Home alone

My wife went out for brunch with some friends from her old company. It's good she gets out every now and then. She's cooped up in the house all day long with the baby. Mommie and Me is a recent thing and she really needs to get out with some friends where there are no children around.

Sweet

Halloween on a weekend is a good thing. Horror movies all weekend, all day long!!!!

Doctor Visit

The neurologist we saw wanted immediate action: a CT scan, a helmet and physical therapy.

I have no problem with the CT scan it doesn't hurt any and we can be sure he's fine neurologically.

The physical therapy and the helmet I'm not sure about. I don't think that my son has as severe a problem as the doctor is making it seem. By the doctor's own words placing him to sleep on his left side helps although it will be a longer process.

It's not that I'm against treatment, it's just that I'm not certain that taking an aggressive stance is necessary since this will take care of itself over time.

The doctor is certain that the flattening of his right side is a cosmetic issue and not a neurological issue.

The doctor called it Plagiocephaly, which happens to be a somewhat recent field. Many people have treated their children without headgear. I'm still on the fence with this. I think many doctors rely too much on drugs and scientific treatment rather than trusting the human body to regulate itself when it comes to children.

Now don't think that I'm a homeopathic fanatic, I'm far from it. It's just that when it comes to children, the rules don't apply. They're in their stages of development and I don't think we should get too mixed up with changing their growth.

I'll have plenty of time for that when he's a teenager.

Baby dates

Today our son is 15 weeks old. Later today we have an appointment with a pediatric neurologist to look at his head and whether the flatting of his right side is a problem.

I'm not too worried since he is alert and has not displayed unusual behavior that I would guess would be indicative to neurological problems.

We'll find out.

Ailments and maladies

My wife is sick today, runny nose and sore throat. I'm hoping that the baby doesn't get sick because that could really hurt. My wife is currently cursing out the mother who came to Mommy & Me sick.

Every time I heard of an adult getting a virus from a child it really beats them up.

Baby bee

Today was the Mommy & Me Halloween party for the kids. My wife didn't put our son in the bumblebee costume, she didn't feel comfortable dressing our son up when no one else dressed up their kids after so much discussion about it.

I guess that's a good thing, the costume looked way too big on him.

After work

I picked up my wife and son at our friends house after a day at Mommy & Me and my wife and our friend were steamed because another mother came to the group while she was sick. Now both are worried of catching something from her.

If they do get sick, I have a feeling they're gonna gang up on her next week.

Tomorrow they do the Halloween party.

Not a good morning

Our son is sleeping more at night but he still gets up at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning for a feeding. The lack of sleep is getting my wife and me as cranky as our son. We got up early so I can take them to our friends home for Mommy & Me later in the day and we just snapped at each other.

Of course I son slept through it.

Billy's buzzing off

My wife picked up a bumblebee costume for our son for the Mommy & Me Halloween party later this week.

I say we should get a sombrero for him and call him a Killer Bee but she doesn't think that's fitting for children nor very PC nowadays.

Alas, no one remembers Elliot Gould and SNL. BAH!!!

Lazy Sunday

We took a quick walk to the supermarket to get a few things for breakfast. $60.00 later (a few things, yeah right!) we had breakfast and spent the rest of the day in a lazy haze. We watched the final episodes in the set of the Sonny Steelgrave story arc, the opening episodes of the 1980's TV series Wiseguy.

We then saw the recent movie, The Punisher with Tom Jane as the anti-hero and John Travolta as the villian.

Different then the original film which starred Dolph Lungren. Not a gritty as it should be, what with today's standard formula of mixing humor into bloody action films to help tone down the final movie rating. Can you imagine Sonny Chiba's The Street Fighter series with some smirky yuks involved?

Walkies

We went out to take a brief walk. Our son likes to look around, although the smells of the city are not always the best thing to expose a child to, no matter what age.

I think he is going to be right handed. He keeps looking towards the right.

Even if the majority of the action is occuring to the left he will look towards the right, I thought it was strange but the various folks I speak to say that's not anything to worry about.

As we waited for the street light to change to WALK, our boy kept looking at the cars go by. I laughed as he kept moving his head back and forth as the cars raced by. It reminded me of a carriage return on a typewriter. I guess I should say old-school typewriter.

On the way home we stopped by the software store and I picked up City of Heroes (an MMORPG based on comic-book superheroes) and my wife picked up Rome: Total War. Now guess which of us two is the intellectual one. I never got into the warfare RTS games.

It's Saturday!

