The Rollercoaster Ride

Saturday we had Peter out and about, away from home most of the day. He seemed to like it pretty well. He likes being in his car seat, and he likes going for drives. He also does ok in new places and around new people. He got tired by the end of the day, but otherwise was a perfect angel.

Sunday he was home most of the day, but he was not the happy camper he was the day before. The technical term for his condition is “fussy.” Several times over that day and night he went off on a good crying rant. At some points he’d get all red-faced from it. Oy. Not fun to watch or hear. When he was hungry he’d insist on expressing his mood with a good wail, and then he’d stop on a dime to feast. At some point late at night I was rocking him in my arms for a while to calm him, and after he quieted I placed him on my chest while lying on the bed so that he was lying on his back on me like I was a bed. Dad and son were calmly relaxing for a couple minutes. Then his mom came and sat on the bed and he amazed us both. He had his head turned to his left, and when his mom sat down to his right he turned his head 180º to see his mom. And then he started wiggling towards her (quite effectively, actually). Is a 17 day old infant supposed to do that? It’s like his little baby brain can already process the sound of his mom, the sight of his mom, and the need to get close to her for food. And that he had the physical coordination to get his body over to hers to meet his goal. All the stress of a day of fussing melted away when he did that.

Monday was a better day for him, but he was still coming out of a fussy stage in the AM. By the late afternoon and evening he was his normal charming self. We gave him a bath in the evening and he didn’t mind it (yay!). He had his diaper changed several times and he was fine. He slept well. He ate well. He made his cute noises. He’s still a little sweetie.