Too good to be true :)

That is what I felt about the 1 feed night the previous day. The boy was back to his normal last night. The first time he woke up, took about an hour to rock him to sleep. There were 2 feed sessions after that.

On the brighter note his vocabulary has improved - "tta" is the most frequently used word, followed by 4 to 5 cryptic words that end with "va". He longer needs to be lying on a pillow in the wife's lap when he is fed. He has become big for it!

1 feed night!

Last night for the first time (since he was born), the boy woke up only once for a feed (that lasted only 5 minutes) and slept till morning. The wife was worried and woke up once in a while in the night to check on him :)

 

I was under the impression that he will be wide awake in the morning. Once the wife left for work, the boy slept! After he woke up, A the Nanny fed him but he refused to eat the meal of oats. A walk in the stroller, back and he ate the remainder of the oats and slept again after that!

 

On a different note, I have been cutting down accessing internet (FB, Whatsapp et al) from my smartphone - only once in the morning and once in the evening - and guess what? A single charge is running for the 3rd day now. I always wonder if this influx of smartphones can be a factor for the power shortage in our country . Our old Nokia phones could go for 3 days on a single charge and now? These smartphones require charging everyday (atleast the heavy users have to).  Take an example of Samsung - 86 million smartphones sold in the last quarter, iPhone sold 51 million. Huawei sold 16.6 million smartphones and Lenovo sold 13.6 million. For the entire 2013, global smartphone shipments reached a record 990 million.

 

990 million smartphones being charged every 2 days? Mind boggling!

A dinner outing

So last evening we decided to head out for dinner. I went in to enquire if a table was available and once confirmed, told the wife, who went in, while I parked the car. The boy flashed his widest smile at the lady in the reception and when her friend fussed over him, he flashed even a wider smile!

At home, he does not enjoy sitting for a long time but here, he sat quietly in a high chair (his first one by the way). No fuss! We enjoyed our dinner, the boy was thrilled with the people, lights and slept on the way home. Got home, took him out of his car seat, moved him to the bed and waaaaaaaah!

Needless to say, we had a tough time after that - as in the past few days, after each of his feed session during the night, he threw up a big fuss before falling asleep.

On Saturday, I had the good fortune of attending a gardening workshop on a novel way of gardening - Square Foot Gardening - organized by the Square Foot Farmers at The Daily Dump. I was surprised when Vishwas, one of the organizers and a terrific guy, narrated his talk with a boy studying in 8th Std. Vishwas asked him where the vegetables at his came from and pat came the reply, "Supermarket"! Neither from a farmer not from earth. It is amazing how ignorant some of the children of today are. It is time workshops like these are introduced in schools. Unlike adults, these children do not come with a corporate baggage in their heads.

Sleepless nights are back...for now

The boy usually wakes up in the middle of the night (2-3 times), has his milk and goes back to sleep quietly. The last 2 nights - he just did not go back to sleep. He has been very cranky and I walked around rocking him. Put him back on the bed, he cries, wakes up again and the cycle continues. Needless to say, my morning routine has gone for a toss. The wife, who generally leaves home for work at 815 am has been leaving only after 845 am. I hope it gets back to normal soon!

The boy's first book has been delivered - Bedtime (Touch & feel book).

His first words?

I heard the boy say "Baaaaa" today. Most of us do not consider that as a word but that is the first syllable that he has uttered that comes close to a word :) The wife claims she heard the word "Maaaa". I was not around for that!

Another road trip

Another road trip for the boy over the weekend to Chennai. He sat through the 750 km trip in the car seat without any fuss. After Saturday, the boy saw me only yesterday evening and he was so thrilled to see the me that the wife was annoyed :) He does not react the same way when he sees her after a long time.

He has a distinct lack of interest in babies of his age and likes spending time with boys and girls who can walk, talk and play with him!

Cough cough!

The boy has picked up this fake cough habit to grab attention.  The Ragi concentration has been increased now. 3 scoops to the earlier 2 scoops. We also started him on mashed sweet potatoes which he loves.

Clothes and donation

Some of the boy’s clothes were donated to the children of construction workers at Shishu Griha. I hope they find it useful. There were also requests for cradles. Unfortunately we did not have one. We bought some new clothes for him. Although the boy is only 6 months, he is nearly 10kgs. We bought pyjama sets for 12-18 months old. He should fit into them for a while.

