Fooled You!

So…last Tuesday, the magical event finally arrived: Eamon rolled over! All by himself! Twice! According to my mother, who witnessed the blessed event, Eamon was having his normal bout of “tummy time,” and in all his flailing, found himself miraculously on his back. Hooray! roared the crowd (my mother), much to the baby’s delight. My mother placed him back on his stomach, he flailed and woop, zoop, sloop—lightning struck twice.

But only twice. Since then, he has been placed on his stomach a multitude of times, with no repeat of our earlier success. It’s like he did it, crossed it off the milestone checklist, and is done, thank you very much.

In fact, he almost seems to be having more success rolling from his back to his stomach now, which is ironic because he would never, ever do this on intentionally (tummy time is baaaaad). Eamon actually enjoys sleeping on his side, which is just a fraction of a turn to his stomach.

Oh well. It will happen in time, we keep telling ourselves (hopefully in time for our appointment with the doctor so that we can really cross it off the milestone list so that we don’t have to hear the “hmm” and get the cocked eyebrow. Not that our doctor does this, but still I fear it).

In other news, Eamon has decided that while he doesn’t see much point in rolling over, vocalizing is really fun. His favorite time to “talk” is in the car while we’re driving. He burbles and cooes and mumbles to himself for minutes on end. Sometimes the things he says sound eerily like words, though of course he doesn’t really understand any of it and never duplicates it. He babbles long strings of various syllables with lots of inflections—it almost sounds like he’s speaking another language that we just don’t understand. We’re not sure what he’s saying, but whatever it is, he’s really emphatic about it.

Another big development: Eamon has started “solids.” Well, rice cereal, anyway. It’s not that solid; in fact, it’s rather soupy, but he lurves it. We’ve waited this long on the solids because he seems to be allergic to so much, and we want to give his digestive system time to really mature. He has it about once a day (usually around lunch) and enjoys “helping” us by attempting to grab the spoon or push the cereal farther into his mouth with his hand.

Needless to say, this type of mealtime also requires a hearty clean-up time afterwards. Although, to be fair to Eamon, in this video I was using an ice-tea spoon because we couldn't find the baby spoons we had bought months ago (they were craftily hidden in plain view in a cupboard that I had only checked twice). Also, I was probably giving him too much food with each spoonful because it was my first time feeding an infant solids, and I had no idea what I was doing either.

If Nonspeaking Things Could Talk

Kate's Computer: (in a sleepy, confused voice) Huh? WPA password? Internet? I have no idea what you're talking about. You say I've hooked up to the internet reliably everyday for the past three years? Sorry, I'm just not recalling this. Do you happen to have the password written down anywhere? You did, but then the file on the computer isn't there anymore? Wow. That's a quandary. Huh. Sorry, I just don't think I can help you with any of this.

The Knob on the Front Door to Our House: (in a snotty, French voice) Non! I will not werk anymore! Eet is a deesgrace, all zis coming and ze going. I weel not open ezer again! Pah!

The Lock on the Back Door to Our House: (in a tough, northern accent) You know what I say? I saw screw you. You gonna not use the lock for two years and then expect it to suddenly work? Well, tough cookies--the lock is rusted shut and there's nothing you can do about it.

Kate's Big Red Suitcase: (in a big, red suitcasey way) Ha! She still hasn't unpacked me from her trip to New York to see the Tony Awards. Wait a second--is this Kate's thinly-veiled attempt to tell the world that SHE WENT TO SEE THE TONY AWARDS AND HAD A GREAT TIME IN NEW YORK WHILE EAMON AND AARON HAD A LOT OF BONDING TIME AT HOME BY THEMSELVES FOR A LONG WEEKEND? Tsk. Not very subtle, Kate. Not very subtle.

Nesta: (in a weary English nurse-maid sort of voice) You want another kiss, little Eamon? Oh dear. Yes, yes, I appreciate all the affection and I do love you, too, but this is getting ridiculous. Of course, it thrills me that your face lights up whenever you see me, but if you could manage not to grab my ears and put my nose in your mouth every now and then, it would be greatly appreciated.

Eamon's Baby Elmo Doll: (in, you know, an Elmo voice) Why is the baby calling Elmo "Eh-goo?" Wait a second! He's reliably calling me something? Something vaguely Elmo related? That's fantastic! Elmo is so excited!

Aaron's Text Message to Kate: (in a non-punctuated, non-capitalized sort of voice) If Eamon learns to say "Elmo" before "mama" or "dada," I'm going to shoot that red furry *bleep*

Eamon vs No Mommy

For the first time in his life, Eamon was left with his Dad. Alone. For 2 days.

While his mother went gallivanting in New York, the Wolfe boys (and Nesta) stayed in SE Virginia. Not as glamorous, I know, but little man has no clue. He was happy as a clam to spend time with Daddy.

