We have an appointment to take Zeph back to Sick Kids on Friday. His weight gain has never really been great. He regained his birth weight quickly enough, but since then he's had a steady but slow gain. A few weeks ago he didn't put on anything for a fortnight, put on double the amount the next two weeks and is now gaining very little. He's been really weird about feeding since he had a really nasty cold. Sometimes he refuses to feed from one side or the other, and this is leading me to have problems with my milk supply. The health visitor thinks that his slow gain is probably because he's a very active baby, but she and the doctor would like him to get a complete check at their clinic.
Other than that his development is fine. He's learned to roll from his front to his back, and tries really hard to roll the other way. He can pull himself up to a standing position and keep himself upright.
He's hugely social (like his daddy...) and makes friends wherever he goes - the parenting group at the clinic, the Rhymetime sessions at the library, everywhere! We meet up with the other mums from our antenatal class at least once a month, and Zeph is rather enamoured with Flora, the only girl born to the group. When we met a month ago Zeph was desperately trying to climb over to see her, stroking her arm and trying to hold her hand. She pulled back with a look of 'You're being a bit forward!' and Zeph turned his attentions to Flora's mother instead, holding her hand and 'talking' to her!
Today Chris had the day off work so we finally took the plunge (I'd apologise for the pun but I'm not at all sorry!) and took Zeph swimming for the first time. We were really unsure how he'd like it - he likes going in the bath with us, but that water is a lot warmer! Things were fine at first...
... but went rapidly downhill when the showers before the pool went cold. I think that even the most good-natured baby would scream at a strong jet of cold water in the face! Things didn't improve much when we got Zeph into the pool. The water wasn't very warm, and although he gradually stopped crying he soon started getting quite cold. When we noticed that his hands and arms were going grey we quickly got out of the pool and I went and stood under the (now nice and warm) showers with the boy to let him warm up. As he got dressed he fussed less and less, and while we were dressing he just lay on the nappy changing table, sucking his soother and giving us pointed looks!
I think we managed about ten minutes in the pool, which is probably enough for a first go, and we're going to try to take him swimming regularly. There's also parent and baby sessions too, which might be fun.
I'll post an update after his hospital appointment.
