Fathers Day

It’s three weeks since my last post, which will give some idea about how much free time I have. I started to write an entry on Fathers Day, June 16th, but didn’t get very far and somehow three weeks have gone by. Alison has been back at work part time for almost a month and Zoe and I have established a very loose routine. Basically, though, the way it works is I cater to her every need and hope she won’t break down completely before Alison gets home.

The biggest hurdle we had to overcome was the eating issue. Zoe really wasn’t taking to the bottle, plus I was always struggling to heat a bottle under hot running water while Zoe was screaming and twisting in my arms, which wasn’t working and was using so much water it was making me meshuga (that’s the Jewish environmentalist in me talking). And if the milk were not warm enough she would reject it. When she’s hungry she really isn’t very patient. We finally invested in a bottle warmer, and although she still screams and squirms in my arms, it’s only for a couple of minutes and I use only an ounce of water. And not only does she no longer reject her bottle, she drinks it like a frat boy in a chugging contest. She used to drink an ounce, maybe two. Now she chokes down four ounces like she has a wager going. She then gets a glassy-eyed look and remains supine until I haul her over my shoulder, where she burps loud enough to shake loose a couple of tiles.

On the 7th of June she will be four months old. I stopped reading all the baby books we have, so I’m not sure where she is supposed to be developmentally. I think she is right where she is supposed to be, unless she should be talking or reading by now, in which case she is a bit behind the curve. Right now we are focusing on rolling over, something Zoe has been struggling unsuccessfully with for about two weeks. She makes it about two thirds of the way before getting stuck. I tried giving her a nudge with my foot while I was videoing one attempt, but no-go. She is now sleeping between six and eight hours at a stretch, and will usually fall back asleep pretty quickly after her very early morning snack. That means we (meaning Alison) are only woken up once during the night. Unless one of the cats (meaning Harry) brings us a present, then we (meaning me) has to get up and chase the injured rodent or bird around the house and haul it across the street to the park. If you see a man running down the street in his boxers swinging a mouse by its tail in the wee hours it’s probably me.

Other than having no time to do anything, staying at home with Zoe is a lot of fun. I only wish Alison were able to be here as well. Everyone (with kids) keeps telling me that it will get even better once she is mobile, however I think it’s pretty nice that I can put her down and she is still in the same spot when I come back. It certainly makes using the bathroom easier. It also took becoming a parent to understand why sometimes 9:00 pm seems like a reasonable time to go to bed.

See photos of Zoe at http://picasaweb.google.com/dbglass.