Nothing really remarkable happened, which is a blessing in and of itself. One of the revelations of the weekend was this- Eamon is completely and totally in love with the dog. He'll crane his neck around to see her when he hears her jingle, and will sit completely entranced to watch her every move. He sat outside in his chair for 20 minutes staring at her playing fetch, and seemed disappointed when Nesta had to stop and get some water. He reaches out for her all the time and gives her big smiles that rival the ones he gives anyone. Recently, he has started to kiss her back which is sweet, amusing and disturbing at the same time.

Nesta has been wary of him for the most part- I think she saw him initially as an interloper who took all the attention away from her. Now that he is a little more interactive, she has warmed to him- but not too much. I am still HER daddy, and will vie for my attention at all costs. She will protect him to a point- that point being my attention.

Meanwhile, little man was an absolute angel for me. He went to bed without too much of a fuss, we napped together multiple times, and generally had a ball.

On Sunday, we took a trip to Colonial Williamsburg, where the dog was SUPER EXCITED and the boy was considerably less so. It was a bit of a challenge to manage a baby and a dog at the same time, especially since Nesta must smell everything and there are lots of great smells and so much to see and the horses and the people and the squirrels and the road apples. Eamon was much more chill: laid back in the stroller, taking in the sights.

When his Grandma and Grandpa came to pick him up Monday morning so Dad could go to work, he seemed genuinely surprised that he was going with them- "But, we had so much fun, and you're my dad, and it was good" was the look plastered over his face.

Even though we had a great time, Mommy was definitely missed, and we we all glad she came back safe and sound.

Eamon vs Gravity

Eamon has spent the majority of his life on his back, as infants are wont to do. He has little interest in being on his tummy and, until recently, made no significant progress towards rolling over. He still shows no interest in rolling over, but sitting up is his new favorite thing. Why view the world from your back when you can see so much better from an upright position?

His progress in this endeavor has been steady. We started proping him up in the corner of the couch about three weeks ago, and I think it served as motivation. Over the last week or so, he worked with his grandma on moving from a tripod position. Wednesday, Eamon lifted one hand off the bed, then the other. Proud of his accomplishment, he let out an "oooo" with a huge smile on his face. He has now figured out that his hands can be used to balance himself, and he can shift his body to keep from falling over. That is, until he decides that having his foot in his mouth is a fun thing.

He is also trying very hard to create sounds like Mommy and Daddy, and seems frustrated at his inablity to do so. He has a couple of favorite noises, and thankfully went through the period of screeching just to hear what his vocal cords could produce rather quickly. He has also developed a full blown laugh, which makes spending time with him so much more amusing. I have a great time getting him all wound up. This game is not looked upon favorably by his mother, who can no doubt forsee the times when I get him all riled up just prior to bedtime. Smart woman.

His Favorite (and Least Favorite) Things

Babies generally start off all squishy and jelly-like. They have basic needs, but other than crying a lot or sleeping a lot, don’t necessarily have much of a personality. And then, somewhere around 3 or 4 months, they start to become little people, who suddenly have favorite and least favorite things just like anyone else.

So here are the current likes and dislikes of our little man:

LIKE: His vocal chords. Lately, Eamon has been trying out any and every sound he can make, which usually involves a complicated series of gurgles and screeches. And his screeches are very…screechy. One of his favorite times is the morning when I go to change his diaper. He makes a screech/gurgle, and I attempt to imitate it, which he finds hilarious. He then makes a new and different sound, and we play this game for about 10 minutes. Sometimes I try to make sounds for him to imitate, but that is not nearly as much fun, Mommy.


DISLIKE: Sleeping. Eamon actually sleeps really well at night (like, 12 hours nowadays)—probably because he hates sleeping during the day. He constantly fights sleep. He rubs his eyes, gets fussier and fussier, and yet every time his eyelids start to droop, they suddenly pop back open as if he’s afraid he’s going to miss something. We’ve finally developed something of a ritual that finally gets him to sleep involving his pacifier and his rainforest music/sound machine. Even then, you’re lucky if he sleeps for half an hour at a time during the day.


LIKE: Grabbing. Everything—anything. His hands work now and he knows it. He’s a whiz at getting my glasses off before I can stop him, and I have gotten into the habit of automatically putting my hair into a ponytail before I hold him and bobby-pinning back any loose ends. He especially likes grabbing faces and anything on the table in front of him.

DISLIKE: Strangers. Easter, unfortunately, was not an isolated incident. I took him to a baby-shower over the weekend, and someone had the audacity to touch his leg, and it took me about 5 minutes in an empty room to calm him back down. Eamon is okay with people if they come to his house one or two at a time in non-threatening manner and hold him as long as Mommy or Daddy is right there. Our friend, Ayinde, is over here right now, and Eamon is just fine letting Yin hold him and talk to him. But it's a safe environment and there's only one extra person.

