Sunday, November 23, 2008

Rattle



Now that Emm 'n Emm is three months, he is supposed to show some interest in a rattle and grasping rings. So far he stares at it and touches it without grabbing. We will do our best not to compare him to an abstract norm of what babies ought to be doing developmentally. He has already rejected the common wisdom that "all babies love breastfeeding." He is a finger man and I have been trying to accept it, which has been harder emotionally than I imagined. This means I spend hours a day pumping and Will does middle of the night feedings (while I pump, pump, pump some more). Emmett has forced our parenting into a less traditional mold, which is more work for both of us. We are committed to doing it, however, in part for the intrinsic virtues of breast milk (it is much easier to digest and he gets my antibodies), and because formula would cost about 60$ CAD a week (!!!@?*!), and formula companies are evil (e.g. introducing formula to traditional and impoverished communities, where mothers lost their superior and free milk supply and needed to dilute it to spare the outrageous cost, resulting in many dead babies... I would like apply a word to them used frequently on the show Deadwood, but I don't since our families read this blog).

Hood



Emmett will surely wear lots of hoodies as long as we are dressing him. This one is a gift from grandma Rosie. There is also a pic of Emmie on his dad's shoulders in front of his favorite painting. Emm has been captivated by this painting from the day we brought him home. I often see him staring at it with a smile.

Learning to Fly





Credit for these impressionistic photos goes to worker's opposition.

Sleeping Angel




Our friends, known in some circles as "Worker's Opposition and "Beavers Abroad" had to snap pics of Emmett sleeping. Babies are beautiful asleep, and not only for the peace sleep brings.

Experiments with the Camera






I call these the "whirlwind" series. They are taken by the famous photog "worker's opposition" who appears in one photo (not taken by him). The photo with our friend Rohan nicely reveals the difficulty of photographing a moving baby. He decided to embrace the tendency toward blurriness and to work with it.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Puff Baby


So gangsta.

Capturing Smiles





Emmett smiles now. A lot. Still, it is very hard to capture them on film, b/c they coincide with very excited kicks and flailing arms. He has had a super hard week and a half... it seems that one extreme brings with it the other. Lots of smiling means lots of crying, too. Maybe with maturity comes greater sensitivity to pleasure and pain. It is hard being a parent and knowing that bringing a being into the world means that he will experience pain and suffering. I know we cannot only be sources of joy and comfort, but I never realized how hard it would be to see him cry. The smiles are a thrill though... we are elated by them. They provide a wonderful lift, even after negligible sleep. Here are some of our efforts to snap a smile. Notice the invisible arms.