Lingua Liam and Giving Thanks

We've started teaching Liam sign language because babies can learn to communicate with their hands before they have enough control over their voices to talk. As the book on sign language I got from the library points out, babies use sign language without instruction. For example, if Liam lifts both arms up, he wants to be picked up; if he reaches toward something with one arm and out-stretched hand, he wants it (or to be taken to it); rubbing his eyes means he's tired. These signs seem to be pretty universally used by babies and understood by parents without any coaching.

The book recommends teaching no more than 3 signs a day, no more than one sign per sentence and recommends starting with "more", "eat", and "milk" because they are usually the easiest to learn. They're easy because they don't involve much dexterity and they are things babies frequently want and need help getting. The book also recommends opportunistically teaching a simple sign for something of particular interest to the baby. For Liam, this has usually been "cat" so far. He now studies our gestures as we sign. If we're consistent, the book says he might mimic a sign in the next 8 to 10 weeks.

Thanksgiving was terrific. We got together at two big family celebrations and Liam loved it. He has always loved being around lots of people and new things. Since he's happier, and we have so many helping hands, we can relax and enjoy ourselves too. Liam got sick just before Thanksgiving and woke up every 3 hours during the night like he did as a newborn. It was sad to hear his little coughs and labored breathing while he tried to sleep. He seems to be over it now and slept through the night last night for the first time in days. In honor of Turkey day, Liam had his first meat in the form of some chicken and sweet potato baby food. He liked it, but he's liked almost everything he can eat so far, so he's not too picky. Just don't try peas and rice together (separately is still fine)!

Liam is still learning new things each day. As this blog also serves as our baby book, I'll list some: army crawl across the floor (necessitating some child-proofing measures), clap his hands with a huge open-mouthed smile, wave, stand up (while holding something for support like a foot-stool), point at things he's interested in (right hand only), turn off the electric piano, and make one of his toys play "la cucaracha" ad nauseam :) while rocking back and forth to the beat.

First taste of solids

I had to have a medical procedure this week and because of some of the medications I was taking, Liam was forced to have bottles of stored milk for a day and a half. I wonder if there has been a study done on whether bottle fed kids are more patient than other children? When Liam is hungry, he in no way wants to wait for you to prepare a bottle. Because of this, we decided it would be a good idea for him to have his first taste of rice cereal. We were hoping that it would help him sleep through the night better and groggy parents wouldn't have to do any bottle preparation at 2 in the morning.
To begin with, we tried it with a spoon--which Liam definitely did not like. This was demonstrated by crying and spitting the food back up; we, however, were not so easily deterred and we cleverly put a tablespoon of the cereal in his bottle. He drank it all up. It is rather comical to watch Liam drink a bottle. He is all business and I am pretty sure he can tell if there is more in the bottle and will not let it out of his sight until every last drop has been drunk.
The rice cereal along with his recent self soothing technique of sucking his thumb has been helping him sleep through the night. Now we just have to conquer using a spoon!

One Month

Its been one month since we met Liam for the first time on his birthday. He's already grown so much! If he continues growing in length and weight like he has been, he'll be 131 feet tall and 1,568 pounds by the time he's 30! If he maintains his current length-to-weight ratio, he'll weigh only 36 pounds when he's 6 feet tall! That gives you an idea of how quickly babies grow at this age.

Over the past three days, Liam has gotten much better about sleeping. Its probably due to a combination of us figuring out how to meet his needs better, and him getting old and big enough to handle longer periods of sleep. Our friends Nate and Kris came over Saturday night for a wonderful dinner they prepared and a fun round of bridge. Liam was terrific throughout their stay. My parents came by Sunday and also brought Mexican take-out for dinner, which was delicious. As always, Liam was generally very sweet with the occasional crying fit. He seems to be cranky as we transition up to the bedroom at night and downstairs in the morning. He also seems to have an afternoon crankiness sometimes. Having just those 2 or 3 times a day is much more manageable than the less predictable patterns before.

We're also getting more competent and confident in soothing him. We've got the swing, Moby, rocking chair, pacifier, swaddlers etc. all ready to go as needed :) Taking him on a daily walk in the stroller also seems to help him calm down and sleep, and it helps us by giving us time to just talk like we always used to on walks. I think we're also finally starting to differentiate his hungry cries from his other cries which is helpful in quickly addressing his needs (and thus minimizing the crying). I'm very impressed with Annika's ability as a mom and I feel really lucky to have her taking care of Liam so much.

