Bottoms Up!

Yesterday, Dane finally got control of a skill he's been working on for a while: holding his own bottle! We still need to help him get it in the correct orientation, but once he's got it, he'll drink away for as long as we'll let him. He's been having some major difficulty with eating because of teething (we think), so it's good he's interested in drinking water to help prevent dehydration. Mark and I have been struggling to handle this stage as well, as Mark's been on a very busy and stressful 2-month rotation, surgery. He's been on call about every third night, which is hard on us all, as I don't have any help with Dane, whose sleep has also been negatively affected by the teething, and Mark feels like he's missing out on a lot with the little guy. Mark's also been on call for the last 4 Sundays, which makes our church attendance suck. We miss people. Mark misses the sun. Anyone have any good advice for teething other than lots and lots of Tylenol? He'd just gotten to a point where his eating and sleeping were consistent and then, BAM, teething...but, despite it all, we're still so in love with our little bear and love seeing him grow and change right before our eyes!

Standing and teething

They say that you must crawl before you can walk, but I'm not so sure that Dane will follow that pattern. Ok, yes, I'm pretty sure he's getting close to crawling and he certainly doesn't have the balance to stand without help, much less walk, but Dane is doing an awesome job of standing. Check out this video.

Also, Dane continues to teethe. He is really drooly and more irritable than normal. He also seems more gassy... for those of you who've been through this (with your kids, not as yourself...I doubt you remember from when you got your teeth...) is the talk about babies getting more gassy, etc, more fact or fiction? As a doctor, I tried to find good evidence-based articles about teething but couldn't find much one way or the other. Anyway, we are pretty sure we can feel his front lower right tooth starting to get close. He loves when we rub his gums, even to the point where we make his gums "squeak." Larissa is worried I'll rub through his gums, which seems improbable, but I figure if that happened then he'd be done teething.

I'm on call a lot this month, which is hard for both Larissa and I. It's especially hard for Larissa to have him for so long when he's in a bad inconsolable mood. And its hard for me, not only because I'm working 30 hour shifts twice each week, but just because I feel like I'm missing so much of Dane's life (yes, already, 6 months into his life). I want to be around for his first teeth, first words, first steps. It's one of the reasons I was so happy we were able to have Larissa home, so she wouldn't miss those things (and, of course, because it means she's home whenever my busy schedule has me home). It still feels to us like Dane is growing so fast... every day he seems bigger and heavier and learning new "skills" (like chewing his hands or singing single syllable sounds). Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the video. :)

Blowing it

Dane had us both dying of laughter last night, as he figured out how to make...well...some noises he's heard his dad make. Of course, like any good boy, he thinks fart noises are hilarious, so he was very pleased with himself for figuring out how to make these noises with his mouth. He couldn't stop! It's so cool to see him really thinking about things and trying to replicate what he sees us doing. For example, he has a toy ball with a bell inside that he's just learned how to hold on to. While he was holding it the other night, I shook it to make the bell ring. He looked at the ball more intensely and then started to try and shake it himself. He's really starting to blossom mentally, which is so exciting for us.

First solid food

Dane's other newest skill is eating solid foods with a spoon. We've started off with oatmeal and rice cereal, and have pureed pears, peas, squash and apples on the docket. He's very funny with how he's testing out the texture, not completely sure if he likes it or not. He makes a ton of hilarious faces, but overall seems to be doing well. We have his 6 month check-up in early October, so it will be fun to see how much he's grown in the last two months. He's already moving out of the size 1 diapers, which seems crazy when we remember how we thought he'd never make it out of the preemie size.

Super swimmer

Since our last post, we went on a week long vacation without the babe and then have gotten into a very busy (because of frequent call nights) 2 weeks. Through these weeks though, we've been working on getting Dane into the pool whenever we can. He seems to love it and we're even practicing dunking him. He's not 100% on board with that yet, but hasn't started crying yet, so that's a good sign. Here's a video of his natural kicking skills.

Mr. Giggles

Much to our joy tonight, Dane started laughing his first belly laughs. We were both almost crying, it was so much fun to watch him laughing like that. He's been a very good little boy this weekend, as Mark had the Chicago triathlon on Sunday morning. Saturday morning, we all went downtown for the first time with Dane. Mark carried him facing forward in the Bjorn, through check-in and numbering, etc. He did great, just staring at the many people and activity going on around us. We got through check-in in about a half-hour, which was pretty speedy and then headed home. Dane was a bit tired by this point and cried on and off on the way home, but it was great to know that we're getting close to being able to actually go downtown with him for an afternoon! Mark's folks came down to watch him as we had to get up at 4 this morning to head to the race. Dane loved learning more about his hands and feet from Grandma and riding "the Knee" of Grandpa Mike, while giggling like a maniac. It's so fun for us to see how much our parents and Dane enjoy each other! After Anderson's headed home, Dane took a couple naps, allowing us to get some laundry done and get ready for the week ahead. He's in a very funny mood tonight and we knew that the following videos would be grandparent, great-grandparent, and aunt/uncle pleasers. Hope you get a laugh out of them as well!

Mr. Chatterbox

Dane's latest development, really just coming out more in the last few days has been lots more vocalization. It's not really talking yet, but he's making a lot more noises besides just crying and giggling. It's fun to hear him starting to communicate with us, even if the things he has to "say" aren't even multiple syllables most of the time.

And the little one says... Roll Over

Dane is becoming more and more aware of the world around him. It is really fun to see him looking at things in the room intently, to follow things with his eyes as we walk him around the room. He really likes things that are round (like lamps, ceiling fans, and my road bike tires), very colorful (bright t-shirts, my road bike, or kids books), or have a lot of contrast (like our dark furniture). One new "skill" Dane has been picking up over the last several days is rolling over. He is by no means a professional at this yet and it seems to take him a lot of time and energy to roll over, but he is successful. Check out the video.

Dane can suck his thumb!

Over the last week or so, Dane has been increasingly consoling himself more and more. At first, he would calm down after sucking on his arm or some fingers but we have now been seeing him sucking his thumb. It is fun to see him developing and growing up! It was also crazy today that as we went through Dane's baby clothes we had to put most of his preemie clothes away because he's grown out of them. At almost 8 pounds and almost 19 inches, he seems so big to us!