First Bites

So far this week, Monkey has had two tablespoons of rice cereal!! Yay! While we are giving the credit for improving his acid reflux to his larger dose of medicine, we've seen very little throwing up this week, which is great! No sleep miracles or anything, but this is just for fun and to see if it helps the acid reflux any. He was kind of hesitant at first (that spoon normally carries bubble gum flavor, except for that one time... ) but he is now an enthusiastic if not very precise eater. His cereal is so watery that we are using the medicine spoon for now, but we will thicken it up a bit next week and see how it goes. After ten minutes or so with the spoon we put it in the bottle and he finishes it that way. Here's a little clip from that momentous first feeding (Sunday, October 26):

Happy Halloween from the Shrieking Shack!

Wishing you all a spine-tingling evening
which we can guarantee if you watch this video with the volume cranked up!

Watch out for El Chupacabra!!

Tummy Troubles

Well, our old friend acid reflux has been back again and worse than ever the past few days. We are upping his dosage on the Prilosec and hoping that brings him some relief. And some better sleep. Because, dude. Seriously. We are tired.

All sorts of fall goodness to be posted soon!

4 Months of Monkey

Monkey has survived for four full months now... so we celebrated as we usually do, by prodding him, shoving things in his mouth and stabbing him with needles.

All carefully supervised by our physician, of course!

Monkey is doing great. His height, weight and head measurements are all hanging out in the 5th -10th percentiles, but his growth curve is 'textbook perfect'. He weighs 12 lbs, 13 oz and measures 23.25" (so not much change from last week). Brilliant Pediatrician says that he is doing well developmentally (as she should, since he flirts OUTRAGEOUSLY with her) and if he is expressing interest in food he can try out some rice cereal, just for fun. It may help him with his acid reflux by keeping his food in his tummy instead of on our clothes, so we'll see how it goes. The vitamin drops she recommended did not stay in his mouth at all, as he thought they were the most horrible thing we had ever done to him. So we'll have to figure out some other delivery device.

All in all, it was a big day full of excitement (i.e., errands) and Monkey is trying to sleep away the memory of the traumatic vitamins:

Cousin Extravaganza

As part of his goodwill campaign, Monkey has enjoyed a parade of cousin activity lately. His paparazzi kindly provided the following:

Mrs. Z's Cousin A and her daughter, H

Mrs. Z's Cousin A and her new son, D
(why are they nearly the same size??)

Mrs. Z's Hard to Capture on Film Cousin C

Mr. Z's Aunt K and her grandson, L

L's mom, Mr. Z's Cousin A

(yes, same name as Mrs. Z's Cousin A)

Letter from Monkey

Dear Mr. Zookeeper:

I like you. You are fun and warm and much more scientific than the other giant person. Thank you for letting me try your oatmeal. It was a most excellent experiment and you know that the other one would never have let me have some of hers.


Thank you also for letting me sleep on you at the pumpkin patch. It was windy and chilly but you are warm and cozy. You were much more interesting than the lines of people and pumpkins anyway.



I always appreciate it when you tell me that I look silly or that the other one has put me in some ridiculous get up. I am new here and no one else will be straight with me about what looks good. That onesie and navy socks combination you cooked up was pure sartorial brilliance, even if the other one keeps saying 'best look in the world' and laughing. You are so right, I look like someone so advanced in years that they are sure to serve me at the bars. (Can they serve me more oatmeal??)

So I will miss you this week when you are ... somewhere I have never heard of before. I'm not sure I like it when you leave the room, so I am sure I will not like it when you are even farther away. I hope you come back soon.

Peace out.

Love,

Monkey

Shout Out

To my homeskillets TR and MC:


ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!?!?

Go Horse!

Update from our doctors visit

Monkey officially has his first cold, according to the ever brilliant Pediatrician. He seems to be on the upswing so we have been cleared to visit all our new cousins and friends who have been born this month, taking normal handwashing precautions, of course. The good news is that he is 12 lbs and 12 oz, and 23.25" long! So, while a few pounds heavier, he is now just barely longer than his cousin R when she was born.

