January, 2007

Here we are, in a new year! We began it, classically, as new parents, by going to bed early and not one drop of champagne! Priorities shift, I suppose! This month, between all of our doctor's appointments, we hibernated. It snowed again, giving us something beautiful to look at! Amos also decided to start playing more this month. Which is good for his development, not so good for his growth! He works off what he might have gained, thus spending the entire month as a ten pound baby. He seems to have entered a different stage: gone are the 2 or 3 hour long naps during the day. He established a regular schedule of sleep for 45 minutes, eating, awake for another 1/2 hour and back to sleep. If he's in the car, he'll sleep longer. At night, he was still waking every 3 hours to eat, and as the month went on, he would sleep longer stretches, making me very happy! He chews on his hands more and puts everything in his mouth now. I was sure he would cut a tooth this month, but learned at our Pediatrician appt, that babies' salivary glands begin to work and flow at four months. So that explains that! We had our appointment at the developmental clinic, to see check in with Amos' development. Before we went in, we visited the UW NICU, the place where Amos spent most of his time as a newborn preemie. It was so wonderful to visit our nurses and residents, to show off our happy and smiley boy. Of course, everyone was charmed by Amos' big blue eyes and big smiles. At the clinic, Amos more or less performed, showing the therapists how he could grab things, watch things, listen for things, kick and wiggle and other various tasks. He proved to us that he is on track for his adjusted age (about 2 months less than his biological age), and we felt so thankful and blessed that Amos is doing so well and is so health. We praise God for his faithfulness to us and continue to pray for Amos' wellbeing. January was also sort of lonely, as our good friends, Jon, Jen and Grace, moved to Spokane. We had weekly playdates together, which sometimes included art projects. They are sorely missed! Another happening was the discovery that Amos' beloved turquoise preemie binky was in fact, recalled, in the year 2000, as a possible choking hazard. I decided one day to Google the name on the back of the binky, to see if I could get more, etc, and the only thing that came up was an article by Consumer Reports about the recall of our beloved binky. We alerted the folks at the UW and they were shocked, thinking these were brand new. The hunt for new binkies ensued and after trying two other kinds, one emerged as an acceptable replacement. I still hate (and I do mean hate!) binkies, but Amos loves his, and given the circumstances, I guess they have been helpful! Oddly enough, too, my new Crocs are the same color as the delinquent binky; oh well! We also gave Amos his first taste of art appreciation, with a trip down to Tacoma to the museum there. They were exhibiting the work of Eric Carle, artist of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and other stories. It was so cool to see the caterpillar in the flesh! Amos loved looking at all of the colors and we had fun going too!