Our son slept through the night for the 4th or 5th night in a row. He wakes up for feeding at about 2 or 3 in the morning and he's good to go for the rest of the night.

He woke up at about 7:00 a.m. and I stayed with him for a couple of hours while my wife slept in.

He is very alert now. Although he is very much a cranky boy. Perhaps it's the Polio Vaccine that's discomforting him.

Another thing that's new with him is laughter. He genuinely laughs now, not the instantaneous shriek that you interpret as a laugh, and yes he did laugh in his sleep, but awake and purposefully laughing.

He naps for about 20 minutes at a time 3 or 4 times during the day.

Baby dates

Today our son reaches 14 weeks.

Visit follow-up

He is now 16 pounds 7 ounces and 26 inches tall. His head circumference is larger than average. So much so that our pediatrician wants him to see a neurologist to make sure he's okay.

He's also developing a flat spot on the right side of his head. He favors his right side. He even turns to the right when we hold him up.

Today our son got one vaccination shot for polio. He was in a great deal of discomfort but he dealt with it like a trooper.

Once we got him home he fed and slept the rest of the night away.

ALCS

I'm a Mets fan so the outcome of the American League Championship Series between the Yankees and the Red Sox didn't really grab me, but for the Yankees to lose the series after a 3-0 lead just really shocks me.

I can imagine George Steinbrenner this morning preparing to give a long, loud sermon to the organization before he starts handing out pink slips. He wants more than a Division Pennant for his $190+ million investment.

Pediatrician visit

Today is our son's 2nd round of vaccination shots. Maybe he'll get a flu shot. With all the hubbub about lack of supply maybe he won't get one. Depends on how much supply our son's doctor has.

Mommy & Me

Today is the 2nd visit to 'Mommy & Me' for my wife and our son. My wife thinks that our son likes to socialize. I say it's too early to determine that. He's just figuring out how to control his limbs and developing neck strength so anything beyond that is gravy.

Sleep filled night.

Our son has been sleeping through the night for the last 2 days. He's been getting up for a interim feeding and diaper change but he's gone right to sleep after that.

He's also staying up later during the day. The thing that hasn't changed with him which I find interesting is that he still prefers cold weather over hot weather. He gets really cranky if he's warm.

I tried to undress him and leave him in a diaper but he likes to have clothing on, I'm guessing that has something to do with the feel of material on his skin. I also tried to open the window to help him cool down and that's not good enough since we don't really have much of a cross ventilation with the layout of our place.

At times I have to turn on the air conditioning to help ease him. He can be a very crabby kid. He's gonna have to get used to it, ain't no way I'm going to have my windows open in the middle of winter.

Baby dates

Today he reached his 13th week. He's getting big. He's about 16 lbs. now.

Play date

I dropped off my wife and son at our friends house early this morning, about 5:45 a.m. and headed to the office from there.

They went out for breakfast and went out to "Mommy and Me" at about 2:00 p.m. They had a good time, my wife really liked the socializing for the baby and herself. I picked them up after work and got a look at our friends new baby (their second), who's only 5 weeks old.

Our son was very cranky because he was up all day long. He fell asleep around 6:00 and slept until midnight. He woke up, ate and stayed up all night long. It was the longest he'd gone without little bits of sleep throughout the day.

Scheduling a day

My wife has scheduled a day out tomorrow with our son and a friend who recently gave birth. They are going out for a day with "Mommy and Me", a neighborhood group association. It should be a good day for them. I drop them off early in the morning.

Columbus Day

Today is my day off. We spent the day watching our son stare at Sesame Street on Noggin Channel. He just stared. He didn't understand the words but he did like the colors and it kept him entertained. Just like the Baby Einstein DVD set we got him on Wednesday.

He is very aware and cognizant of images.

Baby dates

Today he turns 12 weeks old. I'm still feeling crappy but the violent vomiting has ended and that's a plus.

Oh great!!

We went out to shopping to pick up a few things for the baby and stopped to pick up something quick to eat. My wife ate a hot dog and I ate a sausage and peppers sandwich.

So as things work out I have a case of food poisoning, I would like to say horrible but I've had this before and in a much worse condition. Right now I'm taking way too long to write this because I'm running back and forth from keyboard to bathroom.

The chills and headache does not assist.

Price of Gas

Queens Boulevard Rego Park
Queens, NY

 

Baby dates

He reaches the 11 week mark today. He is starting to lift his head more often when he lays down on his stomach. He even sleeps when he's on his stomach which is a surprise since he couldn't tolerate laying on his stomach for more than 5 minutes or so.