Quinn news

He's been Mr. Bipolar these days. Happy as a clam through the day and screams his head off every evening. He was to the doctor today to follow up on his excema. It's mostly gone, but the doc was a little concerned about some swelling in his scrotum. We're going to see a pediatrician about it but it probably (hopefully!) nothing to worry about. The inconsolable screaming fits make me worried though... He's up over 13 lbs - apparently he's in the 90 percentile for growth. He's definitely getting noticeably taller. He barely fits in the portable bathtub now. Maybe the screaming is just from the rapid growth.

He's cooing and gurgling much more and has more focus in his eyes when looking at someone or something. During the daytime he's quite happy and smiley. This morning I had him for a half hour or so while Bec sneaked some more sleep, and I had him in the bouncy chair on the kitchen counter while I got ready for work. I noticed him tracking me as I passed back and forth in front of him, so I started playing a little game with him. I'd move right and wait for his eyes to catch up and then coo at him, and he'd smile. I did that back and forth a few times and he was quite delighted. Then I hid my face behind my hands and then took them away. The first time his eyes followed my right hand away from my face and then came back to my face and he smiled. The second and third times he knew to look behind where my hands were instead of following my hands. Smart kid.

The other night I fed him a little from a bottle of milk that Bec had pumped. He seemed to take it just fine. Bec was a little sad but I don't think she's in any danger of being put out of a job. We're working at getting him used to sleeping in the playpen as a step towards the crib but I think that's going to take awhile. Bec tried dairy again starting yesterday, and while he's had another fit tonight we're suspecting that dairy is not the problem. We do suspect eggs though.

We're still agonizing over the vaccination decision. There seems to be a not-ignorable correlation with the onset of autism, which terrifies us. It's difficult to get any hard numbers though, but we haven't yet started researching it in earnest. For now we've decided not to start until at least 6 months, which buys us some time. I certainly don't want him to get polio or such, and things like measles can be dangerous at very early ages, but I'm just not convinced of their safety yet. Plus autoimmune diseases run on both sides of our family, which is another worrisome but as-yet unproven allegation against immunizing. And then there's the fact that non-stop crying for up to 3 hours and days of sluggishness is considered normal after vaccinations. It's not going to be an easy decision.