Tag Archives: growing up

Growing up with Pooh

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Paul has gone outgrown two different sizes of Newborn diapers and the Infant diapers. Now he is a Crawler. Each diaper has Winnie-the-Pooh and a friend on it.

When I change his diaper, sometimes I tell him the story on it: “Pooh was walking along in the Hundred Acre Wood when he met Eeyore…” We’ve been reading The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh together (thank you Grandma Peggy!), which includes the story books, Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner, and two books of poetry, When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six. I don’t particularly like the poems—I feel like A.A. Milne’s poetry is a bit forced. I much prefer the poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson, which Grandma Sorenson sent Paul for Christmas. However, I love the stories of Winnie-the-Pooh.

Each chapter of the novels is self-contained story, and while we sometimes don’t get through the entire chapter, it really is a good length for reading out loud. I read it aloud while Paul kicks and plays on his blanket. Someday, he’ll look at the illustrations as I read.

We finished Winnie-the-Pooh and now we are almost finished with The House at Pooh Corner. We have just one more chapter, “Chapter Ten: In Which Christopher Robin and Pooh Come to an Enchanted Place, and We Leave Them There.” I am horribly sad because I know what comes: Christopher Robin says good-bye as he leaves for school. How sad it is that childhood must end, that doing nothing must end!

When it was raining the other day, I sang Paul “The rain rain rain came down down down.” As I did so, I realized that he’s never seen the movie! I started in that scene. Paul was fascinated to watch the computer screen. We got through about ten minutes before he was ready for something else.

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I enjoy the movie. I think it is great fun, and I look forward to introducing my son to that Pooh Bear too. However, I’m very disappointed now that I’ve read the books because I think the Winnie-the-Pooh created by A.A. Milne is a great character. Disney made Pooh into a bear that is always a Bear of Very Little Brain. In the stories, Pooh is a poetry-reciting, trying-hard-to-think Bear of Very Little Brain. In the stories, he has some adventures where he actually thinks. It’s amazing when he comes up with the ideas, but he does on occasion. I like both Winnie-the-Poohs, but I especially like the one I’m reading about. It’s too bad Disney felt the need to change the character, even slightly.

(Also, the Christopher Robin in the books would never say “What’s up?” as he does in the movie. He’s 100% British and he’s classic—I don’t think boys in 1920 said “What’s up?”! The Christopher Robin in the book is timeless. “What’s up?”does not sound timeless to me. And it just doesn’t sound like Christopher Robin. Why did they change him?)

Is anyone aware of another classic novel for children, in which each chapter is a self-contained adventure and the characters are creative, timeless, and delightful? I realize I can keep reading Winnie-the-Pooh to Paul (he won’t remember anyway), but I wish there were other similar adventures to read next. I miss Pooh already!

Paul’s New Tricks

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Grandma Peggy asked what new tricks Paul’s been learning. I had to think about that. Because I’m around him every day, it’s hard to pin down what’s new that I haven’t shared with you.

Paul sleeps. Paul has been sleeping for seven or eight hours at a time at night! That’s a great new trick. The problem remains that it begins at 7 p.m. (which, now that Daylight Savings Time ended, is now 6 p.m.). I wake him and feed him at 10 or 11 before I go to sleep; he still wakes up at 2 and cries for a while, but the crying is getting less; he tends to go back to sleep until 6 (or 5). I look forward to the day when he sleeps from 7 til 10 and then from 10 until 6 without waking.

Paul reaches. While he has always expressed an interest in things around him, lately he reaches for anything he sees and thinks he can reach—the piece of paper on the desk, the scriptures in my lap at church, the speck of ? on the floor, the silverware in my hand as I eat. When he’s on the floor and sees a toy across the blanket, he stretches and tries to get it. Most of the time, he is successful. Occasionally, he gets frustrated and decides he can’t reach it. No crawling yet (thank goodness) but definite development in the reaching department.

