Conversations with Dad

Sorin the Traveler

This week Katie and Sorin spent three days in Minnesota with Steve and Sue, who were traveling for business. The planning worked well because we have cousins near the Cities that haven't seen Sorin yet. Actually it was kind of funny b/c one of the cousins, Heather Haas, had just commented on our last post about the pumpkin patch - she was saying how they loved "Little Pumpkin." It had been our decision to surprise them with a visit this week, so her comment was even more fun to read knowing that she'd get to meet him the next day.

I work during the days, so I'm used to going a day without seeing him. But I always come home and walk in the door to see what's new with our son. Obviously I couldn't do that this week. It was actually ok at first b/c I had very long days and then after dinner the nights went fast with all the work I was doing around the house. Katie and I were exchanging texts and I wanted her to send me a pic of her and Sorin. That made it worse, b/c the sight of them made me really want to hold him, and I couldn't do that. So that was a little hard.

When they returned, I was actually surprised to see more developments with Sorin. In just three days, I could see that he was holding his head up more when I hold him vertically to my chest. He also smiles a lot more and is more playful when you lay him down. Katie also told me to read to him, in which case he smiles and gets very active. Sorin is growing up right before our eyes - I have a better understanding of the phrase now.

Little Pumpkin

On that beautiful (HOT) Sunday we had this week we decided to take our little guy to a pumpkin patch. So we we got him all dressed in his little pumpkin hat, loaded him in his car seat and off we went. He was quite excited : ) as you can see from these pictures.

Unfortunately all of his excitement along with the warm weather and the relaxing ride over to Eplegaarden he fell fast asleep - deep sleep - and he slept right through the whole thing. I would like to say that we were good parents and just let our son sleep, but that would be a lie - we were in search for the perfect pumpkin picture. We tried and tried to wake him up and he was NOT happy. So we would wait for his eyes to open and then quick prop him up next to a pumpkin and then he would shut his eyes again and then we would try to wake him up and he would shut his eyes - and on and on this went until our little guy was getting REALLY ticked. (see picture). We started to feel a little self conscious about what the other pumpkin pickers were thinking of us. I think what really put him over the edge was when I tried to wedge his head between two pumpkins so that I'd get the 'three little pumpkins in a row' picture that I framed up in my head on our way over to the pumpkin patch.

Please do not be alarmed - we did stop torturing him with pumpkins and did let him sleep as we walked around and enjoyed our surroundings as it was such a beautiful day. AND we did end up getting a cute picture - even if he was sleeping during it. Someday we'll tell him about this adventure - when he asks why he has this strange fear of pumpkins... and hopefully he'll laugh.

Just Before Sleep

One of the most interesting things I've noticed about Sorin is just before he nods off to sleep He's done this for weeks (I know, that's SO long...) where as his eyes are closing, he'll do this very natural smile that we don't see when he's awake.  The eyes first go to the back of his head, then he fights it as they start to close, then the mouth pulls back into a beautiful smile.  I need to catch this on video.  

So this morning after giving him his bottle, he's already starting to fall asleep in my arms.  The world couldn't be any better right now.  His eyes start to shut quickly.  He's been very tired in the mornings with me.  As they close, I see a quick smile then I hear him laugh:  "ha, ha"

I wish I'd had a camera on my eyes when I heard that.  I couldn't believe it.  For us, it's these new actions that Sorin's developing that are absolutely amazing to experience.  Our "little guy" is doing the things of little kids, and we get to watch the whole thing.

Smiling Recognition, a Day Away, and Bathing

On Friday I was playing with Sorin on the couch. I like to do physical things - holding his hands, raising his feet, and squeezing his belly. I do this thing where I make a certain whistle sound while pressing his nose, then a different sound while swiping my finger up his cheek. For the first time I felt like he recognized me and was smiling at what we were doing together. I think he's recognized me before - he's felt a sense of comfort when he's looked at me or I held him. But this time was different in that I was getting such a positive response with the different "games" we were playing. It's fun to give him big smiles and see him try to imitate them. I keep saying, "Hi Daddy" in hopes of an echo. Sometimes it actually looks like he's trying to say "hi."

Saturday was an interesting first for the family. Katie and I went to a marriage conference at Blackhawk all day from 9-3:30. But then we went out on a quick date uptown to Tutto Pasta. So we were gone from 8:30-6:00 while Sorin was with Grandma Margit and Grandpa Dave.

I'm used to being gone from him for the day, but Katie felt weird about the whole deal. So it was fun to see him and grandma and grandpa's after a day being gone. He was sleeping in a rocker but Katie couldn't help herself from picking him up to hold him.

Today I gave him a bath for the first time. No, it wasn't Sorin's first bath (in his 7th week alive), but it was the first time I gave him one. He was splashing around with his feet a lot. It's a little harder than you'd think. His head and upper body got cleaned well, but it was hard to get below the belly (with a soapy rag) while holding his head up.

Sorin is getting bigger and bigger. He's getting on a better schedule each week. I think the most common comment we make is about how cute he is. We just can't stop staring at our son. What a gift.

He Talks!!!

And I caught it on film:

I Can't Resist

I might be a little rushed this morning for work, but I can't resist posting about Sorin.  He's on a schedule (for a few weeks now) where we stay up until 10pm with him so that he sleeps 'til 1:30 when Katie gets up to feed him.  Then I'll get up at 4:45 with him and give him a bottle. When he's back to sleep I get ready for work by 7 and all is well.

It's that whole process of getting him back to sleep that is such a treat.  Some mornings he gets done with the bottle and he's wide awake.  Others he practically falls asleep over my shoulder.  If he's awake, it takes a good 15 minutes of walking him around to get him to dose off.  I try not to use the Nuk, but Katie tells me he often takes it well.  If he's dosing off over my shoulder, it's not a long walk before he's konked out.

This morning was the later - he was sleepy right after the bottle.  I walked him around and within three minutes I was sitting on the couch with him.  He was sleeping for probably 5 minutes when I decided to wrap him and put him back in bed.  Well he woke up and I said to him, "You were just sleeping?!?!"  Now I'm a little nervous for how long this is going to take to get him back to sleep.  But within 5 minutes he was dosing off again on a walk around the house.  I sat back on the couch and he was fading fast.  

The best part of him falling asleep is the facial expressions.  I've got to catch some of these on camera.  His eyes roll to the back of his head.  When the eyes close, his lips pucker or he gives a little smile from the side of his mouth.  And sometimes just as they eyes shut he gives a big smile that screams, "Ha!  I'm off to sleep."  It almost seems sinister.  But it makes me smile and I do all I can not to laugh out loud and wake him back up.

This morning when he got up for his bottle and before I changed him, his was crying pretty hard.  Things weren't quite ready around the house with the bottle and my morning routine so it was getting pretty stressful.  I didn't want to get Katie up for help, but this cry was pretty bad. We managed, and when Sorin finally started to dose off he gave that final smile from the right side of his mouth - it's the cutest thing I've ever seen.  He was as comfortable in my arms as he could ever be.  I leaned my head back into the pillow with a huge smile on my face and thanked God for my son.

6 weeks!!!

Today marks 6 weeks for Sorin - to me this is a milestone.  Word on the baby street is that after 6 weeks they sleep longer during the night and are awake longer during the day.  I am already noticing this and it is really fun to see him change already.

Here are some things that he can do now:

Sleep longer than 3 hrs at a time

Smile

"Talk"  (more on that later)

See people more clearly 

Gain weight - 11 lbs!

Make other people smile

Crawl                              (kidding)

Fit in to 0-3 month clothes - finally!