mmcirvin: (Default)
mmcirvin ([personal profile] mmcirvin) wrote2006-10-27 10:22 am

Entertaining baby

Just as [livejournal.com profile] iayork said, raising a baby means being constantly caught off guard; any pattern in her behavior that we may notice is broken a few days later as she develops. Last week, I think she caught the same horrible respiratory infection that I had and that is going around. In her case it was compounded by the effects of the five shots she got at her two-month doctor appointment. I'm determined to get her a full course of vaccination, but I can understand what disturbs parents about these things; she was pretty miserable that day.

Now her appetite is back up and she seems happier, but as her brain gets brainier her reasons for getting upset become more obscure. When she was a newborn, there were only a few things it could be: food, temperature and gas, mostly. Eventually she started to get bothered by a really full diaper, though it still doesn't seem to be that high on her scale of annoyances. Now, at two and a half months, she can get upset from boredom, loneliness, or being passed to the parent she doesn't prefer at that moment, and she is starting to get generally cranky when she's tired. When she's in a touchy mood, any fleeting change in her surroundings will set her off.

She gets into states of blissed-out infatuation with Mommy, in which even breastfeeding becomes difficult because she keeps pulling away to stare raptly at Sam's face. There are also times when she just seems to have too much energy to hold still in a good position, and starts wiggling and twisting her head around. With me, on the other hand, she goes into massive bouts of happy vocalization, maybe because I sometimes coo and gurgle back to her in baby-ese. I think she likes having the occasional conversation in which she can hold up her end of the dialogue. (Don't worry, I'm not talking to her that way all the time.)

She's using her hands more. She hasn't quite got the hang of reaching for objects but she is trying really, really hard to do so, and sometimes gets frustrated. She actually managed to flip the pages of a book yesterday, half by accident. Books with pictures are already fascinating, especially pictures of babies.

[identity profile] twillis.livejournal.com 2006-10-27 02:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Neat. Has she noticed other babies yet? What does she make of the cats?

Years ago I got to witness my young niece -- I'm not sure how many months old she was -- and my dog at the time meet each other. He was the first dog she'd met; she was the first baby he'd met. It was really funny and cute. A double-double take. Both of them had such a "What the hell is THAT?!" expression.

[identity profile] mmcirvin.livejournal.com 2006-10-27 02:32 pm (UTC)(link)
When her two-year-old cousin Greta was here, she seemed really interested in Greta. She just finds the cats sort of puzzling, and I think the reverse is true as well.

[identity profile] twillis.livejournal.com 2006-10-27 03:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Since the cats have always been present, I suppose they're not as novel.

ALso, cats might not respond the way dogs do.

A lot of dogs quickly discover the magical possibilities of babies + food + gravity.

Has Jorie met any dogs yet?

[identity profile] mmcirvin.livejournal.com 2006-10-27 03:51 pm (UTC)(link)
She met Lindsey's dog Mika about a month ago, but didn't take much notice at the time. Mika was interested in her, though.

[identity profile] twillis.livejournal.com 2006-10-27 02:28 pm (UTC)(link)
And I forgot the important question? What is Jorie going as for Halloween??

[identity profile] mmcirvin.livejournal.com 2006-10-27 02:32 pm (UTC)(link)
She's got some spooky little orange and black pajamas with a ghost on them. I'm not sure what that indicates going as.
jwgh: (Default)

[personal profile] jwgh 2006-10-27 02:59 pm (UTC)(link)
She's dressed up as someone who knows what Halloween is and cares about it! It is a cunning disguise.

I am kind of in favor of just assembling a costume and letting other people figure out what it is. (Which isn't quite what you've got here, I recognize, but I think the principle is similar.)

[identity profile] twillis.livejournal.com 2006-10-27 10:54 pm (UTC)(link)
I am so stealing that line. Cunning disguise, indeed.
ext_8707: Taken in front of Carnegie Hall (mad science)

[identity profile] ronebofh.livejournal.com 2006-10-27 07:30 pm (UTC)(link)
A piece of candy corn!

[identity profile] thette.livejournal.com 2006-10-27 02:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Five shots? That's cruel! Hulda got all her five three month vaccinations in one shot.

[identity profile] mskala.livejournal.com 2006-10-27 03:54 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm envisioning a syringe the size of the baby...

[identity profile] thette.livejournal.com 2006-10-27 04:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Nope, just a few milliliters. Virus particles are small.

[identity profile] mskala.livejournal.com 2006-10-27 05:00 pm (UTC)(link)
I know, but the idea of a huge syringe is amusing despite being unrealistic.

[identity profile] samantha2074.livejournal.com 2006-10-27 09:42 pm (UTC)(link)
That's nice. I wonder why we can't do that here.

As it was, the doctor called in a nurse so they could give Jorie shots from both sides, presumably lessening the torture. I fed her immediately afterwards, which helped some, I think.

[identity profile] thette.livejournal.com 2006-10-28 06:15 am (UTC)(link)
You probably have more people who won't go with the vaccination program...

[identity profile] mmcirvin.livejournal.com 2006-10-28 07:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Almost certainly true, yes: there's a significant anti-vaccination movement here, and I've always suspected that at least part of it is just that it's unnerving to see people stick needles in your baby; it's understandable that there would be a deep-seated intuition that this isn't right.

GRRR-A-BAH!

[identity profile] timchuma.livejournal.com 2006-10-28 11:36 am (UTC)(link)
Be thankful she's not a Baby Genius!