November 1, 2001
I wrote an e-mail not too long ago, covering my happy re-discovery that Go Dog Go is still in print, and many other items of great interest. And then I was moving the text, and my computer crashed between "cut" and "paste," and that was the end of that.
There are many reasons I have been neglectful lately:
I've also just been busy. It seems like Eric and I have a million appointments all the time. Last week, Adrianne and Noah were visiting from Montana, and I got to spend four out of six days with them, which was enormous fun but blew my schedule completely. I have had less energy than usual, both physically and emotionally, and that has combined with being slightly busier than usual to make me feel completely overwhelmed. But the truth is, I have managed to keep up with most things fairly well, and I am feeling optimistic that once my knees stop hurting so bad, I'll be much perkier.
Though not as perky as our chiropractor. That would be impossible. She and her whole office staff are just uber-friendly and super-cheerful. And they love Eric so much that I left him there the other morning while I ran David to work, and when I said they could take him out of his car seat and play with him, the whole staff swarmed him from behind the desk.
Eric is so big now that when he is in his swing, his legs dangle. And twice now I have caught him on all fours in his bin (as we call the Pack-n-Play) or on the floor. He was just in his bin doing butt push-ups, lying on his stomach and repeatedly lifting his butt into the air. And-a-one, and-a-two, and all that.
About ten days ago he figured out how to blow raspberries. He now goes "phhhtt" for about six hours a day. Yesterday he embarked on a new project, seeing how far he can stick his tongue out. This morning, David says, Eric worked himself around in his bin so that he could lie on his stomach and suck on the mattress tag; this is also exactly what he does with his new Boppy pillow, bought used in Ann Arbor last week. The Boppy is a u-shaped pillow, like neck pillows for traveling but bigger, that is supposed to help him sit up. What he does when I put him in it, once he's done playing with the toys hanging from his little playgym, is roll over and scoot down until he is lying on his stomach with his head completely encased in the Boppy. Then he sucks on the tag.
Eric's motto seems to be, "If it's goofy, I'll do it!"
His hair has begun to grow. Now he's like a Chia Pet! And he has suddenly chubbed up. He's almost got jowls, and when you hold him you can feel his round belly very distinctly. It's cute.
He had his first Halloween yesterday. He dressed up as a pumpkin, and then, after he had managed to pee on that outfit, as a dinosaur. The pumpkin outfit was a hand-me-down, and I got the dinosaur for $2.49 in Ann Arbor. We gave out candy, and when the flow of kids had slowed enough, took Eric trick-or-treating, which consisted of walking him over to Carrie's house to surprise her. She was happy to see him, and he was happy to see her. He stayed up being charming for nearly an hour even though he had been very fussy at home and had dozed off on the walk over.
Did I tell you that Eric has started to get chiropractic adjustments? He's not quite sure what to make of them; mostly he just likes it when Dr. Whitfield plays with him.
Having finished his hundred butt-ups, Eric has gone to sleep for his afternoon nap. He seems to be done with the transition that was making his feeding, sleeping, and pooping schedules chaotic. He is back to one poop per day, usually in the morning when David is taking care of him (heh heh), and generally takes two naps per day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. He has also firmly re-established the early morning feeding, usually between 3 and 4 a.m.
Posted by Su Penn at December 14, 2003 04:38 PM | TrackBack