November 16, 2011

First day of school

Posted in Uncategorized at 11:13 pm by laura

View from nearby path

Its late fall around here, Raphael is almost 19 weeks old…  and currently making a screechy screamy noise in the background, like the sound I imagine a lizard makes when it attacks another lizard (purely speculative).

The reason he is squealing is because he has rolled, again, from his back to his front and is protesting being on his tummy.  I’ve rolled him back over every time it has happened, but since he used to know how to roll from his front to his back (has he forgotten?) I don’t know why he doesn’t just roll himself.

Anyway, Tuesday of last week was the first day of school for Raphael… and by school I mean daycare.

Raphael playing on exersaucer

We had just returned from the UK on Sunday (Congratulations Simon and Emma on getting hitched!) and were all a bit jetlagged.  This was probably good as Raphael spent his first day crying up a storm of exhaustion, and as far as his carers are concerned the days that followed were all a pleasant surprise.   He seems to be doing well though, and this is what he had to say about his first day:

In some ways, it was the first day of my return to graduate school as well, as I am now on a “regular” working schedule.  I was worried Rafa would start getting sick as soon as he started daycare, but so far he seems to be as healthy as ever.   Tim and I, on the other hand, promptly caught colds — presumably from daycare-related bugs.

I was feeling a bit guilty about taking Raphael to daycare so soon, even though he is four months old and its only two days a week, but now I am starting to think he should start going more often for his own good.  You see, I think the daycare does a better job than we do.  At home today he practiced: crying, eating, pooping, not napping, drooling , watching television, flailing arms while lying on belly, and not supporting himself when placed in an exersaucer.  According to reports from daycare though, yesterday he: “expressed initiative”, “expressed emotion”, “explored objects”, and “distinguished self from others”.   His caregiver writes:

“Today, Raphael and I played together.  I stuck my tongue out at him.  Raphael smiled and his tongue showed.  I curled my tongue and blew a soft puff of air.  Raphael wiggled and cooed.”

I have concluded that he is perhaps better off at daycare than he is at home with me.  (BTW, the child I just rolled onto his back a few minutes ago  is once again making lizard noises as he drowns himself in a puddle of drool, on his belly)  As I was saying, at daycare they sing songs, hold him all the time, introduce him to other babies, and raise his infantile self-esteem by making things like drooling sound like accomplishments (“expressed himself orally”).  (lizard sound in background again…) At home today, I dragged his green baby chair over by the couch so he could see the television better without having to crane his neck.  Given that the American Pediatric Association recommends no television before two years of age, I’d say that this was not my finest moment (lizard sound is back, must pause to rotate child) and not a good sign of parenting to come.  (lizard sound… seriously, is this a kid a glutton for pain?)

As part of my return to the world of adult things, I went back to see my diabetes doctor (endocrinologist) for the first time in a year today as I went to a special pregnancy diabetes doctor while I was pregnant and in the postpartum period.   Now only *I* would be excited about a medical appointment… but she really is a fantastic physician, also diabetic, and has some superhero like qualities (e.g. she is in her fifties and in such good physical condition that she reminds me of Madonna). Anyway, I was eager to see her to talk about the whole pregnant-with-diabetes ridiculousness to get her thoughts on how it all went down.  I told her about my sudden drop in insulin resistance and crazy hypoglycemia the week before Raphael was born and how they told me everything looked fine, but then the baby popped out 6 days later.   Part of me thought she’d say the same thing my OB said, “You never know with these things etc etc.” (i.e. the nonanswer), but she actually took it rather seriously.  I’ve noticed doctors sometimes use fancy words for simple concepts, and I’m not sure if its because they don’t realize they are doing it or if its because they are trying to *technically* say something but in a special code you won’t understand so you don’t have to worry as much.  Anyway, she said something like, “They really should have taken that more seriously, as a drop in insulin resistance like that is a big red flag.  I mean for you it turned out your body was ready to have the baby, but you can never take the risk of intrauterine demise too seriously.”  Having a rather large medical vocabulary due to my area of study, my physician heavy family, and my own ..ahem… interest in health matters (Its not technically hypochondriasis unless you believe you have something despite medical reassurance.  I am very reassured by medical reassurance), I tune in as soon as a physician starts dropping the medical-ese as that’s usually the interesting part.  So, that whole crazy night of hypoglycemia could have meant (1) that the baby was coming or, (2) that THE BABY WAS DYING.  Why was I not rushed to hospital?  They sent me to the emergency department when I complained about allergies, but not for risk of intrauterine demise?  Next pregnancy I am getting an at-home fetal monitor like what Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise have.

On that note, here are some recent pictures of Raphael taken over the last month:

Raphael pictures 3 – 4 months

And some recent videos!  First, Raphael has finally discovered both his left and right hands:

Hands are useful for shoving things in your mouth:

Here he is playing in a borrowed jumper while we were in the UK:

And, from today, rolling onto his tummy… and then complaining about it:

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