New food

Henry's (second) breakfast today, by the way: two tablespoons of plain yogurt, a few drops of maple syrup, and a teaspoon or so of rice cereal, all mixed together. He seemed to like it well enough -- at least, whatever fraction of it actually made it into his mouth.
The other day I did give him some of our soup to try, mixed with yogurt. It was a pureed soup made out of squash, sweet potato, and carrot: perfect Henry food except that it also contained onions, curry, cumin, and lots of ginger. He wasn't horrified, wasn't thrilled. The undiluted version (straight soup, no yogurt) got a frown.

Dancing with Dad

Today we had Henry all dressed up for Halloween in a little cow suit my mom got for him... but he fell asleep (at 7pm) before we could take a picture. But here's Ken dancing with him (and doing some Henry presses) at bedtime last night.


The kid must be going through some kind of rapid-development phase. It seems like every day he gets more coordinated or learns something new. Laughing. Untying his tiny little shoelaces. Taking his pacifier out of his mouth with his hand and putting it back in again. Turning the pages of a book (I really didn't set up that last shot with the curry cookbook -- I was looking at it on the floor next to him and he rolled right over and grabbed it; only then did I run for the camera). He makes new kinds of noises, too: very conversational, and it seems like some kind of spitty "mb" sound might be coming up. All kinds of fun.
He hasn't started sleeping "through the night" (whatever that means) but since he kicked the cold we usually make it from 8:30 at least to 3:30 and sometimes all the way through to 5 or 6. So it's hard to complain.

Milestones in Literacy and Gastronomy

Henry has been showing increased interest in solid food (see entry on rice cereal below). We, for our part, have begun thinking about when we will introduce night-time reading into his routine. Henry combined both issues today by siezing a curry and chilli cookbook and leafing through its pages. We are hoping that this portends a rapid transition to eating solids, precocious literacy, and, hopefully, a son who prepares curries for his parents by the age of three.

Why did the baby cross the road? To lick the chicken.

Henry is taking great delight in the sensory pleasures of the new world. The sights of New England in autumn, the sounds of music in the evening as he is danced to sleep, and the tastes of just about everything he can manage to fit in his mouth. This evening Henry managed to untie his shoe and to remove it. After sampling the flavors offered by his shoe, he moved on to his second article of footwear, experimenting with placement of his sock on different areas of his palate. Judging by his reaction, it is something I should try myself sometime, but somehow I can't bring myself to do it. When did I lose my sense of wonder at the world? my craving for new experience and sensation? I will have to relive this youthful spirit vicariously through my son.  

Grandma Ann Comes to Town

My mother was able to come for a visit this week. Henry stayed home from daycare on Wednesday and Thursday and played with his grandma. Ann survived (enjoyed even!) two days of caring for an infant for the first time in over 30 years and Henry logged record naps and came close to kicking his cold. Unfortunately, commuting in from Wisconsin on a regular basis would not be practical.
 

First video of Henry

Henry Jonah explores his door jumper; Mom explores her new camera.

Mobility

Henry is now able to roll over both from his back to his tummy (this happened about a week ago) and from his tummy to his back. He can do one after the other -- so if you put him down on his suddenly-too-small play mat, you may turn around to check your email and turn back around to find him again on his back, two feet away from where you left him. Mobility, here we come.
He also wants to crawl (but hasn't quite figured out how); he has all the motions he needs (pull up on elbows, bend and straighten knees, push bottom up in the air) but doesn't know how to combine them. It may be a while.
He seems to be figuring out cause and effect. Knows to scream when someone takes one of his milk bottles out of the fridge. Seems to know how to make his toys rattle and jingle, at least sometimes.
On the solid food front, we gave him a little plain yogurt to try at breakfast. He made a really funny sour-food face. Are we supposed to put sugar or jam in it? It seems weird to start giving him sugar, but plain yogurt is definitely an acquired taste, and he hasn't acquired it. It's hard to predict what he may like. Breast milk and formula taste disgusting to us; rice cereal is horribly insipid. But he seems to like them well enough. While I was out of the house for four and a half hours yesterday, he drank almost 21 ounces -- two bottles of breast milk, two of formula!

Rice cereal

Tonight Henry showed some interest in eating "solid" food. Actually it was mainly liquid: four teaspoons of water, one teaspoon of apple juice, and a teaspoon of rice cereal. He sucked it right off the spoon and might have eaten more if I had offered it. He was also really interested in grabbing the spoon and sticking it in his mouth.

At day care

Today Henry's day care emailed us a photo they had taken of him sitting in a chair and playing with some kind of toy console. What a cutie! (Costume credit to Grandma Ann for the itsy bitsy spider bib.)


Henry still doesn't nap much at day care, but I think he really has gotten used to the place. He seems completely at home and aware of his surroundings when I bring him in. Plus, Ms. Dixie and Ms. Melissa, his two teachers, are really fond of him. This morning Melissa was bragging to me how much Henry likes her -- he was very happy to go to her when we arrived, and she showed me how he had immediately grabbed her t-shirt and was holding it in his fist (the way he does to me). Of course I know he's irresistible, but I'm glad that his other caretakers feel the same.

