Carlon and the Wee Beastie

Carlon is Crew's Early Intervention Occupational Therapist, forevermore to be blogged as "Carlon" or our "OT." She comes to our home twice a month to work with Crew, check his weight, and evaluate his development.

Crew really likes Carlon, which means that I do too. He flirts with her shamelessly, endlessly flashing his gums at her. He doesn't always perform for her on demand, but he did roll for her today, from his stomach onto his back. Little show-off. She gives us suggestions of things to work on between visits and we seem to be on the same page. It's so refreshing after my experience with the OT from hell at Primary's. I was extremely reluctant to become involved in the early intervention program because of it, but so far it's been nothing but a positive experience.

In other development, he now rolls from his back to his side, he has great control of his tough little neck, he is extraordinarily (rather surprisingly, from what I could gather) sociable, and he is gaining weight at "the perfect" rate. He continues to gain at a rate of exactly 1 ounce per day. That means that today he weighed in at... are you ready? 8 pounds, 4.6 ounces! She says she's seen some really good improvements in his coordination and movements since even our last visit 3 weeks ago.

He has no interest in grabbing anything other than my finger, but I'm going to go shopping for some toys that he might be able to hold onto better. He's still a sloppy eater, but getting better. He doesn't like to put his hands on his bottle to eat; he prefers to rub them together on his chest while he's slurping away. She suggested that I put a sock on the bottle to see if he's interested in the different texture. Never would have thought of that!

Sleeping. After eating a record 5 ounces in 1 hour last night, he slept for almost 9 hours straight. No, I didn't benefit from it. I kept hovering by his bed, checking to make sure he was still breathing. It doesn't help that he's the world's quietest sleeper/breather. He finally squeaked at 5:15 and I raced down to get him before he was fully awake. I was up most of the night. Fretting. He usually sleeps in two 5-hour blocks at night, which is still really good, considering his size and adjusted age. That means that if we time it just right, he's only getting up once in the middle of the night.

He's my precious little prince. He always smells vaguely of spit because I slobber all over him constantly. Only Daddy can console him during the fussy evening winding-down hours. I like that because they have a special nighttime bond. I hate the nights when Justin works really late because he cries until he comes home. Other than that, he's a pretty mellow and lovable little kid. He is very particular in his demands, but they are not unreasonable. He'll fuss until he gets what he wants, but he's pretty easy to figure out.