Chow Time

Since I had a long weekend due to Thanksgiving, I decided it was time to introduce Kirk to twice-daily cereal chow. So he's now eating some in the middle of the day as well as before bedtime. He is a messy man. He thinks that cereal time is an interactive sport. I warned my sister when I brought her a box of rice cereal and some spoons this morning. Should be interesting to hear her report when I pick him up. But she noticed that he's definitely already used to having more food in the middle of the day now. Yesterday, since I forgot to bring her her own box, Kirk sucked down way more formula bottle than normal. He's also got even more variety to his diet. I gave him some baby oatmeal a couple of times this weekend and he liked it as well as the rice. And he notices zero difference between apple juice and white grape juice. But hooboy does it all help to increase the stinkiness of his poops!

I have to wonder if all this new influx of calories is helping with his development. He's still not fond of Tummy Time but he's doing so much better at it. He really lifts himself up high. He bats at toys in front of him and looks up. And rolls over on to his back. My sister just called to report that he had done that again. Apparently Kirk is as shocked by the sudden change of scenery as he is proud of himself. When he rolled over the first time (without help or being propped on a small pillow) this weekend Mr. b and I erupted into cheers and applause. What a good boy.

Thanksgiving

I am thankful for not being pregnant. Sure, I still haven't had a "real" period, like before I was pregnant, but I definitely know for sure that I'm not pregnant now. I have to wonder at what point that monthly feeling of relief will end. Two years? More? I mean, now that Mr. b and I have admitted to each other that we do want Kirk to have a sibling at some point, when is "at some point"? I can't imagine being pregnant again already. I would be beyond depressed. And I think I would feel guilty. I have so many friends that have been trying for a while, sometimes a long while, or have had to result to extreme measures. So if I went and got knocked up again, already, so easily, as an accident, I would feel bad. I know it was only for a short time, owing to how quickly I did get knocked up after going off the pill, but I remember that feeling of disappointment when I got my period. It's strange to contrast that with the relief I now feel. So this year, I am thankful for my husband and my son and for not having a bun in the oven.

Feet & Cetera

I finally clipped Kirk's toenails tonight. I can't believe how long they had gotten. I felt like such a bad mom for letting that happen. I had to really struggle to hold his foot still long enough to get at each nail. When I do his fingernails, I wait for him to fall asleep so he's not busy wiggling. But he's typically either wearing socks or footie pajamas so that's not really an option for his toes. Naturally he had a short snooze not long after I finished fighting to get his claws clipped.

His feet seem to already be on the stinky and clammy path. Poor buddy. Mr. b's brother has gross feet like that. Hopefully they won't end up that bad.

At least we don't have to deal with getting his dumb foot cast. That's what we called his bent foot when he was first born. It was the least of our worries those first few weeks. When I finally got around to trying to set up a consultation with a pediatric orthopedist, her assistant needed to figure out how urgent this issue was. I emailed her a more current picture for comparison and woo hoo! His foot is officially just fine!

We also don't have to worry about his belly button anymore. It was looking all weird for a while there. It was dark brown and sticking out really, really far. I had thought it meant he was going to be an outie but it was really out there. Doc had said it was a common thing, an umbilical hemorrage. She said it would get worse before it got better. But it must have already been at "worse" because it's just kept on getting better. It's still dark, but at least it's on its way to being a proper innie.

Of course Kirk totally has a flat head. He managed to avoid the squished skull by being so little when he got borned. But between babies sleeping on their backs and him hating on Tummy Time, he totally has a flat head. Apparently his cousin had a flat head, too. My SIL swears she can still see where it was. But everyone else thinks it rounded out quite nicely. And Doc said Kirk's would normalize soon enough.

The Idiot Box

I'm finding that my television viewing habits are changing now that I'm a working mother. It's not even that I'm watching more child-safe programming, though I can definitely feel that coming. (Thankfully both Mr. b and I have always been fans of cartoons and kids shows in general. We've forever been the weird old people sans children at movies like Sponge Bob.) My appointment TV is lessening. And the shows that I still need/want to watch, I watch less carefully. I can remember when Auntie G first had O. She had tons and tons of appointment shows. But suddenly she stopped watching, even the ones she was most addicted to. I didn't understand why she didn't just tape them and watch after O went to bed. Now it makes sense. There just isn't time. And it just doesn't matter as much. I've already dropped Desperate Housewives from my rotation. It's on at 8 o'clock. That's when I'm either getting Kirk ready for bed or putting him down. And even though I'm still completely hung up on Lost, also on at 8, I find that the TWoP recaps are good enough to fill me in on the details I've missed. We'll see if the trend continues this January when 24 and all the Skiffy shows restart....