Relativity

How long does 25 minutes seem? Really short if its your lunch break. Really long if you're trying to continually make shushing noise while hunched over a crib. Its all relative.

Speaking of relative, we had a few over today for a visit. My parents and grandmom (now a great-grandmom) and Annika's dad and aunt come over today to see Liam. Liam was on his best behavior throughout the visit and was either quietly sleeping, or happily nursing almost the entire time. And, characteristically, he started crying sometime between when they left the house and all got into their car to pull out of our driveway :) He's been generally very good today though so I don't complain, its just funny how impeccable his timing is.

Although I intended to take pictures of the visitors with us, I have none. Annika's family just popped in for a very quick visit but my family brought lunch and stayed for a while. Our lunch was facilitated by the great swing our neighbor gave to us. That swing has enabled a few meals now and we appreciate having it - thanks Jen!

Sometimes I'm more tired than I realize. Yesterday, we went to Great Beginnings to pick up a couple things and Annika came and stayed with Liam in the car. She was hankering to get out of the house for a bit and this worked out well. When I came back out of the store, I told her that I ran into a couple people in the store. She asked who I had seen in there that I knew and I said "No, I literally ran into two people by accident."

First Family Photo

We finally got around a taking a photo with all three of us in it. This was facilitated by a visit from my mom combined with a sleeping Liam in his fancy vibrating chair. Everyone tells us to get photos with us in them, and not just the baby, or we'll regret it. Given our often sleepy / groggy appearance recently, its rare for us to both be willing to be in a picture at the same time :)

I've been back in the office this week and one side-effect has been a lack of blogging over the past two days. Being away from home during the day tends to compress our time in the evening for things like uploading photos and blogging. My coworkers got Liam some very nice new books, slippers and a boo-boo bunny (a re-usable ice cube in a soft bunny outfit).

Meanwhile, Annika and I are continuing to dine off the kindness of others in the form of quiche, stuffed fish, chicken and potatoes. By the way, a left-over baked potato makes a great 1 am snack.

Berry Pi and Handmade Gifts

My aunt Penny and cousin Dan brought over a couple more dishes for us including a berry "pi" in honor of Liam's birth date. We were supposed to eat it when my sister visited tomorrow, but she had to cancel her trip because she came down with a cold, so we started digging into it tonight. Its as delicious as it is punny.

Its a bummer that my sister won't be able to make it out to see Liam tomorrow. I know she's disappointed too. But, she won't be missing too much action since Liam is usually sleeping or nursing. The odds are low that she would be here during the random 20 - 40 minutes of "active" time he has during the day. Get better soon Michelle!

We've started using Mylicon on the recommendation of Annika's friend Karen, and Annika is trying a diet without dairy to see if we can get Liam's gas under control. The pediatrician confirmed that he does have more gas than usual. If we can reduce that, I think we'll have a much happier baby :)

We received a number of hand-made gifts for Liam and thought it would be fun to get a picture of him with them. Here, we see that this hand-made cashmere hat from Aunt Laurie will probably fit him in a few months...

Annika's aunts and grandmom on her mother's side made us this cool blue and brown quilt with all kinds of neat patterns in it. They also made a matching scarf for Makoto and ribbon for Yuki. Kitty's mom knit us this soft white blanket to keep Liam warm.

Hiccups

Liam is a big fan of hiccups - and has been for a long time. Annika felt him hiccuping in the womb long ago. Here's a quick video of Liam and his favorite pastime:


My favorite times are when Liam is awake and content and we get to just interact with him. This picture shows my view of him as he sits against my chest or on my lap. He generally looks around with curiosity or occasionally scours at my pathetic attempts to amuse him. Someday he'll laugh and that'll be wonderful.

Over the past two days, Annika and I have been dining on some delicious food my aunt Penny prepared for us and has been kept frozen in our freezer till now. Sadly, we just finished the chicken dish with sweet potato and apple sides. Soon, we'll move on to the fish (we're getting the final ingredient tomorrow)! We really appreciate the help we've gotten from everyone throughout this. You've all played a part in making this a better experience :)

Finally, we took Liam to the doctor again today and he could find nothing wrong with him (despite our several worries to the contrary) so our minds are now at ease. Liam is now a whopping 8 lbs 14.4 ounces, so I guess he's not going hungry!