Month: February 2009

Active Alert State

Gage’s awake times are longer now, over an hour at times, but he can be kinda fussy. He tries to move his head, which sometimes butts into you, and his hands explore, sometimes scratching. He seems to get a bit frustrated like baby Austen, who was never satisfied with her immobile infantile state.

It’s really cool when his eyes lock onto you. He has such a curious expression, like he really wants to understand who you are and what you’re saying. Mommy thinks he recognizes her. He really seems to enjoy when Grandma and Grandpa speak to him.

“NO! YOU CAN’T DO THAT. IT’S DANGEROUS. … NOW I’M NOT HAPPY.”

Austen told Davinder he wasn’t allowed to get his ear pierced and Mommy couldn’t help but notice that her emphatic ‘No!’ sounded a lot like Mommy’s. The little dictator is good at telling people what to do in a an extremely authoritative tone. Of course, she’s shy and reserved around “older” kids (read: six year olds).

Prima and Segundo

Davinder and Lucinda went to see Big Night on their first date. In the movie, two brothers, Primo and Segundo, start an authentic Italian restaurant and struggle to keep their family business afloat. In the final scenes, they fight on a beach and then make up by cooking breakfast together. Big Night is now one of Davinder’s all-time favorite movies, so of course he’s renamed the kids Prima and Segundo. Yesterday Austen was helping to push Gage in a stroller and yelling “Segundo, Segundo …” with Dada.

Recent twitter updates:

lloydheat: Great job sugundo hardly a peep during call. Now doing strike training. Sugundo crazy baby Dr. Lu all sleeping (about 3 hours ago from twitterrific)

lloydheat: Holding feeding changing segundo while on conf call on mute (about 5 hours ago from twitterrific)

davinder_r: Crazy baby (Segundo & Mama) are hangin with auntie heather today, who’s visiting/working/planning house sale/planning to move/etc (about 9 hours ago from twitterrific)

Unexpected Benefit of “Big Sister”

When thinking about what life would be like with two kids, I never considered the possibility that having Austen around would help with the baby. She makes cute comments: “Uh oh, he got sad” when he’s getting fussy, Her sympathetic commentary makes it easier to deal with baby Gage’s crying. She says “shhhhh” to try to sooth him and turns on his swing, talks to him and offers to feed him by holding his bottle. She seems to accept that he needs to be taken care of, usually without complaining about the attention he gets. She also discusses issues like what he can eat. When talking about how he only drinks milk and can’t have a lollipop, she suggested that maybe he could have one when he’s older: “Maybe when he’s 2 he can eat a lollipop too.”