Hair Police

The shedding is in full swing. I think it started about 2 weeks ago. It wasn't entirely sudden, but it wasn't gradual either. It's certainly not at Chernobyl levels or anything, but it is alarming how much hair is in the drain after a shower. I'm cleaning off my brush head twice a week. It's a good thing I was warned about the post-partum hair loss, that's for sure. And it started at about 4 months, just like thinga told me. I wonder how long it lasts?

I was a shedder before I got pregnant, and I continued to shed a bit during the pregnancy. But this has gotten ridiculous. I find my hair on everything. The other day Mr. b called out from changing Kirk's pants to say that there was a hair on his butt!

I think I need to chop off my hair. It is continuing to grow at an extremely fast pace and is so long it almost covers my nipples. I like having short hair during the winter because then it doesn't get caught up in my collar and hat. (Conversely, I like long hair in the summer because then I can put it up and keep it off my neck.) Kirk is so good at grabbing now that I'm constantly having to pry great handfuls of my hair out of his hands. It really starts to hurt if he's pulling too hard!

Beautiful Dreamer

Last night as I was getting ready to go to Mr. b's gig, Kirk woke up shrieking. It was the strangest thing. He had only gone down about a half hour before and suddenly he sounded like he was in pain or terror or something. Like he had a nightmare. My brother and sister-in-law were over to stay with him while we were out and so they fetched me stuff--bottle, pacifier--as I calmed him down. My SIL thought that maybe it was just a dream period. That he's now old enough to notice that he's having a dream in the first place. I buy that. Dreams are trippy. That'll freak your shit out if you don't know what's going on.

Incidentally, my SIL is now more pregnant than I was when I had Kirk. That kind of freaks my shit out.

I sometimes feel bad that Kirk has to sleep by himself. That he doesn't have anyone to cuddle with or keep him warm. I've shared a bed with Mr. b for over 12 years. It always seems lonely to me when I'm sleeping by myself. And yet, we're no longer of a culture where siblings share even a room, much less a bed. So he'll go on sleeping all by himself until he grows up and meets his mate.

Dinner and a show

Kirk gets really super fussy when he's eating cereal. I'm not sure if it's because it's new. Or because we tipped his highchair to a slightly more upright, and less low-rider, angle. Or because he doesn't like the taste of rice cereal. Or the texture. Or it's so much harder than bottle. Or whatever. But he gets all bent. Yet if you distract him while he's eating, then he's fine. So feeding him has turned into a two person activity. One of us spoons in the chow and the other shakes a rattle off to the side and sings and just generally makes a lot of noise. Kirk will then eat really well!

We were joking the other day that he's a vegetarian. Because he's only had milk, formula, rice cereal, and apple juice in his life. Could he be considered a vegan? I know milk's a dairy product and all but it comes from a willing supplier. I always thought that vegans were all about "slavery of animals" and that kind of crap. Eh. Whatever. Mr. b will have Kirk eating ham paste before the year is out.

I've started prepping our own meals the night before. Like last night we had the lasagna that I had built on Wednesday night. There's just not enough time to cook when I first get home!

Dairy Queen

Doc wasn't kidding when she said the normal birth control pills would dry my milk right up. I was down to nursing Kirk only once a day by this week. On Tuesday, I didn't nurse him at all. It felt very weird to have him at the boob again last night. Like it had been an exceedingly long time. I'm skipping today again and we'll do boob tomorrow. I can't imagine that there'll be much of anything being produced for much longer.

The thing is, there's not even really much time for nursing. I only have a few short hours to spend with my baby when I get home from work. And frankly, I'd rather play with him than just sit, reading a magazine or watching reruns of Stargate, while he toys with nursing. Besides, feeding Kirk rice cereal takes a while, too. So really, I'm just swapping out one lengthy feeding option for a new one.

