7.2.05: the emerging personality

Five months after birth and one month after arriving home, Mason's personality is really starting to come alive in new ways. Some of his behaviors are developing quicker than we expected, given that we're supposed to follow his "corrected age" when we measure his development. When we adjust his age to about 6 weeks old, we're surprised to see him so engaged in the world around him; "talking" to us or his stuffed animals, lifting his head and checking out his surroundings. He can be quite expressive, with many smiles, hoots and hollers. Mason becomes entranced by window blinds, shutters, and ceiling fans. He is already starting to associate things, such as when you tuck a burp cloth under his chin, he's well aware that a bottle is soon to follow. He shows this awareness by smirking, followed by opening his mouth wide while waving his arms all around.

Overall, Mason has been a happy boy. He has fewer and fewer cries as we learn to understand his cues, and as he trusts that we are there for him. I have to admit that practicing the "attachment parenting" techniques has made this happen rather seamlessly.

I'm more comfortable than I ever thought I'd be cosleeping with Mason, as it allows us all to sleep so much more soundly and I can sense him stirring long before a cry would erupt. He usually gets up once a night, roughly around 4am, but has slept through until about 7am on three occasions. His pediatrician assured us there's no reason to wake him to eat as long as he's growing like he is. In the case he does sleep through the night, we just group his medications into the first feeding of the morning.

After reading more about how cobedding with either a parent or a twin can help preemies breathe better and prevent apnea spells, I decided to look back through Mason's NICU journal and confirmed that his very last apnea spell happened the night before he was cobedded with Avery. From that point forward, he never experienced even a mild episode of apnea while sleeping. Coincidence?

Mason spends at least a few hours a day in the sling or Bjorn with one of us while we go about our daily activities such as watering outdoor plants, playing frisbee with the dogs, updating the website or returning phone calls. Maintaining this practice will clearly be tougher once Avery comes home, but at least for the few weeks that Mama has off of work, we will each be able to carry a baby for a period of time, and we will have some time to figure out how we can maintain some level of baby wearing with only one parent at home.

Mason has had one more pediatrician appointment over the past two weeks and checked out wonderfully in all aspects. At the time, just about a week ago, he weighed 11 lbs. 10oz, ... so we suspect he's currently over 12 pounds. We will confirm this on Tuesday when he goes in for his second round of vaccinations and another check up.

The public health nurse also made her first visit to assess Mason's overall health last week. She will visit approximately once a month. Primarily, her role is to make sure Mason (and Avery) are reaching their developmental milestones, but she also helps us manage the plethora of appointments and resources we have available to us in this process. Between Alta Regional, CCS (California Children's Services), the NANI project (for early intervention) and all the specialists our little guys need to see, it can be a little overwhelming. We're grateful to have her help to keep us organized and on top of things. In addition, she is also great emotional support. During her assessment of Mason for this first visit, she remarked just how well Mason appears to be doing given his health history. He is also the largest preemie she has ever worked with while he ranks so high up there on the growth charts.

We continue to soak up every moment we have to bond with Mason at home while we also give Avery as much time each day as possible, hoping to promote the healing process and get him home.