Scratches and other Observations.

I’ve decided to make my face a virtual playground for David as he learns more about touching things and exploring them. It’s fun as heck to have a baby running all over you, be it when they’re agitated or when they’re calm (except when I’m working, I prefer the cuddly feeling any time!). But now I am sporting at least 7 tiny scratches all over the place, which I guess is what I asked for. I guess I’ll be cutting someone’s nails soon, perhaps on a daily basis.

We lowered the crib 2 notches the other night. At the top level, if he stood up, he’d topple over. Now, if he stands up, his head is the only thing that peeps out. My mother says that I now have to teach him to reach out to me, but how does one do that? He doesn’t get it. I’ve been trying to do it every so often to no avail. I’d also love to teach him how to hold a bottle. He knows what it is (he gets super excited when it’s in his line of sight), but he doesn’t quite grab it. The things he is holding, he doesn’t grasp onto for long. It’s still rather cute to see what he does decide to play with though.

David is not crawling yet, but he certainly is getting around! He’s a little inchworm. I put him down centered on his play mat, and the next thing I know, he’s on our wooden floor angling toward my shoes which are at least 3-4 feet away. We also are cleaning the office yet again, so there’s a pile of magazines by the play mat. Let’s just say that he loves the noise of crinkling magazines. He also is an artist. He spits up on the floor and then opts to paint in it. I have now elected to roll up his sleeves despite the fact that this is the season when the opposite usually occurs.

I ran out of domperidone two weeks ago, and while I was told that affected women’s breast milk would normally plateau after taking the pills for so long, I wasn’t as fortunate. I had been pumping 13-16 oz per day and immediately saw myself making much less, down to my 3-4 oz per day before I took the pills. I ordered another pack of 600 from the New Zealand pharmacy and I’m working my way back up. I’m up to 8 oz per day again. I don’t understand if my body just isn’t rigged to produce prolactin normally or if this is because I’m not breastfeeding like most mothers or what, but I’m assuming the former just because I always have strange luck like that. How many mothers work 12 hour days and still address just about every single need their infant child has? I have to say, I worked 11 hours today and feel massively productive, albeit with some open ended projects that need to be resolved tomorrow.

I don’t think David is musically inclined. He calms down to it, but he doesn’t react to it. I have done a few “music parties” with him, inspired by my sisters who visited, turned on the TV to the music channel, and had a “baby dance party” with him. I turn on Spotify, let the music start playing, and dance along with him to the music, holding him in my arms. I think, if anything at all, he thinks I’m a crazy woman. 🙂 But I absolutely adore it, since it’s so funny to see how little babies (at least this one) respond to music (they don’t!) My favorite song for him is Hypnotic Tango. We have lots of fun together with that one.

But as I’m musically inclined (I used to sing in choirs and a cappella), I’m sure as heck hoping he starts trying to sing when he’s old enough or at least bounces up and down to music! I guess we’ll wait and see. Though maybe I should avoid the song and focus on the classical music, since he’s the right age for this.

Parents: when did your kids start responding to music?