The Art of Manipulation

On Friday at dusk, we went for a walk, even though it was rather cold. Henry had been passed out in his bassinet, but we got him up, because he hasn't been getting out of the house as much lately (with the mornings being way too cold to take him for walks), and we want him to be able to observe an environment other than our living room. He woke up once he was outside. We ran into Swanee (and her dogs Annie and Luke) and Evonne (and her dogs Chocolate, Banjo, and Precious). We had Roger and Marley with us, of course, so it was quite the gaggle full of puppy dogs. We live in the boonies on a dirt road, so we had all of our dogs off leash. Henry had a good time watching the canine posse.

He fell asleep rather early in the evening (around 8PM, I think), which resulted in him getting up around 2AM, as alert as could be. Jeff tried putting him down after his feeding, but he spent the time playing in his crib in-between feedings. Henry makes a lot of happy noises when he plays. The end result was that neither Jeff nor I got much sleep.

My dad came over mid-morning on Saturday and stayed for a couple hours. Henry wasn't settling down, so I ended up trying to get him to nap in the back. Basically, Henry wanted to be in his crib, but he wasn't content with being there alone. He would yell (as though in pain) until I came to the edge of the crib, at which point he would smile and squeal. Then, once I knew he was OK, I'd try to lay down on the bed, but he'd yell again. I'd come over again, and he'd smile. I think that he's learning how to manipulate me.

Henry managed to roll over from back to front, while Jeff was watching him. Unfortunately, I was pumping while this milestone was occurring. Henry grabbed the leg of the bouncy seat to pull himself onto his stomach. Jeff weighed Henry at 14 lbs 5 ozs. At some point, we measured his length at 24.5 inches and his head circumference was 42 cm.

Henry ate and slept while Jeff watched the Wildcats game in the afternoon. I was out running errands. We went for a walk in the late afternoon, trying to get out before it got too cold. Henry had a good time as usual. Henry ended him evening with a bath, which he very much enjoys.

The other thing that was significant yesterday was that Henry's food intake was up. He ate 944 mls of milk. It isn't a record, but it has been a month since he's cracked the 900 ml mark. We decided to cut out the fortifier for a few days and see how it affects his weight gain and intake. We think that adding fortifier is actually making him intake less milk. Formula doesn't move through babies' systems as quickly as breast milk, and the nutrients in it don't get absorbed quite as well. We calculated his calorie intake. Yesterday, without fortifier, he actually exceeded (slightly) his average calorie intake from the past few weeks with fortifier.

Today, Henry weighed 14 lbs 6.5 ozs. Jeff told me that Henry rolled from back to front in his crib, while I was sleeping. Henry then proceeded to get upset, realizing that he was on this stomach. I took care of Henry for most of this morning, while Jeff helped my sister and brother-in-law move items to their new house. Henry had an active morning. We spent some time on the tummy time mat. We spent some time squealing at each other to see who could make the loudest squeal (Henry won). He ate quite a bit too. He took a short nap right before his dad got home. Presently, Jeff is feeding Henry while watching the Cardinals vs. Falcons game.

RECAP ON THIS WEEK'S EVENTS
* Henry rolled front-to-back and back-to-front.
* Henry is increasing his milk consumption.
* Henry is trying to hold his bottle by himself. When he doesn't hold his bottle, he grabs onto our hand that is holding the bottle and tries to push and pull our hand so that the bottle moves in and out of his mouth.