LIKE: Chewing. Anything—everything. He has a bunch of bumps in his mouth that feel like they might be trying to sprout into teeth, and he certainly puts everything into his mouth these days.

DISLIKE: Loud noises. Aaron blew his nose the other day and Eamon’s little face scrunched up into the "very upset face" and he started crying. Then again, Aaron does blow his nose really loudly.

LIKE: Seasame Street! We watch Sesame Street vignettes on YouTube sometimes. Eamon is especially fond of anything Elmo, and really likes Elmo’s Potty Song and Ray Charles singing the alphabet.


Every day we find out new things about Eamon, new aspects of his personality and new quirks. It’s really fun, seeing him become a person, one day at a time.

NOTE: The jury is still out on doggie kisses.

Deep Thoughts, By Eamon Wolfe

As typed by our 4 month old, with no help whatsoever:

n.ylbv mlb rc n ytccx7gyb nnnnbdvc 5rex mj y7 b3 y7 b3xcdddddxcdccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccxcccccccccccccccccccccxb n

That just about says it all.

What the Doctor Ordered

Yesterday was Eamon's 4 month visit to the pediatrician. He (Eamon, not the pediatrician) was 16 pounds 10 ounces (75th percentile), 26 inches (90th percentile), and his head was 17 inches (75th percentile). Unfortunately, both Aaron and I had to work, so my mother (Grandma) took Eamon to see the doctor. In a way, this was nice. Our pediatrician is Dr. Bolduc, who my mother used to work with years ago before she retired. She was a pediatric nurse practioner, which is wonderful to have as your full-time babysitter.

Anyway, I actually used to go to Dr. Bolduc back when we first moved here to Virginia, when I was about 11. I think when I was about 13 or 14, I finally switched over to a Family Physician because I was tired of sitting in the waiting room with snotty, shrieking two year olds. Nevertheless, I had liked Dr. Bolduc, so when it came time to pick a pediatrician for Eamon, he was our first choice. His practice has gotten bigger, which is really nice because if he's busy and Eamon's sick, Eamon can get into see someone, and we generally like all the doctors there.

So, my mom took Eamon. She said it was actually nice, getting to see Dr. Bolduc again. They caught up on old times, as well as admired her smiling and sweet grandson. Eamon loooooves Dr. Bolduc. Last time we went, Eamon smiled and smiled. I think maybe it's because even though Dr. Bolduc examines Eamon, he doesn't attempt to full-on hold him. He either keeps Eamon on the table or has me hold him, and one thing we know is that Eamon generally doesn't like people other than Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, Oma, or Opa holding him for more than about 3 minutes.

While respecting Eamon's boundaries, Dr. Bolduc did the check-up and pronounced Eamon to be doing well. As for Eamon's allergies, Dr. Bolduc said that his cradle-cap looked better than last time, and the rash appeared to be mostly cleared up. He recommended keeping Eamon off solid foods until at least 6 months so that his digestive system has time to mature. When we do introduce solids, he also recommended that we introduce meats and vegetables first. I always had problems as a youngster with fruit (I still have problems with anything too acidic, especially citrus), so it would probably be best to just avoid those foods. We're also going to try making Eamon's solids at home so that if he breaks out, we know for sure it's due to the specific food and not to some sort of preservative they put in the processed baby food.

We also had my mom ask about Eamon's finger, which you may have noticed in some of the pictures. At first we thought that the red marking covering his pinky finger was a port-wine stain birthmark, but lately it's been looking more raised. Dr. Bolduc agreed, and this therefore makes it a strawberry hemangioma rather than a port-wine stain. If Aaron were writing this, he would have links to pages about hemangiomas, but I'm just going to tell you that it's a small tumor of blood vessels. In most cases, it resolves itself before the age of 10 and is nothing to worry about. Aaron, however, is a bit more wary because he had a hemangioma on his knee (which they also thought was a port-wine stain), and it ended up eating away at his knee cap until he had to have major surgery when he was 12.

Obviously, we don't want that to happen to Eamon. Dr. Bolduc said that since Eamon still has full-range of motion on his finger, he's comfortable just watching it for now, and so are we. When Eamon's about a year old, we might ask for a referral to see a pediatric plastic surgeon, but it would be better to wait until then to get a better diagnosis.

In other news, Mr. Eamon got another round of shots yesterday. He handled them pretty well. He needed Tylenol about every 4 hours yesterday to keep from getting too fussy, but he still ate and slept well. This morning, I can definitely tell he's not feeling the greatest. He usually wakes up full of energy, but today...eh. He's usually so go, go, go in the morning, and today he's just happy to sit on my lap. Well, I'm sure that he'll be back to his usual energetic self tomorrow.