my favorite sound

Here's a sample of Benjamin's laughter:

(This was recorded tonight. You can download it here.)

- papa

babble baby

According to our weekly Wednesday email from BabyCenter.com, at 5 months and 4 weeks:

Your baby the babbler

Your baby now sees and hears the world almost as well as you do. Her communication skills are expanding rapidly, too, as evidenced by her squeals, bubbling sounds, and operatic octave changes. Her sounds can demonstrate her attitude or response to objects — such as happiness, eagerness, or even satisfaction — with a problem well solved.

At this age, about half of babies babble, repeating one syllable — such as "ba," "ma," "ga," or other consonant-vowel combinations — over and over. A few will even add another syllable or two, making their sounds more complex.

You can encourage your baby by babbling right back at her and by making a game of it ("The sheep says, 'baaa,'" or "The goat says, 'maaa'"). Or, when you hear a syllable you can't identify, just respond enthusiastically with, "Yes, that is a car! See how shiny the red paint is?" Your baby will appreciate your encouraging her by keeping the conversation going.

She'll also appreciate it if you listen as if you understand everything she says and find it extremely interesting. Try simulating a conversation: You listen while she talks, then ask a question and wait for a response!

For the first couple of months, Benjamin, as often as not, was in the lower 50% for developing particular skills mentioned on BabyCenter.com. We tried not to worry about it. For the past few months, Benjamin seems to be a month or two ahead of schedule — suddenly doing everything early.

So when we read that half of 5-month-and-4-week-old babies are babbling, it concerned us in that we're-going-to-deny-this-concerns-us sort of way.

Nathalie pointed out that he babbles constantly according to our definition: lots of meaningless phonemes strung together at various volumes and pitches. But not according to the BabyCenter definition: "consonant-vowel combinations — over and over".

That was yesterday.

Tonight, out of nowhere, Benjamin started BabyCenter-babbling.

Mostly he said "ma ma ma" and "ba ba ba" but at one point he said "die die da da!" — which I've decided not to take as an Oedipal outburst.

Here's his monologue on the topic of his mother:


(or download)

- papa (aka Die-Die Dada)

End of June?

We just had our first June OB appointment — the appointment that marks the start of weekly doctor's visits (during the first two trimesters you generally see the doctor every 4 weeks, then during the first part of the third trimester every two weeks, then every week during the last month).

Dr W checked Benjamin's heart beat — it sounds good.



He then palpated my belly and said "I love this size" -- about the baby, not my belly! Right now the baby is probably around 4½ lbs and Dr W estimated that at birth he will be around 7–7½ lbs. He also said that if he were born today he would be fine.

So far, we were still on target. Then came the internal exam:

• 0 station (meaning Benjamin is head down, but hasn't started down the birth canal — which he normally wouldn't do until the second stage of labor anyway)
• 0 dilation (cervix isn't opening yet — thank goodness!!!)
• 50% effaced (cervix is thinning… which is what it does before opening)

Dr W predicted we wouldn't make it to the estimated birth date! Looks like Benjamin might arrive end of June. (And of course I now think of the question I didn't ask: does that mean he'll be less than 7 lbs?)

Maman really needs to finish organizing the house and find curtains for the nursery! Not to mention practice breathing and relaxation for labor, and do stretching exercises…

Yikes!

-maman

pumpkin heart ~ 29 weeks

(Or download here.)

geek dad 2:25

The Creative Commons license doesn't allow me to edit the audio I wanted to share from this episode of the great science fiction short story audio magazine Escape Pod, so instead I have to suggest you just listen to the first 2 minutes and 25 seconds.

If you're interested in Escape Pod itself, I don't recommend you start with this episode. Instead I'd recommend Imperial, Robots and Falling Hearts, or L'Alchimista. Or if you don't have much time, you can look through the list of flash fiction (short short stories).

(And if you don't understand why this post is on a baby blog, it just means you haven't yet listened to the first 2:25.)

- papa

pumpkin heart

As promised 4 weeks ago, the punkin's heartbeat:


(Or download here.)

soporific toys

Angel our nextdoor neighbor is a mother of 3, runs a daycare, and is training to become a doula. She is one of the reasons we're moving back to Charlottesville.

(Another reason is MJH just down the road, where we are now signed up for 6 weeks of childbirth classes, a breastfeeding class, and a basic baby care class. It's also where the pumpkin will, if things go according to plan, first see the world.)

One of Angel's charges is a 6-month-old girl who sleeps cuddling a "Sleep Sheep" -- a fluffy companion that plays the sound of "Mother's Heartbeat" (or, if you prefer, "Spring Showers", "Ocean Surf", or "Whale Songs").

Angel also points us to The Original Slumber Bear -- which, according to the website, "contains the ONLY actual intra-uterine, recorded womb sound to help lull your Baby to sleep in minutes! Sound and motion sensors re-activate recording when Baby cries or jostles bear."

When we were up in the Catskill Mountains, we visited my favorite boyhood store and bought the pumpkin a teddybear, so I'm more inclined toward the Sleep Sheep. I suspect we'll get one or the other. But I find myself wondering when someone's going to come out with a soporific crib toy that lets me upload and download MP3 files. We're already planning to put my old powerbook in the nursery so we can have access to the full music library in there. Maybe I should just look for a CD of sleepy sounds, or a place to download them.

I'll end this audiocentric pondering with a guessing game. What are these 3 sounds?

1. Aye


2. Bee


3. See

No peeking!

I'll just say for now that it's not maman's heartbeat, not the pumpkin's heartbeat, not the Sleep Sheep, and not the Slumber Bear. No, it's not my heartbeat either.

- papa