Not entirely accurate

Sometimes I get obsessed with details. Particularly when measurements are involved, I like to have things accurate. I suppose that's why I have a scale with more precision than anyone needs to weigh letters, even though that's mostly what I use it for. It came with a nice brass 200 g proof weight, which the scale reports to be 200.01 grams.

Just for fun, I measured the 5 oz Medela bottles that we have been using for feeding RR, and found that they are not so precise as one might like. In particular, "5 oz" of water is actually a bit over 5.3 oz. Now, we feed her as much as she wants anyway, so this makes no practical difference. I just think Medela could do better with their bottle markings. The 2 oz "snappie" bottle we got at the hospital, which looks like a graduated cylinder with a snap-top cap measures to be 1.9885 oz which seems pretty good to me. 5 oz in the Adiri 8 oz measures 5.217 oz and Dr. Brown's 4 oz reads 4.157 oz.

Forwards and Backwards

This past month, little RR has been doing well in sleeping through the night- so much so, that T avoided the subject at her weekly mom's group, to preclude the possible wrath of the other sleep-deprived moms. However the schedule has been changing, with her first feeding moving at least one hour earlier every day this week. Saturday morning started at 4:45 am, so I guess it's a potential conversation topic again.

In other news, she is able to hold her head up much better than before, and her legs show signs of being able to support her 6 kg weight fairly soon, if not managing actual balance. She pulls at the edge of her bib (maybe not on purpose) and will hold small items briefly. In the vocal department, she seems to be working hard on her Gkkkth sounds, which I'm sure are key elements of some language... possibly Klingon. Gkkkth.mp3

Some Assembly Required

When I had a sewing project and borrowed a machine from DG (the Doting Grandmother) I realized my sewing experience was pretty minimal, and I had to rediscover how to use it. It was fun to play around with the different stitch settings on some scraps of fabric, finding many different wrong ways to sew a hem, along with a workable one. I found myself noticing the various stitches and embroidery on the baby clothing. The edges are mostly overlock which of course requires a serger, but it was fun to find out what is possible with what I had.

We have a lot of books and advice and even classes but the whole baby-raising process also seems to be learning as you go, finding things out by trial and error. Things like our baby currently being a morning person (unlike her parents), that canned formula seems to cause more gas than powdered type, that spinning around in circles is calming, and that lying flat on mommy was restful in month one but not month two.

Meanwhile, if I'm not imagining things, little RR is piecing together some things on her own. For example, she has gone from mad-orchestra-conductor mode with no hand control, to something like intentional movement, sometimes holding her shirt or bib. Now at 11 weeks she also sounds different, at least to me. What had been random squeaks are now more like babbles, with some definite syllables showing up. Hear for yourself: Babble-July17.mp3

That's Entertainment!

After seeing the remarkable power of the hairdryer to calm down little RR, I made a "greatest hits" CD featuring a hairdryer solo, plus a duet with the vacuum cleaner. It wasn't long before we had occasion to play this back and it was quite amazing; the recorded sound is just as effective as the original! My own preference for relaxing music runs more towards Vivaldi, but as they say, there's no accounting for taste.

Just as I was leaving a recent video shoot for a local dance group, the director D. kindly gave us a present for RR: a beautiful yellow paper lantern decorated with butterflies. I hung it from the ceiling and she has been quite captivated by it, staring intently at it for some time on many different occasions.

There is no one panacea though, as all of these distractions seem to have effect for a relatively short time. T has found that playing the video of a dance show from last year holds her attention for quite a stretch. I assume the key factor is all the brightly colored costumes in motion- she actually cooed at one piece nicknamed the "stoplight dance" which has red, yellow and green dresses. She waves her arms almost as if keeping time, especially to the more uptempo pieces. T pointed out that this video was the last project I edited before she was born, and no doubt she became accustomed to the music in utero. (We'll try not to let the American Academy of Pediatrics know about all this, since they apparently counsel against any TV viewing for newborns.)

My first baby-related craft project was assembling two stuffed toys into a mobile, and hanging it from a small motor that turns it slowly. Like the other diversions, this usually holds her interest for a few minutes at least. She seems to like the yellow smiley face the best, and sometimes greets it with a happy sort of squawk each time it comes around.

      (click play button above to see video)