fine because I can afford to sleep in every morning. He also has this new formula which I’m loving. I noticed with the old one that he didn’t want to take his bottle easily and then I could tell he was hungry, but he’d have one or two sips and then push the bottle away or turn his head to the side and sometimes even cry and I thought, “Oh no! Not more feeding issues. First you won’t breastfeed, now you won’t bottle feed!” It was just my impression, but I wondered if it were “hurting” him in some way, like it was burning him or something. There is this other kind (same brand) that I see everywhere and it’s actually a little cheaper. I bought some for the first time last night and it has worked like a charm. For the first time in ages, he drank an entire bottle without fussing once. I was actually starting to worry about him because he seemed to be taking in less and less, but since getting the new formula he has been drinking without any problems. This one is also way easier to mix. It doesn’t have that same fatty residue that makes it take ages to dissolve. So, for the moment I’m very happy with it. I’ll obviously watch and see how it goes, though.

With breastfeeding, I still make sure I do it every day and it seems to be going okay. There are still certain times he refuses point blank, but during the night and morning he is good and sometimes even at night before bed I can breastfeed him once or twice. It’s weird, though, because from working and not expressing so much I know that I don’t have as much milk. I think this suits him because it means the spray isn’t as forceful so he’ll breastfeed more for a little while, that in turn makes me produce more milk and suddenly we’re back to the issue of too much force again. Like a vicious cycle! I mean what happened the other day was just ridiculous. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was standing and breastfeeding, but when he got upset and pulled off, it honestly sprayed two thirds of a meter! I never even thought that was possible and Greg and I were dumbstruck just watching it squirt across the room. It was actually kind of funny! And I still checked with Greg about the distance because I didn’t want to lie, but it definitely sprayed between two-thirds to three quarters of a meter. No wonder the little guy has issues with breastfeeding! That’s practically punching holes in the back of his throat!

I’ve started walking the dogs again and now that I’m back to doing it, I never realised how much I missed it. Plus, it’s great exercise and I hardly have time to exercise during the day now. We just put Jay in the carrier and Greg carries him and then we walk to the park, around both parks and then home again. I don’t know if I’ll feel up to it every night (or if Greg will feel like carrying Jay every night), but I think we’ll definitely be walking together more often. Greg says that when Jay gets older, we can walk earlier and Jay can ride his tricycle. What a cute little picture!

Okay, let me be off. I wanted to get this done while Jay slept and have indeed succeeded. Greg had to work today, but is out at the moment buying us some takeout. When he gets back we’ll eat and then go out for a drink. We just think it’s nice and healthy for us to get out and do stuff like that at least once on the weekend.

Lots of love

Em x