Underweight at Christmas

Yes, I notice it too. How all the post titles are about my darling's height, weight etc but it's the way things are I guess. I worry that he's not putting on enough weight. I call home to check what he's been eating, or not, how much sleep he's had and what he does. I have an insatiable appetite for every detail I hear from my mum and zero boredom for repeats. I do so miss the time I should be spending with my little Ethan every day, teaching him new things, being there for when he realises that banging his head on the floor can hurt. I ache to be there everyday and I see every minute I am not with him as time lost. Never before have I been so aware of the inidividual grains of sand that slip past the neck of the hourglass as when I am NOT with my little precious.

But what to do, I have mouths to feed. The joy though, when I AM with little Ethan has been unmeasurable. I will forever find interesting his curiosity, his ability to pull at my heart and cause it to expand with feelings I never thought I had.

Ethan has 4.75 teeth and ate an entire biscuit today from my hand. Hand feeding Ethan is a great stress reliever, I can't remember what deadlines I have, what bills I haven't paid, have no ability to pay or who said what irritating thing in the office that day. I only have eyes for Ethan's smile as he chews his little biscuit and opens up his mouth for more.

We brought Ethan to see the Christmas lights along Orchard Road last saturday. The lights weren't such a big deal but Ethan was totally entralled by the spindly bits of the Christmas trees. He finds that it's "gee-lee" to put his hand on the pokey spines of the Christmas tree branches and it amuses him to no end. Add many small lights and big shiny baubles and we have a winner!

We brought him to the paed on Thurs morn and Ethan is 9kg only at 1 year and 3 weeks. That's bad! Ethan is supposed to triple his birth weight at 12 months. That should make it 10.2 kg. My poor baby. My mom made another attempt at rice that same day and failed as miserably and less messily as before and declared Ethan non solid-feedable.

But while he's not eating solids, he's still otherwise healthy and totally adorable. Every morning, Ethan wants his hugs, his kisses and spoons with us to wake us up. It makes my day first thing in the morning to wake up to happy smiles, slobbering kisses and happy squeals. Makes me happy just to be alive and in the moment.