"E" is for entertainment

Since this is meant to end up as a baby book of sorts, documenting our first year together, I suspect I ought to include some of the mundane, day-to-day things as well. So this is the first of that sort of post.

Here is where we hang out. Note the large dip between the cushions, where I sit. During the day this is where I nurse him, and especially since we cured the yeast issue with my breasts, I nurse him A Lot. Whenever I get tired of entertaining him, I tend to feed him. They say that breast fed babies, while generally larger than bottle fed ones, can't be over-fed. That they will not overeat so it's safe to offer whenever, and they'll refuse when full. He has, on occasion made a face like, "EWWWW, poison!" and has also gagged when I've put my nipple in his mouth, so he is capable of saying no, but mostly, the more the merrier.

So we sit there on the couch and I try to watch TV or DVDs over his head. We've gone through all the episodes of Desperate Housewives and are working on Grey's Anatomy (which I'm pissed off at, because a lot of the discs don't work and dammit, we paid a whole dollar a disc for those on a street corner in Shanghai, how dare they not work!).

I feed him and burp him and then occupy him with something from the basket o' fun until he fusses. Then I try to feed him again. Lather, rinse, repeat until he fills his diaper or refuses to eat anymore. Then we walk around, using a sling more frequently as he gets heavier and heavier. When I'm bored with walking, I try to feed him again. After two hours have passed, or once he conks out from milk coma, I put him in his crib to attempt a nap. At the moment it usually works, and he sleeps at least 30 min, every 2 hours. Usually at least one, sometimes two of the naps are 2 hours long.

I had been accumulating toys but didn't think that he was ready for them until just after Easter. I'd handed him off to a friend while I ate and came back to find her "reading" a soft, crinkly kid book to him while he stared raptly at her hands. That's when I started attempting with toys and it has been going well. He reacts and smiles and reaches for things and just generally stays happy for a longer period of time.

In fact, note the book behind the couch in the earlier photo, it's a new addition. It's meant to be tied to a crib, but I use the crib only for putting him to sleep at this point, and it doesn't really fit into the wagon. But when I realized he was getting bored staring at the curtains over my shoulder, I propped it up there, and now he's back to enjoying being held that way.

This is his toy basket:

The most interesting advance wrt toys, actually has been his attempt to grab and eat one. He's started to like to chew stuff. His hand, my hand, the neck of his sweater, the side of the sling, whatever. If he can get it in his mouth, he gums it to death. (please zeus do not let him get teeth early!) Last Thurs, or maybe Friday, he managed to close his chubby little fist on one of his toys (the solar system looking thing in the upper right corner of the basket) and brought it up to his mouth before he lost his grip. He seemed pretty pleased with himself.