Sunshine

Sonia has never been very fond of sunshine. The picture below is her typical reaction:



Part of her discomfort is the light, but part of it is just the desert heat. When we brought her home, we found out she would fall asleep and refuse to eat if she was hot. She looked like a melted rag doll. Sometimes, she actually sticks out her lower lip and frowns at the heat. Why she can frown before she can smile, I have no idea. Alan pointed out this does not make any sense from an evolutionary perspective since the parents just want to see her smile. The only way I can piece it together is if the frowning muscles are the suckling muscles.

She is bigger now and not so fragile. If I take care not to expose her face to direct sunshine, she will actually open her eyes and take things in. At these times, she seems very serene. We can take her outside to eat our dinner and go on tours of the yard. I want her to be used to the outdoors so that the sounds will not scare her when she is older. We cannot wait to be able to hike and camp with her.

Ezra's baby

Ezra did nothing to earn this fear, but before I brought Sonia home, I was worried he might get jealous. I think I had been reading too much. During the month she was in the NICU, I brought home hats and blankets with her smell on them so that he would know who she was. He would spend a half an hour straight sometimes sniffing these things. Then we brought home the real thing and he has not stopped wanting to lick and sniff since. We generally limit him to one or two (meaning three or four) licks before shooing him away. He is very persistent though, especially if there is a diaper change going on. Ugh.



Ezra is a great parent. He has taken to sleeping by her crib (we use a pack and play we move around the house as needed). If Sonia starts crying, he comes to get us. Hey, his eyes say darting from her to us, she needs you. He frets and frets until the crying stops. If it reaches a certain degree of length or volume, he gets so distraught that he starts howling. It is really loud howl he used to only do if there was a siren going by. His howling continues until her crying stops. Sometimes I think she stops crying just because she is distracted by the howl. I find his sympathy really touching, except at two o'clock in the morning.


On a different note, I have a series of one-handed accomplishments to relay. Sonia's little psyche does much better when she is being held so like most moms, I have an occupied hand much of the time. Today I made fried rice all with one hand including breaking two eggs into a bowl. A few days ago I did four loads of laundry while holding Sonia then repeated that task today. Every day I get better at hunting and pecking at the keyboard with my free hand but is still pretty slow going. Although I started off writing this with two hands, Sonia has spoken so I am down to one. And that, my friends, means I am done.

Smell

If you are reading this you are one of my friends or family I sent the blog address to. Who knows how long I will continue to post, but this way I will not be bombarding you with every ounce gained and movement learned unless you want me to. So feel free to check in often! I plan on writing and posting pictures every few days to a week.

For the last two weeks, Sonia and I have been learning to breastfeed. We are still at it. Sonia is actually quite good, but since she mostly received bottles the first month, she gets a little frustrated. Even with the slower flowing nipple we got on the bottle, nursing still requires more concentration and energy. Another factor is that she is big baby (9 lbs 11 oz a few days ago) and needs a lot of milk. The trouble comes when she is really hungry. Then, she yells. Then nurses for ten seconds. Then yells. Then nurses. She really sounds pathetic. I am currently trying to nurse her for two feeds then give a bottle so she does not get to hungry. This is better than a few weeks ago so hopefully I'll be writing about our success in another few weeks. Or not, because sometimes this frantic crying baby just needs to be fed.

But isn't she a doll baby?

Lately we have had lots of fun giving Sonia different things to smell. I read that babies have very sensitive noses, smell being one of the most primitive senses, so we started doing olfactory tours of the yard or the dinner table. We hold spices, potatoes, flowers, nuoc cham, cherries, whatever, under her nose and watch her reaction. She looks so deep in thought while her nostrils are flaring. Then we watch to see if she will lean forward (yum!) or frown and pull back (blech!). Basil, cherries, and the purple flowers in the front are winners but she really does not understand lavender. We really hope that she is an adventurous eater, so maybe this will help.

But, maybe we can do nothing to influence her eating style. Alan said this morning that there is always something to worry about. Is she eating enough? Is she eating too much? Is she reacting to something in the milk? So much worry and she is such a simple being right now! In any case, it is going to be a lot of fun to introduce her to food in a few months.

For now, we will just keep holding and hugging her.