Super Baby!

Emmett just had his two month appointment (actually 8 weeks/ 2 days) at which he suffered two vaccines and we got to confirm how much he has grown. He is 63 cm in length (about 25 inches), 5.7 kilos (12.5 pounds), and 41.5 cm (16.3 in) head circumference. This puts him in the 97th percentile for height (97 is as high as the chart goes, which attenuated our disappointment at not achieving 99!), 75th for weight, and 80th for head. The doctor kept approaching other docs and saying, "look at this cute baby; he is four months old today", to see if they would fall for it. I ruined his first experiment by correcting him. He was especially keen to see if this one doctor--a woman with three kids of her own--would blink. Needless to say, the doc was very impressed with his size. After the appointment he asked to borrow him to show him off to various administrative and medical staff. I kept hearing loud sounds of "awwwww," as he would go from room to room. It was a proud moment for all of us.

I got home and wanted to check the stats for myself, so I entered his numbers on various websites with charts. According to one website ("babycenter," or something) sponsored by Similac, his height is 90th percentile, but his weight is only 25-50th. Guess what they are trying to sell? Well, Emmers is a breast milk fueled giant. According to the international standards of the WHO, Emmett is entirely off the charts, nowhere near their top percentile. (Yet I bet he is in the middle of a Dutch or German chart.) We did find one that used metric (so probably not US based, like the Similac sponsored one) and gave us the precise stats of the doctor's office.

We are very proud of his height and his relatively lean figure, even if we are not sure how we made such a tall bearito. Everyone says that he is destined to play basketball (as his mom did in high school), but, for some reason, no one says that he is bound to look like Bill from Freaks & Geeks (and thereby play D&D instead). Bill is my absolute favorite character from the show. Needless to say, if he turns out to be a giant nerdling, he would not disappoint the hopes of his parents. If he has to be a jock, however, at least basketball is a really fun game. If he stays in Kanukistan, we hope that his hockey injuries will be minimal.

Joe's photos

Emmett's grandpa Joe (one of them) was in Montreal for a few days last week, and took a whole mess of pictures. Now he's put some of those up on Flickr, and you can see them by clicking on ... this.

Winter is Coming

The upside: cute outfits. Clearly, however, Emmett doesn't think we need to take 20 pics of each different outfit. Just the beginning of being bored by parents.

Equipment

I have been thinking about those things that are most essential to managing the early weeks of life with baby. The two most essential accoutrements are categories of things rather than individual items. First, I have been extremely grateful for various feedings aids. We have relied heavily from birth (he was not keen on breast feeding for the first week) upon the breast pump. We have also been able to share the (significant) burden of feeding as a result of what we call "the finger." It is a tiny tube connected to a soft bottle that Will tapes to his finger. Emmett loves sucking on fingers and is able to get food at the same time. We have photos of this, but they look a bit bizarre (there is one where he is sucking on W's middle finger and holding the two neighbor fingers as though they were handle bars). Will has been able to do late- and middle-of-the-night feedings now and then and he was able to take care of little M when I saw Lucinda Willilams last week. This is so wonderful, since, as it is, I spend most of my waking hours feeding the bearito.

Second category of can't-live-without items are the baby carriers. We have three that are great under different circumstances. But, if the baby is a major fuss bucket, putting him in a carrier is a solution 75% of the time. He will almost always chill out and go to sleep (though he may not remain asleep when removed). He feels very safe in them. It is great for doing stuff around the house when he won't sit quietly on his own; i.e., most of the time. Also, they are very handy for the use of public transportation and navigating the narrow isles of urban grocery markets--much less cumbersome than a stroller. (Also, we don't yet own a stroller, or "poussette.")

Third, we love our bouncy chair. I think most parents know how necessary such an item is for survival. He is also coming to enjoy the swing. He will often nap or sit quietly for a little while in these fantastic seats.

Fourthly, we adore the camera. We takes pics almost every day. Without it, we would not capture the outrageous cuteness.

Baby Power

Emmett can sort of hold up his head now--we couldn't get a good photo since it bobbles so much, but he is sitting by himself in the chair. As you can see, he likes to champion the cause of babies. You can also enjoy another DIY outfit, decorated by our dear, dear neighbor Sarah. Merci Sarah!

Grandmas

Here are Emmett's two grandmas, Nancy and Rosie. Nancy, his paternal g'ma, was with him for his first day outside the womb, his birthday. Rosie, his maternal g'ma, was with him for his one month b'day. In this pic, she had just gotten him to sleep on a very fussy night. He is covered by a quilt made by his great grandma, Alice Ake. He is the recipient of much grandma love.

Two of his grandpas are coming to visit in the next several weeks (though he is lucky enough to have three of them... we can't wait to document him with each one). It is very cool to have our folks come visit. It would be nice to be much closer to "our people," as they say on The Wire. [We have some good peeps here, too, though, and Emmett has prompted much kindness from them.]

Relief

After a very hard night, Emm n' Emm slept SIX hours, woke up and ate for one, then went to sleep for THREE more. I got up once during his six hours to pump in anticipation of his nightly fuss fest (and to maintain what seems to be a fragile supply), but probably slept more than I have since he was born. It was so wonderful. He was still a little too fussy to pose in his adorable outfit this morning, but here he is resting while Will preps class. We both function primarily with one hand right now.

Colic

I fear we may be learning what colic is, besides being effective birth control. Maybe it is evolutionarily advantageous? The baby is ensuring the exclusive care of his parents. It is also apparently the title of a thai horror movie. Colic is defined simply as "excessive crying." Excessive in character? Duration? Emmett apparently finds being awake in the evening w/o food to be intolerable. Sleep is also not an option before the horrors of the world have been identified with siren-like alarm. I guess maturity involves sublimating such horror into blogging, volunteering at animal shelters, and/or sarcasm.

One day soon I hope to remark on the joys of parenthood (and infancy). We are seeing more and more smiles. One day we will capture one by photo. Our hearts are in this thing 100%, but it can be pretty rough.