By Mommy

Well, we have survived four days of daddy being away for work, and only one day left.  Things went much smoother than expected since Mommy’s jury duty was short-lived (the guy pleaded guilty), and she took Thursday off just because.

But so much has been going on with Rowan these past few days!  His fever is entirely gone, although he still gets coughy and sneezy at times, the latter of which releases some amazingly huge baby boogers.  At first Rowan would  fight having his nose cleaned, but he puts up with it now, especially if the tissue doesn’t cover anything other than his nose.  And he’s settling into daycare, able to sleep there and generally not crying.

But he didn’t get his appetite back until today.  Since he’s been sick he hasn’t been eating or drinking well.  You’d never guess it to look at him though, those rosy baby cheeks!  And the only thing he would eat was rice cereal.  Someone said that he may be in need of comfort food, which for him is a very limited set of options.  I tried mixing some formula with the rice, but he knew the difference and refused to eat it.  Even now he shuns even moderate flavors like carrots or squash, but he’ll happily eat his first foods of banana and avocado.

Also, in Daddy’s absence he’s found a new way to communicate that he’s thirsty.  He’ll give a short wail and faceplant on the carpet!  He’s done that at least a dozen times this week, and I was wondering if he just wanted the closeness that comes when he’s being fed by bottle.  (I always hold him in my lap, never sitting on his own with his head tilted up like a cow.)  So I tried just holding him that way, but he stared at the bottle and kept crying until he got it.  He’ll even do a faceplant in the middle of eating when he gets thirsty.  How he and Mommy figured that out I’ll never know.

We’ve had a few video chats with Daddy, although I think they still scare Rowan a little.  He’s not used to Daddy’s voice and face emanating from a screen.  But he definitely remembers him and I think misses him.  Punky does anyway.  I’ve seen her sitting facing the door waiting for him to walk in.  Poor kitty.

And Rowan can clap now, and make a clapping sound when he does!  Mommy psyched him out today though by cupping her hands when she clapped with him.  He immediately stopped his clapping and stared with huge  eyes at the new sound.  He has also learned to predict motion.  Today I took a toy and put it behind my back from my left side, and he immediately looked to the right side for it to reappear.

Plus he’s rolling over on a regular basis.  And every time he does, he looks at me waiting for the kiss he knows will follow.  But I’ve discovered a negative to this newfound ability — now when I try to give him tummy time he immediately rolls back over!  He is definitely going to walk before he learns to crawl.

But right now he’s off in dreamland, with promises of Daddy returning tomorrow.  I would have titled this post “Yet another perfect day”, but I think that’s restating the obvious.