Seven Month Checkup

Yesterday was our son's seven month check up and once again, he did wonderfully.  As it was just a regular checkup, there was nothing really spectacular to report except his new weight and height.  Currently he weighs in at a staggering 18 lbs, 9 ounces and stretches to an enormous 26.5 inches.  I know, nothing like a little hyperbole to start off the day, but what can I say, he didn't get any shots, the doctor was happy, and consequently, so were we.  But besides that, there is other news to report about his development.  Besides being able to feed himself the bottle which I already reported on last week, he has now moved to a two arm army crawl.  It is funny to watch him as he just figured out how to use his other arm to propel himself forward at a higher rate of speed.  While both arms work most of the time, there is the occasional instance of his right arm getting stuck underneath his body after which he continues to try and move forward without success until he pulls his stuck arm out.  Now it seems his big push is to try and figure out how to crawl on his hands and knees.  As it is, he is moving around faster and faster and once he figures out the whole crawling thing, he will be off for good, no more stopping him.  It is fascinating to watch him try and figure out how to move his knees forward while holding his chest in the air with his hands.  At first he pushes up with his arms and then hops his knees forward till he is perched soundly on hands and knees. 

Once he has gotten himself into the proper position as he feels, he stairs between his arms at his knees and tries to figure out what to do.  He can get his right knee forward, but then gets a little stuck as to how to move his left forward.  I seriously don't think it will take him too long as his strength is improving and he can almost move his left knee forward.  His balance his also seriously improving to the point where he just might start walking before he actually crawls.  Occasionally when he is playing with a toy he will balance on his right knee and left hand.  While balanced in this position, he will extend his left leg out straight in the air and with his right hand he will swat at his toy.  He keeps his balance fairly well in this position until he gets tired and plops down on his belly to play with his toy.  In the process of figuring out how to crawl, he has done a hop a few times.  He will get himself on his hands and toes, the rest of his body in the air and hop forward to his knees.  He hasn't done this too much, perhaps because after the first few times he figured that if he keeps on hopping like that he will either fall over or hurt his knees, who knows.  But aside from all that, he is still his normal, happy, baby self.  When he does get fussy, it is for a reason, maybe one that we don't know, but definitely for a reason, and it still isn't too often. 

His laugh is developing and as soon as he laughs, we laugh right along with him.  He is overly happy when either my wife or I are dancing around the house to music.  He will watch us and just laugh right along, finding it funny and hilarious.  But that just is who he is, a unique individual that changes every week and is slowly growing into a little boy.  Yes, he is still a baby, but boyhood is just around the corner for him.  I still find it weird sometimes when I get him the morning to think that I am a father.  I know it to be true, I feel it, but sometimes I still can't believe it.  It doesn't happen very often and I have no regrets, its just funny how sometimes I realize how lucky I am and how I don't even know how I got here.  But I guess that is life, time flies and every so often you take a step back and wonder how everything happened that happened.  Its a mystery to me, but exciting.  So as our son begins eating more and more, carrots being one of his favorite foods, I am sure he will hit a growth spurt fairly soon and grow exponentially.  Then again, maybe he won't, only time will tell.  Till next week, enjoy your weekend.  I know I will enjoy mine with my wife and son, especially since it is our first mother's day as a family.  Which reminds me, to all the mother's out there, happy mothers day and seriously, don't do to much work, let others do it for you. 

NY Hospitals Ditching Formula

Once again, I woke up this morning and began trolling the vast waters of the Internet to see if there were any interesting news stories that caught my attention.  Sometimes there are and sometimes there aren't.  Today, I found a number of stories that caught my attention, however, I will only focus on one as I usually do.  This story hits home for me as I have a 7 month old son (yes, he is almost 7 months now, can't believe it myself) who is still largely breast feeding.  Whats the big story you ask?  Well, I am about to tell you.  It seems that in an effort to get new mothers to breast feed from the outset and to continue for as long as possible, NY City hospitals will be getting rid of the free sample of baby formula that is normally given out in a gift bag when mothers and their newborns leave the hospital.  This move is being executed along with an increase in support and education about breast feeding while women are still in the hospital.  According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, mothers are encouraged to breast feed exclusively for at least six months after giving birth and then at least up to a year while other foods are being introduced.  How many mothers actually make it to the six month mark?  Well, 90% of new mothers start off breast feeding but by the 2 month mark, that percentage drops drastically to an abysmal 31%.  This isn't an effort by hospitals (not all of which are participating) to say that formula is bad, it is merely an effort to push breast feeding which is proven to be the best source of nutrients and immunity for a newborn.  (Article Here!)

Now I can see some mothers getting in an outrage already about this saying that people don't understand how hard it is to breast feed, especially after going back to work, and that it is their choice about what to feed their newborn.  Well, as I mentioned before, hospitals are not about to start bad mouthing formula, so lets take that argument off the table, they are just not going to give out free samples.  In regards to the difficulty of breast feeding after returning to work, however, I can see first hand how it takes a toll as my wife is still breast feeding exclusively except for a small amount of solid foods we feed our son every day.  I hear about how hard it is to find an adequate place for my wife to pump her milk.  I see the exhaustion on her face after feeding our son for the last time each night before we put him to bed.  Breast feeding is definitely not easy and I for one wouldn't want to go through it, however, if you want what is best for your child, then maybe it is worth it to struggle through the difficulties and continue breast feeding for six months.  There are a number of different reasons that breast feeding is better, the first of which is that every mother produces milk that is specifically designed for the needs of her baby.  As the baby gets older, the milk changes in accordance with his/her needs.  Does formula change according to what a baby needs?  I don't think so.  Beyond simply being designed for a specific baby, breast milk also provides the newborn with the mother's immunities.  Can formula do that for a newborn?  Not in the least. 

