Giant Dexter Update

The "giant" may refer to the update OR to the kid (or maybe both). Decide for yourself:

He had his 3 month doctor visit/shots last Thursday (January 8). He weighed 15 pounds, 6 ounces! He did have a diaper on, but it was a fresh one, so it probably only added a couple of ounces. So yes, he is a giant and will surely double his birth weight by 4 months. He's also wearing 6 and 9 month clothes. (Some 3 month clothes still fit, but not too many.) Remember when we used to worry about his lack of weight gain? Pssh.

Since he hit the 15 pound mark, we're moving forward with our planned switch to cloth diapers. So far, so good, although we only have 9 diapers total (4 different varieties), and I'm not sure which brand/style to dive headfirst into. The long-term savings are pretty awesome (they'll pay for themselves in less than 6 months), but the initial expense is kindof hefty. (If any of you have insights into cloth diapering, I'd love to hear them. Please email me.)

He's babbling and cooing more than ever and often is quite clearly trying to tell me something and sometimes gets frustrated when I don't understand him. He laughs at just about anything these days (as long as he isn't too hungry or too sleepy), and that is really awesome. I'm glad I get to see all of those laughs instead of hearing about them from his daycare teachers. (YAY for layoffs?)

He's rolling over front-to-back more and more, and he's threatening to go back-to-front. I think (and hope) we have a few more weeks until that happens, though. I've enjoyed this time where he stayed where I put him and was physically incapable of too much resistance during diaper changes. :)

Nose/chin/ears is still a fun game, but "nom nom nom" is SO much better! Basically, you give yourself a gravely monster voice and say "nom nom nom" while you wiggle something (a toy, a blanket, his feet, whatever) right in his face. He loves it. "Baby in the mirror" is also more fun than ever before. He also loves just about anything rough. Of course, he's still only 3 months old, but as rough as you can play, that's what he wants to do. (At least until he throws up. Then he isn't into the roughhousing too much anymore.)

Finally, he's gotten his first cold and his first boo-boo, both in the same week, and both inflicted by his Mom, who feels awful. Dad is nice enough to at least suggest the possibility that he was the one who originally introduced the cold into the house. I'm not sure. Anyway, he's a little stuffy but doesn't seem too upset about the cold. The boo-boo was when I accidentally clamped the pacifier clip onto his skin. Yes, it left a mark, mostly because I couldn't figure out what he was screaming about for, oh, 60 or 90 very long seconds. (When can it be Dennis's turn to screw up?)

Anyway, that's just about it for Dexter updates. He's a ton of fun, but I do miss my sweet itty bitty tiny baby. I'm doing my best to soak up every minute I have with him, and I nibble his toes every day. (I'm sure the idea will really gross me out when he's 14.)

Here are some videos from the last couple of days. I also finally trimmed and uploaded the video of him rolling over on January 6. It's still pretty long (3+ minutes), but it's pretty funny.

Here, we see Dexter enjoying a game of peek-a-boo. Unfortunately, the camera is apparently a big turn-off for him, because he really likes peek-a-boo a lot more than this. but it's cute anyway. (Also, it was getting to be bottle/nap time, so he wasn't quite as energetic as usual.) He actually laughed at the still camera today, though, so our camera-shy hero might be coming out of his shell. :)


And here we see him playing with one of the toys on his new chair. (Santa brought it a few days after Christmas. He looks like such a big kid sitting up in there!


Finally, here's Dexter grunting his way through some tummy time. Hey, it's tough work holding your head up that high and trying to roll over! I love that he tries really really hard and doesn't give up! (He gets that from his Dad.)