Shots!

Kirk got his 4-month shots on Friday. He screamed louder and cried longer than last time. He was totally bitchy all weekend long. He did the same sleep-constantly-and-eat-tons that he did last time. Which means that while we could have relaxed, productive days because he's sleeping and not demanding to be played with, we had to get up several times at night. Even this week so far, despite his improved disposition, he's still getting up twice a night. Which sucks.

Kirk is now 24 inches long, an even two feet. He weighs 15# 7.5 oz. Mr. b was hoping he'd hit 17 pounds because that's how much he weighed at his 4-month appointment. Doc swore that Kirk will stop hating Tummy Time as much from now on and doesn't think he's teething yet, though my sister is still convinced that he is. Doc also discovered a mysterious burn/scratch/owie mark on my poor baby's ankle. For the life of me, I have no idea what caused it. My best guess is that he got a rope burn type thing when he was flailing and must have gotten his leg caught on something? I don't know. It was just horrible for that split second when she was sizing us up to see if we were those seemingly normal people that do horrible things to their kids. I know she didn't really think that, but she had to go there since she's a doctor.

We got the go ahead to start Kirk on rice cereal and also apple juice. He's been doing very good with the whole eating-cereal-from-a-spoon thing, especially considering he's never done it before. In his life. He definitely keeps getting better with each attempt. He's not so sure about apple juice though. Doc said to give him half juice, half water. Kirk makes this hilarious face when he tastes it. Everything about it is wrong to his experience. It's the wrong temperature, it's the wrong consistency, it's the wrong flavor. But he doesn't *hate* it. He's just got to get used to it.

Miscellaneous Ponderings

Today is Kirk's 4 month birthday. Or, as Mr. b puts it, he is now a 4-month-year-old. When do people stop telling their kid's age by weeks and switch over to months only? Kirk is 17 and a half weeks old. I kept track this long because I read somewhere that the main SIDS window is 4-16 weeks. I am glad to be out of it finally and safely. It was hard to suppress the paranoia since Kirk had troubles with breathing which started his long stay at the hospital when he was born. I also had read that the current SIDS theory was something to do with lack of development. So as long as he was constantly adding to his bag of tricks, I felt better. But realistically, I will be worrying about my son's safety and well-being for the rest of my life. I just need to avoid giving myself a heart attack from it, unlike my dad's mom.

Kirk does a great job with grabbing stuff. He does it purposely and with each hand. He can grasp more than just soft things like fabric and hair and has moved on to the plastic rings on his favorite toy. I feel like he is somewhat favoring his left hand. When can you tell a child's handedness? Mr. b is left handed. I am both handed. (No really. I switch hands when I put on eye make-up and stuff like that.) All the men in Mr. b's family are lefties. My uncle is. I have a vague memory of my baby brother favoring his left but not so much that he's not "right handed" now after school and whatnot. Is handedness genetic?

Kirk has been putting more and more stuff directly towards his mouth. I know that a baby's tongue is his tricorder. But he seems to be trying to chew and not just explore. He still doesn't suck his thumb or finger; he is turning out to be a knuckle sucker. My sister says that she thinks he's got teeth forming. His gums do seem to have a slight shape in the front. I hope teething isn't too bad.

We think Kirk is ready for his first go at solid foods. Or rather, baby rice cereal mush. Funny that that counts as "solid". We've been waiting to double check with Doc at his 4-month appointment on Friday. Kirk sometimes just seems like he's not interested in bottle, even though he's clearly hungry. He sort of gnaws on the nipple. But maybe that's just the tooth thing? It'll be interesting to find out just how much nastier his poops are when he's not just ingesting liquids. People keep warning us about that. Good thing he only poops every couple of days.

Trick or Treat

It makes sense that a pirate and a witch would spawn a Sith lord.

Kirk wore his dinosaur costume the day before Halloween.

We had so many hand-me-downs to bring home from Texas that they had to give us another piece of luggage to check! This mirror has really helped make Tummy Time be slightly more tolerable.

Besides his black cat pajamas and My First Halloween shirt, Kirk was also wearing his Little Devil outfit all throughout October.

It's the tail that makes it.