Another good day for all of us. Allan is still home and doing well. He looks good, he is alert and interested in his surroundings (the ceiling fans anyway). The end of Day Eight. Sorry for the delays in blogging but Dad has been out of town and that makes it a little hectic around here. Kim came last night and she and Griffith partied like rock stars until late in the night. (Actually he slept like a lamb. Kim, on the other hand, slept fully dressed and on top of the covers with her hand on the bassinet in case she needed to leap in to action.)
Today was a Very Big Day in our household. Griffith has learned to roll from his belly to his back. Tummy Time is the Holy Grail of parenting these days. If your kid doesn't get sufficient Tummy Time, then you can forget about early admission to Harvard and you may as well sign your kid up for Advanced Ditch Digging. As per his usual, Griff hates Tummy Time with a white hot firey passion. Is certain that it was designed especially to irritate him. Not wishing to antagonize him unnecessarily, we have been doing modified Tummy Time - his chest to ours, etc. Yesterday, I decided to put him down on his belly just to see how he would react. Lord in Heaven was he mad -- arms and head down as if he were getting ready to do push ups, one leg and his hind end up in the air, squawling. He rocked back and forth and Flora and I both thought that he might flip then, but he lost momentum. Today, though, he was completely irritated by the second time that we put him on his belly and he cried as if we were scalding him before he gave an almighty heave and flipped himself on to his back, thumping his little noggin on the floor. We were all stunned that he had managed to do it. I tried to take a picture, but the batteries were dead. We'll stage a photo later.
Allan is a little behind his brother, but making progress every day. Aunt Stephanie came to assist while Dad was away tonight. Allan is still not setting any records with the bottle feeding, but he has learned to suck his hand and he bats at his bouncy seat toys. Mostly, though, he likes to look at the very bright paintings on the walls. And the ceiling fan. Best $60 we ever spent.
Friday, October 13, 2006
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Well, we've made it through Day Six and are starting Day Seven. At the moment, the Butter Bean and I are hanging out in the bedroom ostensibly watching Baby Einstein about body parts. In reality, I am typing and the bean is watching the ceiling fan. I could have saved myself $45 in BE videos apparently and just turned on the fan that we already own. Live and learn. Still, he seems satisfied and God knows as long as someone isn't crying, I'm good with it. He really seems to be taking more of an interest in everything that is going on around him. Tonight he played with the same ball that Griffith loves to swat. He isn't quite as coordinated as Griffith at the moment, but he is definitely working on it.
Griffith has fallen asleep in his swing downstairs and neither Jay nor I have what it takes to wake him. As my friend Diane observed to Lee, Griffith has quite a temper. Personally I think he just has really deeply felt beliefs about boundaries. Unfortunately, people just keep messing with him and until they learn to quit it, he is going to have to straighten them out continually.
We have no place to go and nothing to do until Monday morning so, with a little luck, we will hang out, read, sing, play and not watch exorbitantly priced videos and grow for a few more days.
Griffith has fallen asleep in his swing downstairs and neither Jay nor I have what it takes to wake him. As my friend Diane observed to Lee, Griffith has quite a temper. Personally I think he just has really deeply felt beliefs about boundaries. Unfortunately, people just keep messing with him and until they learn to quit it, he is going to have to straighten them out continually.
We have no place to go and nothing to do until Monday morning so, with a little luck, we will hang out, read, sing, play and not watch exorbitantly priced videos and grow for a few more days.
Day Six
Well, we've made it to Day Six of the Return of the Butter Bean (Part III). He had a good night and really hasn't desated more than a handful of times since we've come home. He seems to like the new accomodations. Since the last time he came home, we've rearranged and moved a crib in to the upstairs master suite. Allan takes the crib and Griffith sleeps in the bassinet. We hope that by the time Griffith is too big for it that we will be able to put them both in the crib.
Flora has finally witnessed Griffith having a genuine tantrum - back stiff, arched and screaming like a banshee. She said "I think he's going to have a temper." I don't want to argue with her, but it looks to me like he already has one.
Allan and I had a mother/son outing yesterday. We were very brave and took a walk all by ourselves yesterday afternoon. He fell asleep before we were out the back door, but we went any way. The weather was nice and it was supposed to (and indeed is) rain today and turn cold and the boy needs some fresh air. Griffith looks positively tan compared to his brother so we have to try to even them up.
