Shifting and changing
Every now and then during the past weeks, I've heard "Oh, he's a very slender child, isn't he?" - concerning Felix, that is. To the point that I was ready to go into panic mode - Aaah, is something wrong with my baby? Is he not growing properly? Is he secretly starving? Are my lactation skillz defective? - despite reassurances that as long as a baby was cheerful and attentive and pooping regularly, everything's all right, and anyway, with breastfeeding the amount of milk regulates itself according to the baby's needs as long as you feed according to demand, not plan. I'm insecure at heart and scared of doing something wrong! And the people clearly didn't mean "slender" in a positive way, but in a "meagre, eh?" way. (The way it should be used for people like Keira Knightley or, heaven help us, Madonna, but I digress.) And held up their own chubby babies for comparison.
Then a few days ago our uphill neighbour dropped by while I was in the garden with Felix to see "the bonny wee lad"*. His comment: "My, he's a stout little fellow!*".
That naturally made me feel better - until I remembered the context:The old gentleman has recently become a great-grandfather; his granddaughter's twin children were born a day after Felix. By Cesarian operation, two months premature because one of them was growing at the cost of the other. At birth, they weighed 1000 and 1500 g respectively. So even now, Enya and Mirya² are probably smaller than Felix was at birth...
Perspective, perspective.
Felix, at any rate, is growing nicely, in strength, length and mind if not in girth. We've had to say good-bye to the first batch of baby clothing, including the sleeping bag we got as a farewell gift from the hospital.
Last weekend we've had lots of visitors (including fuchs, eliathanis and kaneda, and a day later my aunt Karin and three of her boys) who wanted to see Felix, and he was peevish, whiny and perpetually clinging to me (or, at any rate, my breasts) and Jörg. fuchs got to hold him for perhaps ten minutes before Felix started the alarm; the boys had no chance at all, and even my father (who usually seems to amuse Felix well) was cried at. - Come Tuesday, Felix had changed again: now he was babbling cheerfully, studying the movement of his feet and hands, and practicing coordination and different vocal modes - and grinning a lot, seemingly proud of his achievements. When my parents dropped by again on Wednesday, they were delighted by cheerful!talkative!Felix - they had apparently felt a little guilty after Sunday's performance.
So now he not only uses his own pre-language (örröh, gah or n-gah, chhh, grrrr, ah or uh, and sometimes longer compound "words") but also experiments with stressing things differently, shouting or whispering. My little linguist! ♥ Sometimes he also gesticulates wildly. Today he actually appeared to be trying sign language: when I was looking at him, he opened his mouth and wiggled his tongue as if to say "Feed me!" Which I then did, to his apparent satisfaction. Yesterday he also tried to reach his foot with his hands. It did not work out yet (whenever he makes a hearty grab with his hands, he also stretches his legs...), but I'm sure he'll persevere until he succeeds, as babies are wont to do. - Watching his efforts makes you realise what complex motion sequences even the clumsiest among us are capable of, such as opening a bottle or using a knife and fork...
He is also making motivated attempts at crawling, but it only works when he has something to push away from - he hasn't yet found out how to properly put his feet. When someone is holding his balance, he also likes pushing up from sitting to a standing position - which looks absurdly adorable as he's so tiny!
One thing hasn't changed; while he is now managing to fall asleep ok at night (at least something), in the daytime he only falls asleep while being carried around or at least held. No matter how exhausted he is. So much for my hopes that I'd manage to do some garden work or the like... and he's so cuddly and so warm that you can't well resist him!
Because he's pretty heavy now (albeit "slender" :P) and I don't always have the wrap at the ready, my back is aching quite a bit now. >_> Also, for some reason, after nursing has gone well for weeks now, last night I suddenly developed galactostasia³ again. OW. WTF. I mean, I could see why if Felix suddenly started sleeping all night, but he's still waking at least twice per night because he's hungry. So, WTF?
In not quite baby-related news, I kind of got a job! It's freelancing work (which suits me well) and not particularly well-paid, but ok-ish. And it was actually offered to me rather than requiring painful and lengthy application processes. Currently I get to describe lecturers from various fields to (as yet imaginary) business managers who'll want to hire them in order to learn, or have their employees learn, things that are painfully obvious to the humanists among us. Seems to be quite the market. Some of the lecturers actually treat reasonably interesting topics while others are (as far as I am concerned) batshit insane, overrated or both, but what can you do. I'm young and need the money. And the XP...
The downside is that now computer time is decidedly work time, and my LJ and unfinished fanfics have less chance than ever to get my attention. I won't even bother to think about NaNo - I have lots of ideas and I'd like to see where some of them lead, but definitely not the time. And let's not talk about MEFA reviews... >_>
So things are staying exciting.
- - -
* Reasonably idiomatic translations.
²I am not making this up. - Yesterday I met a little girl (of about four years) named Arwen. Her one-year-old sister is named Enya, too. And you gals thought you needed to caution me?
³What a fantastic term. The German vernacular uses, as is the norm with illnesses, a purely Germanic term, Milchstau, which is exactly what it says on the package. Of course galactostasia means the exact same thing in Greek, but it sounds a lot... spacier. "Caution: After an accident near Alpha Centauri junction, there's a 20-lightminute galactostasia on the G147. Drivers familiar with the vicinity are encouraged to give it a wide berth."