Manneken Pis

Henry continues to grow like a weed. Well, I should say, gain weight. He is still rather short, and he's turning into quite the little chub. He weighed 11lbs 13ozs when we weighed him this morning.

We took him to Dr. Bianchi's office, our primary pediatrician, this afternoon and had some fun with bodily functions. He first weighed in at 12lbs 2ozs. When they weigh him, they do it without the diaper. This is rather dangerous. Last time we were there, Henry peed on the nurse Sean. This time was no different. It was a rather large output.

Dr. Bianchi was rather surprised at his weight gain and re-calibrated the scale and had him weighed again. This time he weighed 12lbs 0ozs, probably due to the prodigious pee from earlier. For good measure, he peed on Sean again the second time. Kate says we have to get her something for Christmas.

This little escapade made me think of our trip to Belgium where they have a statue called Manneken Pis, a little boy peeing. I thought it was funny when Henry had his little indiscretions, but I can't imagine immortilizing it with a statue.

In addition to the superb kidney function, Dr. Bianchi thought Henry was doing very well. His weight gain is excellent. His length is increasing even though it isn't keeping up with his weight. The tightness in his neck was much better. He even thought we probably wouldn't need to do the exercises to stretch the neck anymore. He wants Henry to have a flu shot but the only kind he has includes Thimerisol which includes mercury and has been blamed for causing autism. He doesn't seem willing to go out of his way to secure a flu shot that doesn't include Thimerisol. He recommended we see if the pulminologist who is going to do the Synagis shot would be able to secure one for him. I'm rather shocked that any pediatrician would give shots with Thimerisol to children. Dr. Bianchi was quick to point out that the vaccines have had Thimerisol removed from them because of parental concerns, yet he would turn around and inject him with it via the flu vaccine without a second thought.

Yesterday Grandma came in the morning, and Grandpa came in the afternoon. Henry weighed 11lbs 11.5ozs. Kate was at work so it was just Henry and me in the evening for a little while. I think of it as boys night. Me, Henry, Monday night football. Of course the football game stunk as the Steelers routed the Ravens. Henry and I decided to snooze in the chair until Kate came home.

Kate took the first shift with Henry from 11pm to 3am, because I was feeling pretty exhausted. I believe they snoozed on the couch for much of the time. After I took over, I fed him and then fell asleep in the chair in the living room. By 5am I decided I needed to put Henry in his crib. You would think the crib was electrified. As soon as his back touched the mattress, his eyes flew open, and he went from being asleep to being wired. He wasn't screaming for food, so I let him play around a while in the crib hoping he would wear down and sleep. No such luck, he just played around flailing his arms and kicking his legs and being rather content in doing so.

By the time he started crying for milk, it was 6:30. I fed him two bottles and then took him for his morning walk, letting Kate get a few extra Z's. Kate took care of him until Grandma showed up around 10:30. She watched him until we had the Dr. Bianchi appointment. Currently, Grandpa is taking care of Henry, and they are watching Dancing With the Stars.