But it is not my place to tell mother's what they should or shouldn't do, I am merely a proponent of breast feeding and its benefits for a newborn and infant.  I also support what a good number of NY city hospitals are choosing to do by not giving out free formula samples and instead focusing on education and support for breast feeding.  And if you don't believe me about breast feeding, as I stepped away from the computer for a minute to refill my coffee cup, my wife decided to plop herself down in my seat and add her two cents on breast feeding.  Here is what she had so say in her own words:  "IT IS ONLY 6-12 MONTHS OF YOUR LIFE NOT THE WHOLE THING.  YOUR GOING TO BE EXHAUSTED FOR THE NEXT 18 YEARS MIGHT AS WELL PROVIDE YOUR CHILD WITH THE BEST YOU CAN FOR THAT SMALL FRACTION OF THEIR LIFE.  YUP THAT IS WHAT I GOT!!!!! :):):):)"  So you see, my wife would agree that it is not the easiest task in the world to perform especially after going back to work, but she is pushing through because she sees the benefits of it.  Hey, all I am doing is throwing this out there.  If you don't agree and want to continue feeding your infant formula, I won't hold it against you, but consider the pros and cons before you do anything with your child.  After all, it is the beginning of the rest of their life.

Books and Wild Things

If you haven't heard yet, Maurice Sendak, author of the well known children's book "Where The Wild Things Are", passed away yesterday.  I must admit, I loved that book when I was younger.  It had a way of transporting me into this nightmarish, imaginative world with big ugly beasts and total anarchy.  I personally want to know what happened to that culture of nightmarish books, ugly villains, and tall tales coaxing you on this wild journey through the mind.  It seems children's books these days have lost their edge, their ability to explore the recesses of humanity that need to be explored, and they are now all full of fluff and what not.  So maybe its just that my son hasn't gotten to the age when those books will be acceptable to read to him, but then again, maybe not.  Even if you take a look at any Dr. Seuss book and compare it to something written recently, you will find that imagination has fallen drastically and that children's books these days do not require relinquishing our grasp on reality.  I have read a good number of children's books to our son and by far, my favorites are the ones that have stuck around from my childhood.  There are one or two more recent books that I have come to enjoy reading, but a good number of them just don't make the grade for me these days.  Out of the books I have to choose from, I would much rather grab a Dr. Seuss book or another one of my favorites "The Giving Tree" (which if you read it is actually quite depressing).

With the passing of Sendak we lose another twisted, imaginative mind that created alternative worlds for children to delve into, maybe learn a little about life, and keep them coming back for more.  But I want to go beyond just the lack of imagination in young children's books these days and on to a comment that Maurice Sendak had about books in general.  When asked what his thoughts were about electronic books last year, Sendak replied, "“I hate them. It’s like making believe there’s another kind of sex. There isn’t another kind of sex. There isn’t another kind of book! A book is a book is a book.” And you know what, I have to agree with him on this one.  Yes, electronic "readers" (as I will call them), are much easier to carry around, can hold many more books in its memory, and allow you to read despite the ambient light, but as Sendak said, its not a book.  No matter how you try and spin it, an electronic reader is just that, an electronic device that contains the contents of a book and allows you to read it on a digital screen.  A book by contrast is made of paper and ink, has a distinct smell, and forces you to become more intimate with it.  One of the big problems that I see with the electronic readers is that, despite their ease of operation, they can contain too many books.  If you are reading along and all of a sudden find that you are no longer interested in a given selection, you can pull up a different one and start anew.  In carrying around an actual paper book, you are making a commitment to reading that book in its entirety, or at least while you are away from your home.  But that is simply my personal opinion. 

What we really need are some more "Wild Things" in our lives, some imagination and temporary suspension of reality.  Everything has become incredibly serious, black and white, and where will it lead us?  We can't hope to instill a sense of adventure or imagination by plopping our children in front of an electronic reader and pulling up the latest children's book.  We can't for that matter do the same with any electronic device.  What we need is to do is bring back the books of our childhood with all their twisted stories and wild illustrations and perhaps we can bring some creativity back into our children's lives.  Maybe I am going a little far, but hey, its my opinion and I am entitled to it.  And for the record, I am only 29 and yes I still would rather sit down with an actual book than an electronic reader.  Perhaps I should be older, or have  been born in a different era, but it is what it is.  If you think about it, I am being a little hypocritical here as I am writing on a computer for people to read on a computer, paper and ink be damned, but then again, if I were writing this on paper with a pen, how many people would actually read this?  Probably very, very, very few.  So as I find myself caught between the allure of paper and ink and the necessity of a keyboard and bright screen, my mind drifts off to dwell with the "Wild Things" for a while.  Who knows, maybe I will turn into one of those delightfully twisted monsters, ARGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!