The Best Invention...ever!

The Tummy Tub has got to be one of the best inventions known to baby kind. They LOVE this!! It looks like a bucket, but it is designed especially for babies and premature babies. It was designed in the Netherlands. The Tummy Tub is amazing and Ian absolutely loves it! When there is nothing else, not even the pacifier, this works wonders. He is so happy in there and loves to splash around and play. It is really comforting to him.

Going Places

 Here is Ian at the local Fire Station. Some day his legs will be THIS BIG!! He looks soooo cute!

 Ian and Daddy with the largest pumpkin at the pumpkin patch!

 Mommy and Ian with all of the Pumpkins!

The whole family!

It's not that often that you get a family picture.  Unless someone walks by and offers to take it, we usually are in such a hurry that we simply forget. The pumpkin patch was fun, but there was a lot of dust for Ian. He enjoyed the Fire Station as well. There were a lot of Big Toys there. He is doing well and we are enjoying taking him out a few places!

Ian's New Talents

Ian's fingernails are growing like crazy!! We keep cutting them, but they always seem to have some mystery dirt under them. He can't really touch anything except his face, which he grabs all the time, but it still looks like he was playing in the dirt. A child's hands are a definite mystery, they have so many creases and rolls in them that they are able to store treasures from days ago in there. I clean them daily, but there still seems to be something interesting between his fingers and underneath his nails every time I check. His communication has definitely improved to the point of making sure he is the center of attention at all time, not that he wasn't talented at this since birth...now he either lets out a yell or a cough to let you know he is still in the room and why aren't you talking to him. This works even if the three of us, Roosevelt, Ian and I are all in his room and I simply talk about something other than Ian while I am holding him...talent. Also, you know how kids cover their eyes while playing hide and seek and think you can't see them simply because they can't see you? Well, this works with a bottle as well. When Ian is eating he will stop sucking for a split second and begin wailing, saying, "Where is my bottle and why isn't it in my mouth? Feed me!!!!!!!" When I remind him that if he just sucks on the bottle that is already in his mouth, then he is okay...He is calling me from the other room with a cough...speak of the angels!!

The Power of the Pacifier

Ian is beginning to share all of his beautiful abilities to create sound. We think he is not only going to be a singer, but a very animated one. He sure has mastered the art of verbal communication and we are finding ways to calm him down. The nurses in the NICU told us to remember the 5 S's: shushing, swaying, singing, swaddling and sucking. The last one works and so does bouncing, as for the others we have to get a bit creative. My newest is holding him a few inches from my body and swaying him around, he is so amazed that he is flying that he stops crying and looks around like, "Wow! This is so cool!" So, that works well and so does the pacifier. The hard part about that is keeping it in his mouth. I'm sure they have come up with some sort of gadget to keep it in their mouth, but I haven't seen it yet. If not, I think I'll create my own. Holding Ian is good, but not good enough. Once he learned how to express himself and let us know that he wanted to be held he was fine as soon as he was in your arms, now it's a bit of a different story. He likes to be held, but be moving at the same time. Now I hold him and walk all around the house and out on the deck and back inside and around the house and back on the deck and back inside, so you see how that goes over and over again. It is good to get up and move around now! I think this is only the beginning of him showing us just how active he is going to be, which is a good thing. He will keep Mommy and Daddy busy!!

Gender Differences

It is quite apparent that little boys and girls are so completely opposite from the moment they are born into this world. I once thought that it wasn't really that different to be the parent of a boy or a girl until I watched  children play. Little boys growl and wrestle and little girls play nicely with the others. It didn't help much to have a minor in Women's Studies in college because they didn't teach you about men, they taught you about women and they are very, very different from each other. My mom said it well when she had my brother, "I only had sisters and didn't know what little boys were like. I took him to the doctor when he was two and asked her if he was okay because he didn't talk, he just made car noises." My father always said the women's restroom was a warning for men, saying "Woah-Men, don't go in there!" I should have listened carefully. Actually, being the mother of a boy is a very rewarding job and I cannot be more proud to be "Ian's Mom." That is my new nickname and what other kids and moms will refer to me as from here on out. Unless, I ask them to call me Mrs. Porto or something more formal like my real name...I was at a birthday party once and one of the girls came up to me and asked, "Are you Russo's wife?" and I had to stop and think..."Who is Russo?" and once I realized that was Roosevelt I replied, "Yes, I guess I am Russo's wife." Now I will be referred to as somebody's mom, which is quite a rewarding reference. I guess they should create a major in college called Men's Studies...that would be useful for both sexes.

Big Boy Toys

We took Ian down to the airport here in town to show him some Big Boy Toys and he had a great time. It is fun to finally take him out in public and to put on shoes!! It has been almost five months and we are just beginning to share our little man with the world. I have spent so much time telling people I am a mom without having my son with me, just showing a picture. Now Roosevelt and I can go around the block and say, "Look! We really do have a son and here he is!" It is such a revelation to actually feel like you are one family unit instead of three separate parts. We are just now beginning to see the wonderfulness of being a family together.

Child Cub

In no way are there words to explain little boys, except to compare them to baby animals. It is amazing to watch my little man eat...it's like a lion cub going for the kill, wrestling his food to the ground and then devouring it.  One definition of devour is to destroy: to destroy something rapidly and completely. He is a consumption machine, farting, punching, scratching, kicking, growling and roaring just to get his food down...which is only milk and doesn't need killing or chewing to get down, simply swallowing will do.