Week 7 Day 4: Baby fun jail

Gavin digs his new playpen (which apparently has its own blog? What?). We set it up today in the living room. It's smaller than I thought it would be, but gigantic since our house is very small. Now that he's starting to get mobile, the playpen, or as I call it, baby fun jail, will definitely come in handy when I need to contain him somewhere so that I can do something else. This something else is often make him his bottle. I guess "make" is the wrong word since the contents come pre-made from Stacy's milk glands or whatever. All I have to do is heat it up. But it's more complicated than that. I often have to pour the milk from one bottle into a Dr. Brown's bottle, which is the only bottle I'll use with Gavin. We have tried others and the result was a very frustrating feeding experience for all involved. But these bottles have several parts and it's just not possible to assemble everything while holding Gavin at the same time. Especially since he's hell bent on grabbing anything and everything within his reach. Case in point, the playpen has toys built into each mesh side and Gavin, while on his stomach, turned himself 360 degrees in order to check out each and every toy. He seems to like the crinkly butterfly the best. What is it with kids and crinkling? So many of Gavin's toys feel and sound like they're filled with hardcandy wrappers.

There is nary a bump on his head from his spill yesterday. He is fine. But I have to admit that I keep picturing it happen over and over again and hearing that sound. That horrible thud like someone threw a softball onto the wood floor. And each time this churning feeling in my gut and I can feel my entire body flush all the way to my cheekbones.

We took a video of Gavin pushing himself backwards along the floor today. He can totally move his body, just not in the direction he wants. Once his mobility is fully activated I am in big trouble. Our house is so small. It's really no place for a little boy to run around. We never meant to be in this house so long and always said we'd move to a bigger place before we had a baby. But in this market that obviously wasn't happening. I'm going to look into some kind of program at the Y or something where Dude can run his ass ragged. Once summer comes we can run around in the yard. Not huge, but not a bad size for a toddler. We can go to parks, etc. Then again, I could suit him up and set him loose in the snow in the backyard. A day like today would be good for that: sunny but not terribly cold. I never much liked playing outside in the cold when I was little. I remember at recess when I was in elementary school on top of the twisty side where I was shielded somewhat from the wind and just huddling there wishing recess was over. I hope Gavin is more game than that. But the snow could be over by the time he's walking. Probably will be, in fact. Still, getting him out in the snow at least once should definitely happen, even if he just sits in the snow and topples over into it.