Wailing and sleeping sideways

After I left for work yesterday, the wife took over. He was generally cranky and she was relieved when he slept. She had got into a 5 minute work call and the boy chose this moment to wake up and wail. It was heard by everybody in the call. All were sympathetic and she quickly exited the call. She went to B's place after and he was well behaved and jovial which irritated the wife.

Last night, after one of his feeding sessions, the boy slept on his side for the first time. After some time turned over and slept on his belly. He got up because of that - his face was in the pillow and he could not breathe properly. His diet today was sweet potato, which he finished. Looks like he loves the taste of it. Oh and the meal was not complete without going "prooooh" thrice in the face of A the Nanny!

No nanny day

My plan is to record the memorable moments of the Boy ever since his birth. The catching up posts are taking time.I felt it would be prudent to start posting his current moments.

He has completed 6 months and there are 2 itty bitty tooth jutting out from the below jaw. It does bother him once in a while as he rubs his ears more than ever before (more like a dog scratching his ears). His repertoire of sounds include squeals, high octave drawls and babbling. He has also become a bit guarded and does not smile at each and everybody.

Yesterday we went for our first brunch with him – just the 3 of us unlike earlier where there were friends who entertained him. The chef and some of the waiters carried the Boy and he enjoyed it. It also gave us time to finish a course and also talk. A good relaxed two and a half hours meal. They were gracious enough to give us the entire banquet room when the Boy had to be fed. Full marks to Taj Vivanta.

A the Nanny did not turn up today and it was left to me to feed him. 2 scoops of Enfamil A+ Stage 2 (6-12 months):Follow-up Formula with 2 ounces(60 ml) of water (boiled and cooled) was mixed first in his feeding bottle. In the feeding bowl , 2 scoops of Gerber Oatmeal BabyCereal.  Poured the Formula liquid into it slowly and stirred till it became a good proportion. Moved the Boy to the rocker, bib on and started feeding him. It all started well. After a particular spoonful - “proooooh” and whatever was in his mouth came out like an erupting volcano! I was still not sure whether this was a sign to stop and continued feeding him. He finished the whole bowl, drank some of the formula and when he stopped opening his mouth further, I knew it was time to stop.

Now he is sitting in the bean bag looking out of the balcony talking and squealing to himself. And I wait for the time when he snaps out of his feel good time.

Update – There he goes “waaah”. I rock him, check his diaper and he has gone potty. Gotta go.

Rattle

Today the boy held a rattle each in his hand – for the first time and shook both without dropping them!

Shaping up...

The boy’s jaw is shaping up. It was a bubbly mass before with 2 layers of skin! He has become smart. He hates his eyes being wiped clean after he wakes up. The moment I bring the wet cotton ball near his eyes he starts crying, before even touching him. His attention span has increased, sometimes he open his mouth in a O and goes stiff. He loves sitting in the bouncer and when it is the balcony, enjoys it even more, looking outside and staring at the leaves moving in the wind.

Diaper Pants and teeth!

The boy got his Diaper Pants from Pampers. We thought of giving it a shot. Putting them on is a pain. Diapers are better.

The boy seems to be growing teeth! For the past few days he has been very cranky, falls asleep after a lot of crying/rocking, rubs his ears (similar to a dog rubbing his ears) and has an upset stomach once in a while. He is nearing 6 months – checked his mouth and his gums were red and swollen. He had 2 small white dots at the bottom.

The wife starts work

I went to drop the wife at the metro train station in the morning and for the first time I drove with only the boy in the back seat. I got home, gingerly took him out of the car, went up to my apartment, opened and all went well. A the Nanny came in after 9. The boy went potty, changed his diapers and he went to sleep. After 2 hours made Ragi for him and he ate a bowl before starting to spit out. By 12 it was time for Enfamil A+ formula milk. I picked up the wife from the station at 1230, dropped her home and went to work.

The schedule going forward. It also gives me some free time in the morning.

New Year!

First New Year for the boy. He started the day by turning over in his sleep, his face stuck between the pillows and waking up. Today we checked out some slings as he was out outgrowing the current one. We didn’t find anything good. The wife was feeling a bit blue as she had to go back to work the next day after a 6 month break.