Strange Machines

I’ve been exposing Wolf to all kinds of music. He seems to love Vivaldi and Mozart, Allan Sherman, and my own compilation of pop. He’s quite happily listening to Dido now, cooing. His father is convinced he’ll grow up to be a musical genius.

Last night I was thoroughly exhausted with 2-3 hour feeds. My arms have started to ache terribly and if not for koyok I don’t think I could have carried him anymore. At the 7am feed, he giggled and laughed when I stroked his forehead. Every ounce of exhaustion I felt then was worth it.

Finally, I put him between his Dad’s and my pillow. He kept looking at his sleeping father with great affection, and then dozed off. His Dad got up for work not long after, kissed us bye and said, “I love you Supermom.” That just made my morning and we slept till almost 11.

Impulsively we decided to catch Superman Returns last night. Mom agreed to babysit so we bundled baby and his stuff to her place while we caught the 6.10pm movie.

It was brilliant, beautiful, and powerful. Probably the best movie this year. It’s what X-Men III should have been if Bryan Singer made it instead of Supe.

Post-movie, Mom told us Wolf didn’t like drinking from the bottle anymore. He drank 50ml and spat out some and refused to drink anymore. And then she got him to sleep! That’s Supermom.

Unfortunately he didn’t do a repeat of the night before and was up every 2 hours to feed. I was exhausted by eight and at nine-thirty, his Dad got up and carried him next to me for a zombie-like feed. All was rewarded by a series of smiles, ranging from grin to laugh.

I was feeling better by 10.30am, got up, fed him, changed his diaper, and played Mozart for him. He was quite happy looking at the light so I did the laundry, folded his clothes, and sorted out what clothes I could fit in. Happily, 2 pairs of jeans and 3 black pants.

He fussed some and I put on Allan Sherman, carried him and danced and sang to him. He was quite amused.

Wolf slept from 0030h to 0430h last night. I was shocked and felt really well-rested. It was too much to ask for him to sleep another 4 hours. He woke again at 0600h for another feed and then again at 0930h.

Wolf quirk: he loves to stretch (cat inheritance?). One arm or two arms over his head, sometimes with a little grunt. Hehe…

1. Give baby something to hold

Either a hand towel or blankie will do. Keeps baby feeling secure. Especially useful for babies who don’t like being swaddled (ahem).

2. Hand towels are perfect for nursing

Keep them around baby’s neck like a bib and under your boob (so your nursing bra doesn’t get milk on it). You can use it to wipe milk from baby’s mouth as well.

3. Stay away from folks of the previous generation

They will almost invariably make some comment about your parenting style that will annoy you, from the way you carry baby to how you feed him or her.

4. Remind yourself baby is not crying to upset you

Baby is crying because he needs you to help him. He can’t communicate by any other way but crying so learn to read his cues.

5. Learn to read baby’s cues

He is usually one of 5 things: hungry (mouth roots for breast), sleepy (yawns, rubs eyes), needs a burp, needs a diaper change, too hot (feel forehead) or too cold. Go down the list. One of them should be the culprit.

6. Nurse baby often

It helps you two bond, especially when you look lovingly into his eyes when you do so (no matter how tired you are), and it helps your uterus shrink (read: tummy flat). Plus, nursing calms baby down (unless he needs a burp).

(Author’s note: This post was written when Wolf was a month old and I had just gotten back home. I thought it was significant to include it because these were tips helpful for me then. I’ve added a few more relevant to that time period.)

He’s been napping happily listening to my Vivaldi CD. :B