Big day for Zane yesterday. His Grandparents have been visiting this week and we all went out for a walk yesterday afternoon. That was followed shortly (i.e. after naps, diaper change, feeding) with Zane’s first night out at a restaurant. He slept through all but the last few minutes and then bounced on my shoulder for a while, looking around and listening to the jumble of people sounds and his Grandma cracking open a tasty lobster. Afterwards we went to the grocery store and bounced him around in the shopping cart, but Zane zonked out pretty quickly. Back home for more changing and feeding and then he curled up on the couch between Tink and I for a well deserved snooze.

One of the more interesting things about this experience is watching and experiencing Zane while he interacts with himself and the nearby environment. Usually when he wakes up for a feeding he’ll spend a little time stretching and flexing, while I give him little scritches or massage his back. He can spend a couple minutes doing this, which is an eternity in Zane time. And then the big question is will he start with the “birdy mouth” to say that he’s hungry or jump straight to the “I’m starving” whimper and cry? I’ve got the hungry cry down-pat, even if he’s just been fed and in the middle of a diaper change I can tell if it’s a hungry cry.

He doesn’t respond well to reasoned explanations. “Another minute while the milk warms” or “Have we ever let you down before?” doesn’t really cut it. A foot massage or playing with his hands might provide a few moments distraction unless he’s really desperate. And the whole desperation thing is a mystery: he eats, sleeps for 3 hours, and it’s still a crap shoot if he’ll wake up starving or be content to goggle at the world while the milk warms.

After feeding he’ll typically fall back to sleep, but on occasion the eyes will open even wider and he stays up for another hour or so. Hopefully this isn’t during an overnight feeding. This is what I like to call “data collection mode” where he explores the abilities of his eyes and limbs; wiggling, looking about, cooing, kicking, flexing fingers, and often staring intently at something. It’s like the belly needs food every few hours while the mind needs to be fed every nine hours or so.

Oh, and babies like the internet. More to the point, they like that Dad can bring up cowboy lyrics and be singing a song in only a few seconds. Me, I’d appreciate a better way to navigate when both hands are occupied with a squirming baby and tilted bottle.