Paul sits. If I help him, he’ll stay in a sitting position for nearly 20 seconds before he falls over—and he falls over every direction. He’s getting better every day. I suspect that if I keep helping him now, he’ll figure out how to sit up all by himself in a few weeks.

Paul reads. Paul likes to pick up his book and try to turn the pages, although even the board book pages are a bit too hard to turn. He also likes to eat the books, just like in the picture I showed you last week.

Paul is such a happy and delightful little boy. We are so grateful that he is a part of our lives!

Six Months Old

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Paul is six months old today. I can’t believe it’s already been six months! I can’t believe it’s only been six months! I can’t remember life without him and yet it’s all flying by. The last two months, since our USA visit, have passed quicker than any other two months in my life, I think. I just want to cuddle my baby before he gets too big!

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Six Months Checkup

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Although Paul isn’t six months old for a few more days, today was Paul’s six-month checkup. Here are his stats:

  • Weight: 7530 grams (35th percentile)
  • Length: 66 cm (35th percentile)
  • Head circumference: 43 cm (25th percentile)

Paul has had a cold and cough for almost four weeks. We went to the doctor (again) on Monday when it had been about three weeks and she prescribed an antibiotic for the cough. The antibiotic has adverse side effects, which makes me not want to give it to him. He also had developed a rash on his neck, so we got ointment for that. The rash is gone and his cough is mostly gone as well.

I look forward to Paul being 100% better next week, just in time for his next immunization!

What is Paul doing between coughs and baths? First, Paul likes to have me read him books. He also likes to eat them.

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He also loves to smile and laugh, especially first thing in the morning, before he gets cranky.

Here are some more pictures, where he appears a little less babyish than he did in the Easter pictures and a little more little-boyish.

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1+1+1+1+1=5 Months Old

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Birthday Blues

Yesterday, Paul turned five months old. He celebrated his day by sleeping: I had hoped he wouldn’t get the family cold that is going around, but yesterday he apparently succumbed. The poor little guy! He can’t understand why he can’t breathe, and he is very annoyed by it. It must be hard to be five months old.

Here’s a video from yesterday morning. He wouldn’t laugh and giggle, but here are a few smiles for you.

How’s your math?

Now you can leave a comment without logging in! In order to prove you are a human, however, you must answer a math question (it’s just addition…). I’ll experiment for a few weeks and see how this works. If you hate it, let me know by either leaving a comment or sending me an email at wordpress at [my-last-name] hyphen family dot org.

Note that if you answer the math problem incorrectly, you lose your comment. I don’t like that feature, so I’ll look for a different plugin that might work better.

Pressure

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On Tuesday, Paul and I went to Mother’s Group for the first time in a month. It was intimidating.

Paul is the second oldest baby (out of 10 or 12). One baby had cut two teeth. A few babies were busy rolling over. Most babies were starting to notice the other babies. All seemed huge! A few babies are already wearing the Crawler-sized diapers; they’re mothers said they’re already 8 kg. Paul was content to amuse himself, he hasn’t started rolling over again, and there is surely no sign of teeth (not that I’m looking forward to the teeth bit…). Paul is still about 6 kg and wearing the Infant-sized diapers.

On Wednesday morning as we ate breakfast, I was explaining to Ryan how Paul seemed to be behind. Ryan went over to Paul, who was minding his own business on his belly in the playpen, and rolled him to his back.

“Good job!” he said. Paul was excited too. Then Ryan made Paul roll over a few more times. Paul didn’t seem so excited anymore. Ryan left Paul on his belly.

As we were putting away our breakfast dishes, Paul rolled himself over to his back again.

I was delighted. I guess it takes a Dad to teach these kinds of things.

(Paul rolled over a number of times Wednesday. Thursday he didn’t do it very much, but he also seemed quite tired and fussy. Maybe Wednesday wore him out!)

An UPdate

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I have not been keeping up! I have been absent from the web for two weeks. That is 10% of Paul’s life (he’s about 20 weeks old now). Here is an update.

