Discoveries Galore

We've had a busy couple of weeks. Melissa has started back to work, so the workload has picked up a bit at home. Luke is getting his daycare from Melissa's cousin Debbie. We were worried that Debbie's own young children would have jealousy issues with Luke, but they really seem to like him.

Melissa hasn't been overly thrilled to be back at work. She misses Luke a lot. Fortunately, her days are busy enough that she's back with him before she knows it. Unfortunately, evenings and weekends seem short, too. Luke goes to bed early at around 8:00 at night, so a late evening at work means you don't really get to see much of him.

Work has taken a toll on her nursing ability. Pumping milk and feeding Luke takes a ridiculous amount of time (Luke thinks nursing is a seven-course meal and likes to feed in no less than sixty minutes). Since she has to do this in the morning, she's sacrificing almost ninety minutes of early morning sleep to get Luke ready. I don't know how many of you are morning people, but I'd personally give up a pinky toe rather than get up that much earlier.

We're starting Luke on formula. We're going to attempt to use formula during the day, and breast milk at night. This should save Melissa a lot of time, which she really needs more of. I'll keep you updated.

Luke has finally realized that humans are interesting. He will now make an effort to look at the people around him. He especially responds to the voices of his parents. He really seems to like us, as he smiles every few seconds at us regardless of what we're doing. It surprises me sometimes. I'll be doing something routine like brushing my teeth, I glance over at him and he thinks it's hilarious. Then I'll dance like a monkey and he looks at me like I'm insane.

Luke even liked his reflection in the mirror, which is quite funny. Remember how cool you thought mirrors were when you were a kid? I remember many times wondering if it were some kind of alternate universe. You didn't think that? Oh, I was just kidding, I never thought that...

He is starting to become attentive to changes in his surroundings. When we go for walks he becomes quiet and observes. He seemed very curious at all the singing going on at church. He glanced at Melissa and I occasionally to make sure things were okay, then continued watching.

He's also learning how to play. The other day I put Luke's hand on a toy while he watched. He learned, and now will try to play on his own. Melissa has trained him with other toys. He is now very self-entertaining. He has a short attention span, though, and he will let us know when he's bored or frustrated with a certain toy.

Unfortunately, he's also learning how to use his voice. One time last week, I was about fifteen minutes slow on getting his bottle ready. My ears are still ringing from the encounter. I almost couldn't believe a person that small could be so loud. I was scared at times that there was something really wrong with him, but he was instantly satiated once he was feeding.

About that car seat...

The proper age and size to turn a car seat around is 20 lbs and a year old, so I guess there will be no seat flipping anytime soon, sorry about that.

That means our car midget, Ralph, who is 19 lbs, will never get his seat turned around. Although, he does prefer the backwards Racer at Kings Island...

I've Got Hand, First Shots, and Memory

Luke has been growing in leaps and bounds, both physically and intellectually. He's almost 24 inches tall now, so he's about to reach Melissa's height chart (which she placed 12 inches from the ground...) I don't remember his exact weight, I think it's about 14 lbs. We're almost to the point where we can turn his car seat around. I tell you one thing, carrying the car seat with him in it is a laborious task, and I'm not THAT scrawny.

Luke has definitely taken an interest in his hands. We should have named him "Harry", but after Houdini, not Potter. The swaddle blankets we put him in are basically straightjackets, but somehow he still ends up with his hands in his mouth. I've tried to watch this process before, but he refuses to reveal his secret.

Anyway, once he gets his hands out, he will actually hold them up in front of his face and just stare at them in wonder. He also will try to eat them to the point of gagging himself. We've been giving him toys and fingers to stimulate his hands, and he seems to like it. He particularly enjoys a blue monkey that Melissa gave him. Fortunately, it's a nice, quiet toy, unlike a certain alphabet singing frog, who's repetitive song has been permanently burned into my brain and laughter will haunt my dreams for the rest of my life.

Luke's first shots were last week. A lot of people have told me how horrifying this is for a parent. I can definitely understand that, but honestly it wasn't too bad for me. I think it helped that our nurse had all three injections completed within 5 seconds.

Luke's reaction to the shots was as expected. When he is in pain, he definitely gets the pain grimace, but he forgets to breathe, so he's just sitting there with this horrified expression on his face for what seems like an eternity. When he finally takes a breath, the screaming begins.

He definitely wanted to nurse on mommy directly afterwards, and he took a long time to calm down. He was pretty restless that night, but not too terrible. He seemed to recover within 24 hours.

Okay, so as I was playing with Luke the other day, and I think he may have associated a noise with me. I was making "pbbbb" noises while sticking my tongue out. He started making the exact same noise! Granted, his noise wasn't quite the same, but he had the right idea. Then, the next day, he did it again, but this time, he did it without provocation, almost like he had remembered and associated that noise with me. I was dumbfounded, but managed to not fall immediately into the fetal position. Anyway, I'm working on "dada".