Huzzah!

At the pediatrician's office today, Elliot weighed in at 8.15 oz. Said weight gain was pronounced "phenomenal" by the pediatrician, and he is not a man who is given to superlatives. So we are feeling pleased with ourselves around here! Yes we are.

The benefits of this weight gain are definitely showing, and not just in E's double chin. First and foremost, now that he is over 8 lbs he has the official go ahead to begin traveling in his baby bjorn. I am extremely pleased about this, as pushing a stroller makes me feel weirder than any other part of parenting thus far. As if this weren't enough, Elliot is definitely much more able to make eye contact. Also, a couple of times now when ready to eat, he's quelled his hunger by actually getting a fist into his mouth and fitfully sucking on it.* Clearly, he is exceedingly dextrous.

The next excitement for the week is that it is going to get cold; it might even snow. And if my primary new mother anxieties circle around milkmilkmilk, my secondary new mother anxieties circle around coldcoldcold. Because how do you know if a baby is cold? And what do you do about it if he is? I'm constantly adding or removing layers, and getting caught outside without a thick enough blanket, and dithering about what he should sleep in since babies aren't supposed to have blankets now and are those fleecy sleepsacks really warm enough? One hopes so.

The good news is that Elliot is pretty great. The feeding thing has been more or less miserable, and the cold thing I'm sure will be a nagging concern forever. But he's so nice and sweet spirited and attentive.

Just now he is waking and starting to rumble a bit. He sends his hellos.

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*Julia, I know you will read this, and I must say for at least your sake that Elliot's fist-sucking always reminds me of Mary Rowlandson's puritan-era captivity narrative and her description of "slabbering" over a horse hoof when she has nothing else to eat.