Up in the Atmosphere

Paul has spent 46 hours up in the air in the past three weeks. Here’s the rundown of where he flew and how long it took:

  • Melbourne to Sydney: 1.5 hours
  • Sydney to San Francisco: 12 hours
  • San Francisco to Chicago: 5 hours
  • Chicago to Dallas: 2 hours
  • Dallas to Denver: 1.5 hours
  • Denver to Salt Lake City: 1 hour
  • Salt Lake City to Chicago: 3.5 hours
  • Chicago to San Francisco: 5 hours
  • San Francisco to Sydney: 13 hours
  • Sydney to Melbourne: 1.5 hours

    • Total: 46 hours in the air

Note: These totals do not include the time spent sitting in airplanes waiting to take off or waiting to disembark; they only include the flight times between the destinations. These totals also do not include the time spent sitting in airports, driving to airports, and packing to go to the airport (although Paul didn’t do much in the way of helping pack). All in all, we spent a lot of time travelling lately! I am so grateful that Paul was such a good sport.

Family Roundup

Paul has met all 5 of his grandparents/great-grandparents, 10 of 11 aunts and uncles (although some were only briefly met so there was no time to spit up on them), and all 8 of his cousins. (Uncle Carl, we missed you!)

Upset

Today I took Paul in for his next round of immunizations. I decided to have it done today rather than Friday (the next available day) because his schedule is already off; why not? He screamed while he got the shots, but he calmed down relatively well. He seems extra tired and a little sore. I think his extra chubbiness might help him not hurt as much as he did last time. I am glad it didn’t appear to be as bad as last time: I felt so mean!

Up Next

I have about 30 pictures to post.

For some reason, I thought I’d have time to post pictures while I was on my trip. I didn’t. In the coming days, I’ll be processing pictures of Paul with his Grandpa Sorenson, his cousins Daniel and Jessica, his Papa Paul and Grandma Peggy, his four Reid cousins, and his cousins Leah and Samuel. I also have a new family picture. Unfortunately, I only caught a few of the aunts and uncles on camera.

Check back often—and scroll down to make sure you didn’t miss a post. I’ll post the pictures as I get to them. (Each picture takes 10-30 minutes to process and it’s a matter of finding time amid all the other errands I need to do this week and next.)

Four-Month Checkup

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Since we’ll be gone next week, we had Paul’s four-month update yesterday. It’s only been three weeks since the last one, but here are his stats:

  • Weight: 5860 grams (gain of 640 grams; 15th percentile)
  • Length: 61 cm (25th percentile)
  • Head circumference: 41 cm (25th percentile)

Here’s what he can do (taken from his four-month “gross motor development” page in his Child Health Record):

Supine (on his back)

  • Head in midline
  • Waves arms and legs symmetrically
  • Hands open loosely
  • Pulled to sit, no head lag
  • Head held erect and steady for many seconds
  • Ventral suspension, head about body

Prone (on his belly)

  • Lifts head and chest well up
  • Standing, will take some weight (he’s really good at this!)

Vision and fine motor

  • Visually very alert
  • Follows adult’s movement within visual field
  • Follows dangling ball horizontally side to side and vertically from chest to brow
  • Converges eyes as dangling ball moves up to face
  • Defensive blink shown
  • Holds ratter for a few moments with meaningful grasp
  • Watches own hand movements in midline

Language, Speech and Hearing

  • Responds to sounds
  • Turns eyes and head toward sound
  • Eye contact and turn talking with carer
  • Vocalizes using single vowel sounds
  • 2 or more different sounds

Social behavior and play

  • Reacts to familiar situations—coos, smiles, excited movements

He “failed” the rolling prone to supine milestone, but he’s not yet four months. Maybe he’ll make it in the next few weeks. (He rolled over a few weeks ago, but he’s acting like he’s forgotten now, so I don’t think it counts…)