Video Updates

Lynn says she will be providing an update that discusses Andrew's attempt to get in touch with his Irish roots this past Tues, but I wanted to upload some long-overdue videos of our little man talking.

Week 2

Day care is not going as well as we would like, but we're learning to accept that it's the best institutional day care gets. There are things we don't like (I won't go into details), but we can live with it as long as it doesn't get worse. But enough gloom and doom.

Lynn declared Andrew to have made his first laugh a couple days ago. He's been smiling a lot for weeks now, and he's been vocalizing a LOT (must take after his Daddy), but he finally put the two together. I remember my cousin Jon saying his wife could make Cody (Jon's son) squeal about this age, so maybe Andrew is right on track. Lynn finds it slightly amusing that much of his smiley time with Daddy is on the changing table and while getting dressed. He apparently doesn't find getting dressed with Mommy quite as entertaining. We have video of a conversation that hopefully we'll post soon.

Andrew still looks bald in a lot of the photos we take, though Lynn just claims that his hair is "invisible". I guess she's not used to Davenport babies. He's got Lynn's eyes and mouth, but I can definitely claim the scalp!

Better Days

For all of you who were on pins and needles about how Andrew's second day went, it was much better than the first. The teacher read to him and sang to him, and she said he seemed very interested in the book. And he only went 3 hours without a bottle, which is a drastic improvement. We're still a little jilted by the first day experience, but at least now we're not as worried about his physical health being compromised. Today he's home with his Mommy, who is taking some scattered vacation days over the next couple weeks to ease the transition for both of them, and Daddy will have him every Thursday. Daddy is very excited.

Daycare Woes

Andrew started day care yesterday, and it was a disaster. Lynn was quite anxious about leaving her constant companion of the past 3 months (or year, arguably) with almost perfect strangers, no matter how well-recommended the place and teacher are. The drop-off seemed to go alright, but when Lynn went to pick him up the teacher had just started a bottle. If Lynn were late, that would be understandable, but when the Mommy is on time, there is no reason to start a bottle right before. That did not help Lynn's anxiety. Then when we got a chance to look at the daily report, we noticed that he had only gotten 3 bottles for the day: 10am, 3pm, and 5pm. Note the 5 hour gap in the middle. Perhaps needless to say, Andrew was nearly insatiable last night and ate more frequently than ever (and cried more than ever too). All in all, a horrible start to the day care experience. We are hoping that today will be better.

Good sleeper

Andrew has been sleeping through the night much more reliably than in the past. I think we've gotten stretches of at least 6 hours all week! He is also much more interactive and actually plays by himself in his bouncer. You can see in the picture that Lynn keeps hanging more and more toys, and he plays with them all. His favorite activity is to pull on the rings until the chain breaks, which I don't think I could do if I tried (the notches have to be lined up just right).

Happy Morning Baby

We woke up this morning after a very good night (6.5 hours straight) to find our baby in his crib flipped to his side and exploring the elephant toy that hangs next to him. Awake, but playing happily alone. He has been showing a lot more grasping and self-play the past week, much of it with the dangling toys in his bouncer. He has also been bubbling quite a bit, which I guess is a more "advanced" form of the drooling he was doing earlier. He seems quite proud of himself for blowing bubbles, but he is also quite happy when we wipe his face (usually).

Andrew's other recent developments are the proliferation of the social smile and saying "a-goo". When the aunts were here, Emily became an expert at getting him to smile. She would gently brush his cheek, and he would grin from ear to ear. Jenny never achieved quite the same level of response, but he was clearly happy to have both of them there. Along with the smiling, Andrew is trying very hard to communicate verbally with us. He is obviously not saying anything too intelligible, but his parents are hard at work trying to figure out his sounds. The only thing we've picked up so far, and it might just be wishful thinking, is that he gets really happy when he hears his name. He also got really good at saying "goooo" (as most babies do), and then started adding "ah" at the beginning. I swear he's trying to say "Andrew". He probably has no idea that it's his name, but I think he's realizing that his parents say the word a lot and they always seem so happy when they say it. Perhaps he thinks "Andrew" means "best thing ever", which, in a way, it does.

Doctor Thumbs Up

Last Friday, Andrew went to the doctor for his 2 month check-up and immunizations. He is officially 10 lbs 3 oz. On one hand, we're ecstatic he's over 10 lbs. On the other hand, he should really be closer to 12 at this point, so our mission to fatten our child continues. The doctor was also impressed that he is drooling a lot, which she says means his oral development is ahead of schedule. Apparently drooling is a sign that he's getting ready for teeth! I always knew we had an advanced baby. Now if only he could get some real hair.

The past couple days Andrew has enjoyed meeting his Aunt Emily and Aunt Jenny (Nick's sisters) who came to visit him. They have been impressed with what a good boy he is (usually), especially on our outings. Then again, if they heard any of the activity last night, they may have gotten a better idea of his true range (Lynn was up at least 3 times, and Nick helped a couple times too). He was probably just too excited about having his aunts here to sleep.