A Couple of Firsts

This week marked a few milestones in our 14-week-old son. This past Saturday he spent the night with his aunt, uncle and cousins as his parents took a short road trip north to get away for some "alone time." Admittedly we spent most of our time talking about the boy and/or getting updates about his status. Not sure which of the three of us fared the best: we missed him, couldn't get any spa treatments and drank too much wine, while he had a big poop and slept pretty well for being away from us for so long. At the end of it he seemed pretty upset and wanted mommy, and she/we really wanted to see him. We spent our first Mother's Day together and vowed not to do that to him again (until the next time, of course).

He got back into our care with another first: his first cold. He could have gotten it anywhere, be it the day care, from either of his parents or at his family's. In any case he got it and is still getting over it. My wife is doing a lot of siphoning to get out the nastiness from his nose, much to the boy's chagrin. He has a cough and sneezes often, but apparently does not have strep throat or anything worse than his first common cold. Surprisingly the day care will take him with a cold (but not high fever), though we did keep him out yesterday.

Keeping him home on a day care day led to another first: Daddy's first real alone time with the boy. For an hour and a half the other weekend I watched him and for an hour of it (or so it seemed) he screamed and cried as loud as he could. He was probably overtired, but I could not soothe him until I started carrying him around in the football hold. He actually fell asleep on my arm, finally, and I was able to put him down until mommy came home to save the day. With this experience in mind I dreaded being alone with him, and this time it would be for at least 4-5 hours.

Not to toot my own horn but I think I did everything right, and the boy responded really well! I fed him ahead of him getting really upset and hungry and put him down for naps when I saw the sleepy cues. He played in his new (used) Exersaucer, had some good tummy time, and we even went out for a walk together. He only cried a little but I managed to figure out he was still hungry and not yet ready to sleep. Even his bit of fussiness before his first nap was easily quelled by some rocking and singing in his ear. It was like night and day, my tow alone experiences. I had nothing but good things to report when mommy got home. Sadly all this didn't help him sleep last night -- he was up at least four times after we put him to bed. It could be the sickness, but the night prior wasn't as bad.

Other recent milestones include the boy being able to reach out for things and grab them, like his toys and his mommy's dinner plate. His cooing vocabulary is getting more extensive and his "talking" bouts more lengthy. He can grab his feet with both hands, and I think this morning he was grabbing his right foot with his left hand. And he's also getting stronger lifting his head during tummy time. I know, not surprising to veteran parents, but this is all new/exciting to me!