I haven’t blogged in a while, but it’s not for lack of changes.
Owen is developing at an amazing rate; you can see changes in him day by day. Some of them are purely external. He’s getting bigger, and heavier; he’s a mass of muscle, dense and solid. His hair is starting to come in and seems to have settled towards a light brown like his mom. He's able to hold himself up with his legs for short but increasing periods of time, but he doesn't seem very interested in crawling or rolling. When he's on his belly he lifts up his upper body with core muscles and can hold himself up for a surprisingly long time without bracing himself or lifting himself up with his arms. He seems content to do this sort of thing until he's ready to walk.
But the big changes are in the wiring of his brain.
He’s learned how to bring his hands together and how to grab hold of things. He’s using this new found ability to enable his strong streak of independence; when we give him his vitamin D, or try to feed him something, he wants to grab hold and do it himself.
He’s also learning about his environment and improving his memory. He can figure out when I’m trying to put him down by what I do and where I go, and he’s not afraid to voice his displeasure on that point. When I vary his routine, by changing him at an odd time or not singing the Food Time for Owen song when getting him ready to eat, he assumes that we’re actually missing out on the activity that normally goes with his routine (ie, eating) and gets upset.
Nicknames
Dad: Little Man. Mom: Pumpkin. Both: Monkey, Munchkin, Senor Poopypants.
Holidays
Coming home from Christmas holidays in Kingston was crazy. We had a lot of stuff in the car on the way down, between presents for everybody and the fact that 4 days with Owen requires an incredible quantity of supporting gear. The little man doesn’t travel light. All that, however, was nothing compared to the haul we took back to Ottawa, and so much of it, in quantity and in volume, was Owen’s. Our family is very generous and Owen was the star attraction. They talk about people making out like a bandit, well, he made out like Genghis Khan pillaging China.
Unfortunately, Christmas also brought his first cold. Fortunately the worst of it only lasted a day. It’s tough, though, when he wakes up and is feeling miserable and can’t breathe and doesn’t know why, and you pick him up, and he struggles through the tears to give you a smile, because, Hi Daddy … poor little guy.
Comestibles
Now that the new year is upon us we’re starting Owen on solid foods. First up, rice cereal. I had suspected we might have some problems conveying to him what to do with it, as he’s never had any food in solid form before, but he didn’t have any problems with the concept and happily ate everything we gave him. In retrospect this probably shouldn’t have surprised me, given how much he watches us and wants to do what we’re doing.
I don’t know if he enjoyed the taste as it doesn’t seem to have any detectable flavour, but I think he liked the new textures.
We’ve temporarily put the rice cereal on hold after about a week due to an unexplained rash, and concern that it might be a reaction to something in the cereal. Overall, though, I’d say that the solid food experiment is going well.
Tossing the Playbook
His behaviour can really be a moving target. Week to week his willingness to nap, his acceptance of bedtime, and his activity level when he’s awake vary widely. Even within a single day there will be times when we can put him down with no fuss and no problems, and times when he kicks up an unholy fit and does everything he can to avoid being put down for sleep.
Sometimes it’s really only the fact that he’s so cute that gets him through it.
It’s funny. He can scream and cry and pitch a fit, and you hold him and get through it until he gives up and quiets down and falls asleep, and you’re at the end of your tether. Then, just before he falls asleep, he opens his eyes a bit, just to make sure that you're still there, and then gives you a little smile, and sighs and falls asleep. And all that effort to get him there suddenly doesn't seem like anything at all.
Owen is developing at an amazing rate; you can see changes in him day by day. Some of them are purely external. He’s getting bigger, and heavier; he’s a mass of muscle, dense and solid. His hair is starting to come in and seems to have settled towards a light brown like his mom. He's able to hold himself up with his legs for short but increasing periods of time, but he doesn't seem very interested in crawling or rolling. When he's on his belly he lifts up his upper body with core muscles and can hold himself up for a surprisingly long time without bracing himself or lifting himself up with his arms. He seems content to do this sort of thing until he's ready to walk.
But the big changes are in the wiring of his brain.
He’s learned how to bring his hands together and how to grab hold of things. He’s using this new found ability to enable his strong streak of independence; when we give him his vitamin D, or try to feed him something, he wants to grab hold and do it himself.
He’s also learning about his environment and improving his memory. He can figure out when I’m trying to put him down by what I do and where I go, and he’s not afraid to voice his displeasure on that point. When I vary his routine, by changing him at an odd time or not singing the Food Time for Owen song when getting him ready to eat, he assumes that we’re actually missing out on the activity that normally goes with his routine (ie, eating) and gets upset.
Nicknames
Dad: Little Man. Mom: Pumpkin. Both: Monkey, Munchkin, Senor Poopypants.
Holidays
Coming home from Christmas holidays in Kingston was crazy. We had a lot of stuff in the car on the way down, between presents for everybody and the fact that 4 days with Owen requires an incredible quantity of supporting gear. The little man doesn’t travel light. All that, however, was nothing compared to the haul we took back to Ottawa, and so much of it, in quantity and in volume, was Owen’s. Our family is very generous and Owen was the star attraction. They talk about people making out like a bandit, well, he made out like Genghis Khan pillaging China.
Unfortunately, Christmas also brought his first cold. Fortunately the worst of it only lasted a day. It’s tough, though, when he wakes up and is feeling miserable and can’t breathe and doesn’t know why, and you pick him up, and he struggles through the tears to give you a smile, because, Hi Daddy … poor little guy.
Comestibles
Now that the new year is upon us we’re starting Owen on solid foods. First up, rice cereal. I had suspected we might have some problems conveying to him what to do with it, as he’s never had any food in solid form before, but he didn’t have any problems with the concept and happily ate everything we gave him. In retrospect this probably shouldn’t have surprised me, given how much he watches us and wants to do what we’re doing.
I don’t know if he enjoyed the taste as it doesn’t seem to have any detectable flavour, but I think he liked the new textures.
We’ve temporarily put the rice cereal on hold after about a week due to an unexplained rash, and concern that it might be a reaction to something in the cereal. Overall, though, I’d say that the solid food experiment is going well.
Tossing the Playbook
His behaviour can really be a moving target. Week to week his willingness to nap, his acceptance of bedtime, and his activity level when he’s awake vary widely. Even within a single day there will be times when we can put him down with no fuss and no problems, and times when he kicks up an unholy fit and does everything he can to avoid being put down for sleep.
Sometimes it’s really only the fact that he’s so cute that gets him through it.
It’s funny. He can scream and cry and pitch a fit, and you hold him and get through it until he gives up and quiets down and falls asleep, and you’re at the end of your tether. Then, just before he falls asleep, he opens his eyes a bit, just to make sure that you're still there, and then gives you a little smile, and sighs and falls asleep. And all that effort to get him there suddenly doesn't seem like anything at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment