Moving Picture Addendum

For those who prefer their updates as lines instead of points along the "time" axis.

Happy Four-Month Birthday!

(A little late, granted, but it is the end of the semester.) On April 27, we had Tor's 16-week well-child checkup. Here are his vitals:

• Height: 24.25" (8 weeks: 22.5"; one week: 20.5")
• Weight:  13lbs. even (8 weeks: 10 lb. 4.5 oz.; one week: 7 lb. 3 oz.)
• Head circumference: 40.8 cm. (8 weeks: 37.8 cm.; one week: 34.9 cm.)
• Vaccines received:
• Polio
• Diptheria, tetanus, & pertussis (whooping cough)
• Rotavirus
• HIB (Haemophilus influenzae type B)

We continued our spate of visitors this week with Oma Karplus! She watched Tor while his folks went to work, gamely came out to the bar with us, joined Tor and me on our walks, stocked our freezer, and generally made life easier.

Playing pat-a-cake

Model: Tor. Styling by Oma, hat by Grandma. Photo credit: Mommy. See pg. 352 for where to shop.

Although Tor isn't big on sitting on laps, he's super into reading, so we usually lie down with him to look at books. I maintain the fiction that he's turning the pages (read: wild batting + the invisible hand of the mother).

My Easter Basket

The Gingerbread Baby

He's very busy these days--we're shifting gears every two minutes to keep him entertained. How can something that eats only milk have so much energy??

"Hands" Hansen

Fact: All infant elephant toys are blue.

A four-month milestone: rolling from lying on his back to lying on his side.

"HELP, these are my parents"

Oh, he'll be a climber all right.

Since our sitter decided Tor was too much of a handful for her to watch along with her one-year-old daughter, we've been trading off caring for him and working. While I'm teaching, Lars usually stays home with Tor, but occasionally I have a meeting on campus for an hour and then I'll bring the chubster in with me. Lars's lab finds him a pleasant distraction (we do try not to do it too often!).

Performing cutting-edge research on the soporific properties of olivine

Happy Easter!

Stay-at-Home Baby

We were stoked to have our friend Mandy visiting from Reno last week. She works with preschoolers, so is no stranger to diapers. We took the obligatory Mall of America trip and discovered that Bloomingdale's had a whole lounge area for nursing and changing your kid, including bottled water. Props to them.

All the outfits featured this week are newly culled from the box of 3-to-6-month stuff that I recently remembered I'd packed away in the closet before Tor arrived, except the red-and-blue one at the bottom. Consider this its last hurrah.

"Weg gegangen, platz gefangen!"*

Sit-ups with the drill sergeant

Gripping that rattle like he's done it his whole life

Since Tor's not big on lap-sitting, we recently discovered that he likes lying down and reading along with us. We took a break from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, which has turned out to be surprisingly grim, to read a cool cut-out book about Easter (thanks, Oma and Opa!).

And even while working his tail off to meet a deadline this week, Lars still had time to horse around.

These parallettes will be great when the kid starts standing on his own!

One of him in his happy place to finish up. Tor turned 16 weeks old on 4/20, so the next post will have an update from his four-month doctor's visit, which takes place on 4/27. You're excited!

*"Move your feet, lose your seat!"

Playthings

The spring weather held until today, and now we're back to mid-forties and clouds. So I'm inside posting instead of outside reading. The theme: toys. The jogging stroller is really one for us, not for Tor, but we did hang his bird on it. 

This picture would have been cooler if I'd actually taken Tor out of the stroller and posed him next to the door. The squirrels are hungry this time of year, though.

Last weekend, I went to Once Upon a Child, a secondhand store near our house, and traded in some newborn-size clothes for a wooden arch with danglers. Tor has been working on his dexterity for several hours a day now, and it must be tiring labor because it's the only thing that's ever made him fall asleep just lying on the floor.

Here's some footage of him awake and at it. He's just swatting here but I swear he grabs and mouths things too.

Next up is this bumblebee mirror. I cannot for the life of me figure out who got it for Tor, even after going back over all my lists, but whoever it was, you hit the jackpot. The fledgling narcissist loves it. Prop that against his arch and you've got yourself time for a shower.

Finally, a new favorite pastime is talking. We anticipate consonants will emerge shortly...

You Are Our Sunshine

This week will be remembered as the week we finally thought to put up blackout curtains in the nursery. Now instead of waking up for a 6:15 feeding and then getting up for good at 7:15, Tor'll go until 8:45. This is life-changing for days when I don't have to get up early anyway (and it's probably good for the baby too).

"Oh, I thought you said you wanted a neckless for your birthday, Mother."

"Our lips feel different somehow..."

Last Sunday, I took Tor to church for the first time in his sling. He slept through the service but woke up for coffee hour (typical). We've scheduled his baptism for May 15--mark those calendars, folks.

Decked out in a Nordic sweater from Tante Christina

This week, we got out a molded plastic baby seat that some buddies handed down to us. Tor nails it at times, but he's pretty wobbly at others. Once he's really solid in the neck, we'll be able to start thinking about giving him people food.

A tableau of Hansen masculinity

Air guitar!

Blue Steel

Trying to blend into his natural habitat

Now that Spring has begun to tease us with a smattering of buds and t-shirt weather, it's time for Tor to start learning how much he enjoys being outside. We bred it into him, now we just have to acculturate the boy. If anyone runs across a John Muir action figure, buy it and we'll get you back (but only if it has moveable parts).

Grading papers on the porch

Potpourri

I've been waiting for the infamous three-month growth spurt to begin, but while Tor seems to be waking up more frequently during the night this week than he has over the past several, he's still only eating every two hours during the day. My main concern at this point is that he's getting enough sleep. It's hard to say.

Smiling in his sleep

Getting swaddled for bedtime

Wrapped up and ready for a top-off

Every week, the kid's personality develops a little more. I don't get much work done while we're hanging out, but he sure is fun.

Our little filet-o-fish

Stronger every day!

Wary Tor

Getting ready to venture into the tail end of snowsuit weather

Bin ich nicht niedlich, Tante Christina?

Hopefully he loves baths this much forever.

The main struggle with the sitter so far has been getting Tor to take the bottle. Lars has kindly volunteered to practice with him so he gets used to it--he gets REALLY angry when I pull that crap with him.

Not impressed

Memorizing the plays

I got a disproportionate thrill last week when Tor began intentionally fondling the keys we jangled in front of him. He's been following objects with his gaze while engaging in "midline mutual fingering":

but hasn't understood that these appendages can make things happen. It's exciting to watch him form a picture of himself as a causal agent. (Warning: If you aren't directly related to Tor, the picture will probably do it for you; the video might be overkill.) 

"I'll have the car back by 11!"