Chase
I've been meaning to write something about the experience of being a parent, but it's been a little hard to find the time. Not necessarily because the baby has been keeping me too busy to write, but that between the holidays, work, company, and general family life I've spent most of my 'spare' time playing Skyrim or LOTRO.
Chase is five and a half months now, which means he is starting to hit a lot of big milestones. For most of the past few months his needs have been very simple: change his diaper, keep him clean and warm, let Dr. B feed him, and let him spend a lot of time sleeping on the blobs*. He has generally been a great baby who sleeps through the night, and his entertainment needs had mostly been satisfied with sucking on parent's knuckles, his own fingers, or a stuffed pony. He's had a few rough nights, but mostly it as due to being a little sickly or his early teething pains.
Things are starting to get more "interesting" (in the Chinese sense I suppose). He's much more interested in spending time sitting up on the floor--he's actually doing really well, but he does have a tendency to topple when he launches himself headfirst at an object of interest just a little ways away. He's started to become keenly interested in any object we have in our hands, particularly cups, food, and the remote. He's a bit too interested in seeing whatever is on the TV, so we've had to limit our own TV viewing.
Speaking of food, Chase has just started on the wild and wooly road of eating foods. The recommendation was to wait until he showed any interested in eating solid food, and about a week before the Winter Break he started being interested. He demonstrated this 'interest' by using his rather strong grip to yank several food items hard to his mouth including some honeydew melon and a cup of water on a flight, and then getting really pissed if we didn't let him have them. They call them "solids" but really they are "mushies". His first love is sweet potatoes. He scarfs them down. He's not sure what to think of most anything else--he seems to wonder why we are giving him anything but sweet potatoes--but so far he's tried carrots, guacamole, and a little bit of chicken. We got a nice high-chair set up for him, and he's able to sit up pretty well in it.
Alas, this also means the diapering is going to be a little less pleasant. The cotton diapers have been working really well, and the addition of some liners is hopefully going to keep it working for a while longer.
His play is getting a little more sophisticated. For Christmas he got a collection of toys, and he's doing pretty well with them considering his limited mobility. He's not quite crawling, but he has 'rolling' down and it will no doubt be far too soon that he'll be mobile. When that happens, keeping an eye on his will require 100% attention instead of say 50%.
After some trouble with him taking a bottle for a month or so, I've been able to keep him on my own enough for Dr. B to do head out for a few hours on her own. I've been working from home a day or so a week to watch him while she's at class as well. It's been fun, although he's been having a slightly harder time settling down for the night at a 'reasonable' time. We have to get a little more consistent about his 'bedtime' if we want to be able to get him down easier, but it was hard to do with all the traveling.
At least we are still managing to get a good 8+ hours sleep...
* = Back when Chase was a newborn, Rhys kept saying how he could only see the rest of us as 'blobs'. The name has stuck.
Chase is five and a half months now, which means he is starting to hit a lot of big milestones. For most of the past few months his needs have been very simple: change his diaper, keep him clean and warm, let Dr. B feed him, and let him spend a lot of time sleeping on the blobs*. He has generally been a great baby who sleeps through the night, and his entertainment needs had mostly been satisfied with sucking on parent's knuckles, his own fingers, or a stuffed pony. He's had a few rough nights, but mostly it as due to being a little sickly or his early teething pains.
Things are starting to get more "interesting" (in the Chinese sense I suppose). He's much more interested in spending time sitting up on the floor--he's actually doing really well, but he does have a tendency to topple when he launches himself headfirst at an object of interest just a little ways away. He's started to become keenly interested in any object we have in our hands, particularly cups, food, and the remote. He's a bit too interested in seeing whatever is on the TV, so we've had to limit our own TV viewing.
Speaking of food, Chase has just started on the wild and wooly road of eating foods. The recommendation was to wait until he showed any interested in eating solid food, and about a week before the Winter Break he started being interested. He demonstrated this 'interest' by using his rather strong grip to yank several food items hard to his mouth including some honeydew melon and a cup of water on a flight, and then getting really pissed if we didn't let him have them. They call them "solids" but really they are "mushies". His first love is sweet potatoes. He scarfs them down. He's not sure what to think of most anything else--he seems to wonder why we are giving him anything but sweet potatoes--but so far he's tried carrots, guacamole, and a little bit of chicken. We got a nice high-chair set up for him, and he's able to sit up pretty well in it.
Alas, this also means the diapering is going to be a little less pleasant. The cotton diapers have been working really well, and the addition of some liners is hopefully going to keep it working for a while longer.
His play is getting a little more sophisticated. For Christmas he got a collection of toys, and he's doing pretty well with them considering his limited mobility. He's not quite crawling, but he has 'rolling' down and it will no doubt be far too soon that he'll be mobile. When that happens, keeping an eye on his will require 100% attention instead of say 50%.
After some trouble with him taking a bottle for a month or so, I've been able to keep him on my own enough for Dr. B to do head out for a few hours on her own. I've been working from home a day or so a week to watch him while she's at class as well. It's been fun, although he's been having a slightly harder time settling down for the night at a 'reasonable' time. We have to get a little more consistent about his 'bedtime' if we want to be able to get him down easier, but it was hard to do with all the traveling.
At least we are still managing to get a good 8+ hours sleep...
* = Back when Chase was a newborn, Rhys kept saying how he could only see the rest of us as 'blobs'. The name has stuck.