Since we've finally gotten our fall cold snap, we've been putting on our jackets and socks (although it was 80 when we visited the pumpkin patch on Monday) and come to the distressing conclusion that while Monkey is wearing large 0-3 clothes and small 3-6 clothes, his little feet are still size 0, i.e., newborn sized. So no shoes for Monkey yet (although Mrs. Zookeeper is drooling over these for when his foot is a leetle bit bigger). We did pick up a car seat cover today so he will be nice and toasty in the new car. Sadly, the bunwarmers are only in the front seat.

My Name is Monkey, and I am a Paci Addict

There are a few brands here, but Sassy MAM are the hands down favorites

Poor Monkey. He has some sort of illness which DEMANDS that SOMETHING be shoved in his mouth at all times. That may mean a finger (his or whichever is in reach) or a paci or the side of his exersaucer or the tail of his singing lobster, Rocky. Once a paci has been secured, it's considered a best practice to grind your face into your Keeper's shoulder while squealing and making pathetic, 'I am in pain' cries. Unfortunately there don't seem to be any teeth erupting as a result of all this frenzied chewing, and our very unhappy night leads us to think that something else is definitely going on. We talked to the nurse today and she said he needed to be seen before the weekend, so we are going in at 9:30 tomorrow morning. He already has an appointment next Wednesday for his 4 month shots, and we really want him to be healthy before he has those. So we will see what they say tomorrow. (My money is on ear or sinus infection, but we'll see.)

So sad because we had planned on going to the zoo for their Halloween excitement with our friends this afternoon, but unfortunately they are teething 3 molars at once (!) so everyone is spending the afternoon at home instead.

Vote Monkey 08!

Are you feeling lower than the Dow?

Election coverage burning you out?

Then turn off that debate and enjoy Monkey in 08!!

A Letter from Monkey

Dear Internets,

Hello! As you can see, I am a highly advanced Monkey who is typing this blog entry right now. All by myself. Ignore that giant hand! Yes, yes, this is actually Mr. Zookeeper's laptop, but I've been very busy conducting my Very Important Scientific Research (V.I.S.R.) which leaves little time for making money. Like so many academics, I find that my funding is somewhat limited. So my very own laptop is going to have to wait awhile.

I'm sure you realize, Internets, that for someone who is three months old I have a very busy schedule. My resident photographers and videographers have been kind enough to document some of my very exciting activities today for posterity. (Although I am seriously considering hiring some replacements because their skills of a photographer are sort of lacking).

This has been a very exciting couple of weeks because I have made many new discoveries. The biggest breakthrough is that my eyes are working together now so I finally have binocular vision and depth perception. Whew! Now I can grab all sorts of things with one hand (currently, I prefer the left hand for grabbing). In addition to my regular schedule of eating, napping and exersaucing, today we read some books. Brown Bear Brown Bear and Snuggle Puppy. I like the pictures in Brown Bear and the song that Mrs. Zookeeper sings in Snuggle Puppy. Strangely enough, our copy of Brown Bear seems to be missing 2 pages, so the White Dog only appears at the end! I will need to conduct some more V.I.S.R. on that.

After a trip to the local library, sending some presents to my new friends in Massachusetts, and flirting with all the elderly ladies at the grocery store, I did some Pondering. I Ponder many things, but today's topic was, will my hair actually come in red? Or is this just a strawberry phase? What do you think, internets?



Then, I supervised Mrs. Zookeepers activities in the kitchen for awhile. She's not that interesting in the kitchen, so I also did some V.I.S.R. on String Theory. My theory is that I like to play with the string. Also, it is good to look at. I like to refer to my Bumbo seat as my Laboratory. You know, like, la-BOAR-a-tree. It's the most scientific way to say it.










When Mrs. Zookeeper was done in the kitchen, I retired to my Boppy only to discover that my airspace was being invaded by teddy bears! If this activity continues I will open diplomatic relations with the teddy bears and begin trade negotiations. I like to carry my rattle as a symbol of my peaceful intentions.

When I was born, my Grandpa T said that my long fingers would destine me to a career as a pianist. Since the Zoo houses a piano from Grandma and Grandpa K, I have been practicing diligently. No one is paying me for my concerts yet, but surely that day is very near. I like to add my vocal stylings as well. You know, for the ladies.

Well, Internets, that is as much V.I.S.R. and artistic excellence as I can fit in one day. I must go now and practice my swimming so that I can defeat Michael Phelps' paltry Olympic records.

Until then, I wish you all an evening of political excitement.

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Good Night.

-Monkey