Day 42 11/8/2011The 9th Percentile

So we went back to the health visitor's today and had Michael weighed and checked out. He is now 4.33 Kg or 9 Lb 8 ounces. He is perfectly following the 9th percentile which is just fine. This means only 9 percent of baby boys a smaller than him at this age but it is perfectly healthy. He is obviously a small boy especially compared to some of the big pink English boys I see around but he is doing very well. Look at his great chubby cheeks in this picture.



We got to the Access Centre (as it is called) so early that I was able to sit with Rocio and have a cup of coffee before the Health Visitor started her rounds. Very civilised. See what you can do with just a little practice? Perhaps we'll go again (twice) next week.

We haven't managed to get Michael to accept his dummy again since the other day. He'll give it a go if he's is a good mood for about 10 seconds. Then he spits it out as if he were just humouring us. It reminds me of myself and chewing gum. I enjoy it for a few seconds and then I just can't be bothered to keep chewing this worthless rubbery stuff. So I spit it out.
Likewise Michael hasn't really smiled again since the one day he tried it out a bit and he hasn't really played with his toys since the one day he tried playing/suckling on his big textured butterfly thing. I guess he will get back to doing all these in time. I just don't know when. I really have very little idea about normal child development so I don't know when to expect him to do different things. When will he start laughing or holding hands or smiling or playing with objects or holding his head up or playing ukulele or enjoying tickles or raspberries on the belly. I just don't know. I get a bit frustrated, not because I want him to do things before he is ready but because he himself seems to get frustrated a lot. I really want him to be happy and I don't like it when he cries because of this. I think he is a very alert, intelligent and determined little boy but he has nothing to do at the moment except bother his mum for milk and sleep. When he is full of milk but not sleepy what can he do but get upset and cry? I get upset when my little boy cries. So does Rocio. We so want him to be happy.

Rocio says in the afternoon Michael slept for only 10 mins and woke up crying. It was time to hang the wet washing out so he was put in the sling and they went out onto the patio he was enjoying being outside and the whole washing activity when suddenly two drunk men came out for cigarettes. We share the patio with two other flats. This is fine except that some use the patio as smoking room. There are smoke detectors in all the flats so they come out to smoke just where we hang our washing. Rocio said "Please no not now!" and they thankfully went back in, apparently delaying their cigarettes for Michael's sake . Michael and Rocio enjoyed the patio a bit more then they went in. Michael cried a lot and Rocio fed him, he cry a lot more and Rocio decided he needed to dance. So they danced in the Kitchen to D.J. Bobo and the like.



This went very well and Michael was happy again. Rocio decided it was time to go to the corner shop but Michael didn't want to and he cried and cried. As soon as they got into the shop he was happy again and stopped crying. He started again as soon as they stepped outside to go home and it was soon bed time and he slept like a log hardly even waking to feed in the night.