4 months

Yesterday, Gabriel was four months old. It's bizarre - it feels like he has been with us for an incredibly long time, but when you actually count, it hasn't even been 125 days. So it may be true indeed: Babies grow fast. In the last two weeks, Gabriel grew by 0.5 cm to 66.5 cm, and he got heavier by 300 g, so that he weighs now 7.3 kg.
One moment last week that made me realize just how much he has changed was when I looked for a desktop wallpaper for my new laptop (which I recieved after long wait; the University of Montreal is not the most efficient place when it comes to ordering. I was very much reminded of the process by this comic). On my old laptop, I still have the picture of little Gabriel asleep on Michelle's shoulder that I posted a while ago.

For the new laptop, I chose this picture:

It's not only his looks that have changed, but also the way he interacts with the world. Here's a video from when he was one day old:

And here's Gabriel's speech on the occasion of his 4-month "anniversary" (featuring Michelle):

Learning

This week, I've had two more opportunities to try and be only parent for Gabriel. I'm learning quickly. For example, the milk has to be thawed before Gabriel gets really hungry. Once he's been crying for ten minutes or more, he has a very hard time calming down. The milk has to be around 37°C, or Gabriel will keep complaining while he eats. And there are all kinds of fun way to carry a baby (at least in my and Gabriel's opinion) that I best explore when Michelle is somewhere else.

Gabriel is learning, too. He is gradually getting better at interacting with objects: He grabs them with one or both hand and puts them in his mouth. Or at least he tries.

The above is a toy Michelle has borrowed from the Joujouthèque, a "library" that loans toys. What an excellent idea for parents who don't really need heaps of toys all over the place. Below, he is trying to eat one of Michelle's own creations: A rattle made from two sieves that enclose two bells and that are held together by multi-colored yarn. Both Gabriel and I like to play with it a lot.

Another activity Gabriel likes is touching the wall. He can spend several minutes pushing against a wall. That is good because it leaves sufficient time to call Michelle, admire Gabriel's activity, and get the camera to take pictures. He also does that with my face, which is kind of neat, except that I have to clean my glasses afterwards. I believe that he is starting to get a feel for the length of his arms, and for distance in general, rather than to explore the wall. For example, he didn't ever try to touch the light switch. Apparently, it is going to take a moment before he realizes that this is something unusual that can be manipulated.

Feeding the baby

I have been giving Gabriel the bottle almost every evening for the last two weeks. It is wonderful that I am finally able to feed my boy, too. In retrospect it was fairly easy go get Gabriel to drink from a plastic nipple, though I did worry for a while that he would refuse it. Walking around with the crying baby to calm him down, teasing his lips with the nipple, and not giving in finally did the trick.

Now, Gabriel starts making sucking motions when he sees the bottle, which is nice. However, he is tired in the evening which dramatically shortens his attention span and his ability to endure discomfort. Thus, if he's not extremely hungry, he keeps looking around while trying to drink, or he cries because of hunger and tiredness instead of drinking, so that I have to walk around with him to keep him sufficiently calm.
At any rate, feeding Gabriel seems to have quite an effect. At 3.5 months, Gabriel weighs between 6.9 and 7 kilograms and is about 66 cm tall, which puts him into the 75th percentile for weight, and 95th percentile for height (US statistics). I'm glad his weight isn't in the 95th percentile, too.

Wednesday, I have spent my first evening alone with Gabriel, since Michelle went to take a class on autism. I am glad she is able to start making contacts. While having a baby with you tends to make start talking to you, their questions are most often limited to age ("Il n'est pas vieux, non?"), sex, and name, and in a place where parties seem to mostly start around 9pm, it's hard for young parents to hang out. Fortunately, there are also local associations for young parents, where Michelle can meet people other than me and Gabriel.
Wednesday night taught me that I will be able to take care of Gabriel next week, too, when Michelle is going to be absent for two evenings - Gabriel did everything a baby his age can do to make a parent's life difficult except peeing all over me. Not on purpose, though, and when he was lying on the changing table for the second time (he usually poos about once every 2-3 days, not twice on a single evening) with a diaper so full of abysmally stinking poo that it had overflown, soiling his entire back, he was so happy and cute that I couldn't feel bad about the mess. Just a bit tired, maybe.
Michelle told me that I wasn't allowed to share a picture of a full diaper with you. All of you who don't know, or don't remember what it is like, I therefore have to invite to come here and experience the other side of feeding the baby for yourself.