Autumn leaves

A short weekend in Massachusetts let Henry catch his first real glimpse of fall in New England. (Actually, it's getting pretty spectacular in New Haven as well.)


He spent Saturday afternoon enjoying the bright colors and crunchy sounds.


Later that night, many of Henry's maternal relatives got to catch up with him at a raucous Russian-restaurant party for his great-great-aunt's 70th birthday. Happy birthday, Aunt Anyuta! Too bad we didn't get photos or video of that event -- Henry sat patiently at the table with the grownups (only, drinking milk instead of vodka) and later dozed off to the thumping disco beat of the after-dinner entertainment. Then he woke up and danced a little before going back to sleep for the night. Everyone found him very grown up and mature.
By the way, yes, we were kidding about training him to sit up and stuff. But we weren't kidding about our doctor. My theory is that she sets these ridiculous pseudo-milestones on purpose. Maybe she figures the Yale families in her practice enjoy feeling somehow behind, like they have homework to do?

Reading with Dad

Among the things the pediatrician told us last week: we should start looking at little children's books with Henry, "to be sure he develops a healthy love of reading." Ha ha! The big challenge here will be to teach him not to bring the Economist to the dinner table.

 

Bumpy jumpy

We hung a Bumper Jumper in the living room doorway. Hard to believe Henry is old enough, but he certainly likes it. It's funny to see him upright.

At last, he's getting some real use out of those cute little sneakers!

 

On breastfeeding again

I learned from The Onion (our chief news source) of a new study showing that the breast milk he eats doesn't actually make a baby smarter:

Researchers, who analyzed data from more than 5,000 children and 3,000
mothers in the United States, found that mothers who breast-feed tend to be more
intelligent, according to a study published Wednesday on the journal's Web
site.
"When this fact was taken into account, most of the relationship between breast-feeding and the child's intelligence disappeared," said Jeff Dar, one of the report's authors.

So if I feed Henry formula, will that make me stupider?
The whole debate is somewhat surreal. Our formula cannister (we use it because Henry drinks 16-20 ounces during a day of day care, and I can only pump 10-12 ounces in that time) actually carries a warning that begins: "Breast milk is best for babies." Absurd. Like imagine if your Doritos bag carried a warning that said: "Actually, a nice organic spinach salad would be much better for you."
Oh wait, spinach is supposed to be dangerous now.
What next?

Flight

One of Henry's pleasures in life is "flying." Flight poses some risks for ground control, which is situated in the flight path of anything that should be emitted from his mouth -- harmless drool in this case.

Sitting Practice

At Henry's four-month check-up, the doctor presented us with a new list of milestones he has not yet attained, among them serious efforts to sit up. We sit with Henry sitting in our laps, place him in his chair and in the Bumbo, but we have never seen him struggling to sit upright of his own accord. So today we began the training process. He seems to enjoy it well enough. We also fed him a small quantity of mashed pear (he was nonplussed). If anyone knows what the list will be at his six month appointment, please let us know so that we can work ahead.  

Lasic Surgery Anyone?

The day I had long been dreading has arrived. Until now, Henry has mainly limited grabbing activities to approved objects: the animals on the activity bar of his chair, the toys on the bars of his activity gym, Henry cloths, vibrating dragon. Today he seized my glasses, leaving me briefly blind and my glasses smudged and drool-covered. This phase could go on til he has a sibling to take over for him. This could usher in a years-long phase in which I am faced with bouts of blurred vision and finger-smeared blind spots.


 

Four months old

Henry saw the doctor today. At four months and one day old, he measures 25 inches long (50th percentile) and weighs 13 pounds 3 ounces (30th percentile). His head circumference is 30th percentile as well. She gave him permission to eat as much as he wants and to start solid foods anytime he feels like it. Hmmm... maybe the next time we make squash or sweet potatoes for supper?

More from Rosh Hashana

Lifted from Liel's personal web site...
It's funny how interested they were in each other. I've never seen Henry interacting with any of the babies at his day care (but they are far less cute).

Uncle Aaron

Henry's Uncle Aaron stopped by for a quick visit -- probably the first time he's seen New Haven since he was in middle school. Aaron says he's amazed what warm smiles he gets from everyone ("even from guys!") when he's pushing the stroller around.

But I don't know why this would be surprising...

Family photos?

The day care wants us to bring in family photos to put on their bulletin board. I think all the other families have done it already -- we're the slackers. Today we were trying to shoot some to print out for them.



Oh well. We have some time. Henry gets it about mirrors, but I'm not sure he really cares about photos yet.

Jungle boogie

He has also learned to simultaneously kick the elephant, pull on the giraffe, and nibble the foot of the monkey on his little activity gym. The involvement of his feet is new. He's getting more coordinated, and of course like all babies he's unbelievably flexible -- nose to toes is no problem. I've never seen it, but his teacher at day care claims he nibbles on the leather toes of his little sneakers... 

Old MacDonald...

Henry has learned to pull the handle on the cow (barely recognizable as a cow) that comes with his baby chair, causing it to play a version (barely recognizable as a version) of Old MacDonald Had a Farm. He can do it over and over. Oh boy. Here we go.