I fell victim to marketing yesterday -- I went to pick up shampoo for Allan (who has cradle cap in his eyebrows)(eleven dollars a bottle, thank you very much) and as I was checking out, I spotted the strategically located UK baseball caps. Worse than a child in the check out lane. Anyway, we are washing them up and should have photos to post soonn.
Flora has finally witnessed Griffith having a genuine tantrum - back stiff, arched and screaming like a banshee. She said "I think he's going to have a temper." I don't want to argue with her, but it looks to me like he already has one.
Allan and I had a mother/son outing yesterday. We were very brave and took a walk all by ourselves yesterday afternoon. He fell asleep before we were out the back door, but we went any way. The weather was nice and it was supposed to (and indeed is) rain today and turn cold and the boy needs some fresh air. Griffith looks positively tan compared to his brother so we have to try to even them up.
I fell victim to marketing yesterday -- I went to pick up shampoo for Allan (who has cradle cap in his eyebrows)(eleven dollars a bottle, thank you very much) and as I was checking out, I spotted the strategically located UK baseball caps. Worse than a child in the check out lane. Anyway, we are washing them up and should have photos to post soonn.
Monday, October 09, 2006
All's well
Both boys are doing just fine.
Allan went to the doctor today and he looks good, feels good and is gaining the proper amount of weight. He is now a whopping 11 pounds 1 ounces. He still is having issues with eating enough via the bottle and we may have to investigate other options (remove the NG tube and have a tube in to the belly) but we are letting that go for the moment. Allan feels so good that he actually has started to fuss when things don't go his way. Heather was dropping off some stuff and got to witness a good old-fashioned pout. I was feeding Griffith and that didn't suit Allan (to be fair, it didn't suit Griffith when I was feeding Allan earlier.) Heather agrees that someone is going to have to cross-stitch "Suck it up, Richardson." in to a sampler for me. It will save a lot of time and repitition.
Griffith is about 8.5 pounds these days and his little cheeks are getting full. Not to mention the tan he has from the walks we take (yes, yes, we realize that the sun is bad for you and he wears a hat and has a shade over him. He gets a little sun nonetheless.) Griffith has learned to laugh which is the most magical sound you can imagine. Without exaggeration, he chuckles at the things that he thinks are funny. He still has the most incredible temper and will go from absolutely asleep to wide awake, arching his back and screaming. Jay says that it is 10 percent hunger and 90 percent mad that you aren't doing what he wants.
We long walk on Sunday with both boys in the stroller. We ate danishes outside at Magee's and toured the entire neighborhood. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Yesterday Allan and I listened to the old bad blue jay for about 20 minutes. The world is truly a fascinating place.
Allan went to the doctor today and he looks good, feels good and is gaining the proper amount of weight. He is now a whopping 11 pounds 1 ounces. He still is having issues with eating enough via the bottle and we may have to investigate other options (remove the NG tube and have a tube in to the belly) but we are letting that go for the moment. Allan feels so good that he actually has started to fuss when things don't go his way. Heather was dropping off some stuff and got to witness a good old-fashioned pout. I was feeding Griffith and that didn't suit Allan (to be fair, it didn't suit Griffith when I was feeding Allan earlier.) Heather agrees that someone is going to have to cross-stitch "Suck it up, Richardson." in to a sampler for me. It will save a lot of time and repitition.
Griffith is about 8.5 pounds these days and his little cheeks are getting full. Not to mention the tan he has from the walks we take (yes, yes, we realize that the sun is bad for you and he wears a hat and has a shade over him. He gets a little sun nonetheless.) Griffith has learned to laugh which is the most magical sound you can imagine. Without exaggeration, he chuckles at the things that he thinks are funny. He still has the most incredible temper and will go from absolutely asleep to wide awake, arching his back and screaming. Jay says that it is 10 percent hunger and 90 percent mad that you aren't doing what he wants.
We long walk on Sunday with both boys in the stroller. We ate danishes outside at Magee's and toured the entire neighborhood. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Yesterday Allan and I listened to the old bad blue jay for about 20 minutes. The world is truly a fascinating place.
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