Photographic Evidence

In the last blog post I promised pictures to show just how much our little Cubby has grown over the last month. We took him in to the pediatrician yesterday, and our little bundle of joy now weighs 8 lbs 8 oz., which is a full three pounds over his birth weight. Needless to say, he eats well. Anyway, I thought I would post the pictures week-by-week. Enjoy.







As you can clearly see, the boy is growing like a weed. I've always heard parents say they grow up too fast; now I truly understand what that means.

Feed Me!!!

Many thanks to everyone that voted in the poll. Most everyone agrees it was gas that caused Cubby to smile. My personal thanks to the two people that voted for the blog.

Let's talk about why I have decided to refer to my handsome little man as "Cubby" and why that nickname seems to really fit these days. It all started when SuperMom was still expecting. Whenever she would feel irritable and short-tempered, I always joked that she was starting to show some "mama bear" instincts. Maybe you've seen the nature shows where the bear cubs are playing and creating mischief, then the mama bear makes a noise or paws at them and they fall in line? I guess you could compare it to a slap upside the head.

I have no idea why that popped in my head, but it did, and when we were discussing nicknames I said I would call him "Cubby" because SuperMom = Mama Bear, and Cooper = Cubby Bear.

**I would like to dispel the rumor that I chose the nickname because I am a big fan of a certain baseball team in Chicago. It is purely coincidental.**

Last week SuperMom accompanied Cubby to the pulmonologist. Our pediatrician recommended RSV shots, and wanted us to take him in to get on the list. So we did. We're not sure why, and we plan to ask next week when we see the good Doctor. Anyway, the nurses weighed him and Cubby tipped the scales at 8 lbs 4 oz. He was born at 5 lbs. 8 oz. My little man is apparently a competitive eater. In case you are scoring at home, that's 2 lbs and 12 oz. gained in a little under a month. It might be average, but it sure seems like a lot.

You might be wondering what the video above has to do with this post. When Cubby eats, or wants to eat, he makes these little grunts, groans and growls. I joke with SuperMom that the Tiger Cub is hungry, because that what he sounds like---a Tiger/Lion cub.

Sometimes he doesn't want to wait and will try to eat his hands or anything else that comes close to his mouth. This includes his pacifier, my finger, or even SuperMom's lip (she was kissing him on the cheek the other day and he tried to eat her face).

My next post will be photos to show just how much he's grown in a month. He'll be 1/12 of a year old tomorrow, which happens to coincide with the first K-State football game of the year (and the return of a certain legendary head football coach to the sideline). He'll be wearing his purple, you can bet on that.

Fooled You!!!

"Mommy, I see you snapping that picture with your cell phone. Now feel the thunder!"

One of the most special moments for a new parent is when your baby smiles at you for the first time. It has happened at various times for Supermom, various times for dad, and a few times when we were in the same room. I wondered if it was something I said, some crazy face I made, or maybe he was just thinking about all of the trouble he was about to cause. Whatever was triggering his smile, I wanted to repeat the behavior and see it again.

Then Supermom picked up a book titled "What to Expect the First Year" that she had been browsing through since the day we came home from the hospital. "The First Year" is a follow-up best-seller to "What to Expect When You're Expecting." Basically these books cover all aspects of pregnancy and the first year week-by-week. She wanted to see what the book had to say about smiling, and then she dropped this piece of knowledge on me.

"It says here that a smile this early means he has gas."

The last few blog entries have been all about my son's digestive system...in the front door and out the back. So I apologize in advance, but I'm going to tackle Cubby's mysterious and intriguing smile, and it may or may not involve his digestive system.

Because I'm lazy, and my office has a lightning fast high-speed internet connection, I logged on to Google and searched for "Why Babies Smile." You would not believe the amount of information that is out there. If you don't believe me, do it for yourself.

A couple of anecdotal comments from Yahoo! Answers seemed to confirm what the book says. My favorite was from someone with the screen name Denis9705 who says "Because they remember the one about the dog under the table." Kudos to you, Denis9705. I laughed out loud.

After more browsing the "gas relief" theory seemed to gather more momentum. Until I stumbled across a website called "JustTheFactsBaby." An entry dated 7/14/09 cited Dr. Daniel Messinger, an associate professor of psychology and pediatrics at the University of Miami. From the website:

Baby smiles at 0-1 months
Neonatal smiling occurs from birth to one month of age and shows no emotional content. Smiles are spontaneous and often occur while the baby is drowsy or during REM stages of sleep. Baby smiles are subcortical in origin and will actually decrease with maturity (so premature babies smile more than full-term babies). And, contrary to popular belief, baby smiles have nothing to do with gas.

Ah-Ha!!! So it's neither!

When it comes right down to it I'm still not convinced the gas theory isn't accurate. Especially considering my son seems to enjoy ripping a juicy fart so much.

I can't decide, and because I live in this beautiful democracy we call the United States, I'm going to throw it open to a vote. Cast your ballot in the poll.