February 2005 Archives

On our way home from Cafe Java yesterday, we saw a large dog loose in the middle of the Metric/Gracy Farms intersection. Since we weren't in a hurry, we decided to pull over to see if we could locate the dog's owner -- that's what I'd like for others to do if they ever saw Homer running lose (not that anyone could get close enough to him to read his tags).

The dog came to me when I called, and although he was rumbunctious (all 80 lbs of him), I managed to get his name, Ezekiel, and his owner's phone #. The number didn't work, so we loaded him in Jfer's car and took him home to try again later. The dog looked like a cross between a huge German Shepherd (coloring, head and ears) and a Chow (thick fur and curled tail), and although big, he seemed fairly young, and he was most definitely not fixed. He also seemed very gentle and friendly.

We got him home and in the back yard. Later we introduced him to Homer, and once they got over some initial dominance issues (initiated by Homer) they actually played around (initiated by Zeke). We kept Zeke in the back yard, and had to listen to his attempts to get in the house to join us.

So this morning I called the vet's number on the dog's rabies tag and some time later the owner called Jennifer back and eventually picked Zeke up. It turned out that Zeke was not a mutt but rather a $1000 pure-bread Akita. They'd been looking for him all day long on Sunday and the reason the phone # on his tag wasn't working was because Zeke had previously eaten that cell phone!

So all's well that ends well and the dog and his owner are reunited. And Homer was lucky enough that Zeke (who appears to be a lover and not a fighter) didn't seem to be aggressive towards other dogs -- a trait of that breed. Or maybe Zeke thought that Homer was a girl.

Well, it was bound to happen some day. When I was woken up by my alarm this morning, I rolled over to check out my girl and there was no baby in the bed! Not in the middle and not on Jennifer's other side. Jfer and I looked at each other and both said that we'd better check that Magda's still breathing. And there she was, in her bassinet, all awake and smiling and not complaining one bit.

So now she's officially slept through a full night by herself in her bassinet! We've been very happy with her longer sleeping schedule (usually waking up for a feeding only around 5 a.m.) but this was a very cool first. Let's hope that she makes a habit out of it.

Magda enjoys her baby gyms - laying in her back and looking up at and grabbing the toys dangling above her. She can stay entertained for quite some time and, I hate to admit it, really likes the electronically animated version of the gym.

One her blanket, she's been working on turning onto her side for a while now. Usually she ends up scooting around in a cirtcle, never quite making it onto her belly. But yesterday she succeeded for the very first time. I think she got some leverage by pushing off the gym -- in any case, she ended up on her belly to our delight! She didn't seem too upset and hasn't repeated that feat since, but I'm now definitelly even more vigilant when she's on the changing table.

Magda had her 4 month doctor visit last week and it turned out that her weight -- which we had thought was "kinda small" or maybe even just "dainty" -- was off the charts! It's not that she's trying to stay slim due to peer pressure or because of my slender genes, it turns out that she simply hasn't been getting enough calories and we, the clueless and "let's not be overprotective" parents that we are, didn't notice. She's been healthy and not really complaining, so we didn't think anything was amis.

So after a session with the lactation consultant and another trip to the doctor, we're focused on our mission of making her chubby. Jennifer took it initially pretty hard -- feeling guily about being an inadequate provider and such -- but I think all three of us are dealing much better now. We're keeping track of how much she eats and every time she nurses, she also gets a bottle of formula which she's gotten to enjoy. The silver lining for me is that I now get to feed her a lot. There is nothing quite like having your baby on your lap, contently sucking on the bottle. (I'm sure Jfer would disagree about the bottle part)

Jfer's also taking better care of herself, doing herbs and making sure she gets enough protein (hmmm, steaks!) We have another weigh-in on Monday. The doctor said that if her weight didn't improve, she may have to go to the hospital. Luckily, after some initial hesitance, Magda has taken to the bottle and is now sucking the extra food down like there is no tomorrow. She has also discovered what "spitting up" means and usually reserves it for me (since I've been doing the bottle feeding this weekend). On the other hand, she's more content and sleeps for longer stretches of time and quite deeply! And I could swear that she's put on some baby fat over the last couple of days, so things are definitely looking up.

Before their visit, my parents asked me what they could bring from CH or CR. I mainly asked for childrens books and music for Magda. They brought books with stories I remember from my childhood (some even translated into English, which looks kind of weird) and a children's song CD called Kočka leze dírou (the name of a common song).

The song listing on the CD listed almost 40 different songs -- and I realized that I still knew the tune and most of the words to almost every single one of them. These are simple folk songs, usually consiting of only a couple of verses, but still! Many of them I'd already been singing to Magda, and I probably sing her another dozen of songs that aren't on that CD.