The Guestbook...

For a few weeks, aside from Carl and Siobhan coming over to watch the Super Bowl, Dominic's stream of visitors slowed down a trickle, partly because I had gone back to work and partly because poor Dominic experienced some less pleasant milestones (First Cold, First Stomach Virus, First Trip to the Emergency Room - he's fine, even though he gave us a scare!)

However, starting on February 17th, when Anne-Marie and Thomas came out to Brooklyn for a visit, Dominic has been a busy social butterfly. On the 18th, we had a very fun visit with Cousin Marco, who took time out from his busy schedule of taking Manhattan by storm to come see us, accompanied by his parents and his grandmother.

Dominic was a somewhat ungracious host (he fell asleep at one point during the afternoon), but Marco didn't really seem to mind much!

This weekend, Dominic's Boston & Bangalore grandparents came down to Brooklyn for a visit:

Ajji and Grandfather Fred discovered that Dominic likes wrestling with tigers!
My parents babysat Dominic yesterday while David and I went to see "Macbeth" with Cindy and David C., who came all the way from New Haven for the play and to meet Dominic. Unfortunately, Dominic fell asleep just before they got to our place, so they didn't get to see him with his eyes open, but this just means they'll have to visit us again!

Milind and Asmita came over for the delicious Indian feast prepared by ajji last night (and Dominic was determined that he would not go to bed until all the fun was over - which was approximately 12:45 a.m.! He also was highly interested in the contents of my plate, and although we explained that dosas would have to wait until he had teeth, he didn't seem convinced.)

We were feeling a bit sad about ajji and Grandfather Fred leaving today, but then our afternoon today was enlivened by a visit from Gayatri, and her parents Anjali and Govind.
Gayatri and Dominic met on common ground (the floor):

Gayatri appeared to be bestowing her blessing on her young cousin:

Gayatri held Dominic's hand:

But he was more interested in her lovely red dress:


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Lastly, Dominic would like to welcome Zachary, the one-month old little brother of Joshua Zev, into the world and share any four-month-old wisdom that Zachary might like! (I believe it's something along the lines of "Make them do your bidding!!"

Catch a Tiger By the Toe

When my parents were here this weekend, they started play a new game with Dominic. The stuffed tiger (which was actually one of my stuffed animals and so is rather ancient and venerable) would attack Dominic's tummy:
And he would squeal and laugh and squeal some more:
I think we were laughing even harder than he was, but if you listen carefully, you'll hear him squealing in this video!

Enthroned

As Dominic has gotten older (he just passed the four-month mark on Friday), he's enjoying the view from a more grown-up perspective - sitting up instead of flat on his back. Here we are getting ready to go out in his Ergo Baby carrier.


And, as you can see, he has also conquered The Thumb (a subject of great vexation to him back in December and early January).


Indeed, he has conquered the thumb so thoroughly that he's since moved on to putting various other things in his mouth: his index finger, Daddy's thumb, the front of the Baby Bjorn, or his burp cloth as seen in the following video.

Baby, It's Cold Outside ...

Although we have had a fairly mild winter, there have been a few extremely cold days, during which we were very happy to roar like a lion (or just sleep in a lion suit - many thanks to Usha Auntie for this useful and cute garment!)


Unfortunately, even when it's freezing outside, it's often very warm in our apartment, and there is great uncertainty about what to wear in order to make the transition from winter to spring.


A turtleneck with polar bears and open toes seem to be recipe for comfort AND good looks!

The Monkey's Paw

When I was quite young (though not as young as Dominic!) I scared myself very badly by reading a short story called 'The Monkey's Paw.' As you can see, Dominic is now ready to avenge that long-ago insult to his mother's sensibilities by teaching that monkey who really controls the paw:


Shortly before I returned to work on January 15th, I discovered Still Hip, a local consignment store (or in old-fashioned parlance, a second-hand shop), where I found this excellent Gymini playmat for Dominic. He seems to like it quite a bit (and I'm definitely not sorry that the little sound card was missing!)



Although he hasn't forgotten how much he enjoyed his original friends, the lion, the zebra and the giraffe on his swing. We believe he may be contemplating some problem in elliptical orbits here:


When I went back to work, David became the daycare and Grandma Betty came to help out for a while. That was when we discovered that Dominic preferred to hold his own bottle, thank you very much!

Tummy time

Tummy time used to be Torture Time around here. (For those of you who don't have babies, because of the risk of SIDS - Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, which used to be known as "crib death" - you're always supposed to put your baby to sleep on his or her back, rather than the stomach. And babies who are never on their stomachs have a hard time learning how to crawl - so you're supposed to play with them on their stomachs - hence, Tummy Time.)

These days, though, Dominic seems to enjoy Tummy Time quite a bit. In part, this is due to his friend, Big Blue the Dinosaur, a gift from Anne-Marie and Thomas.

We've also been trying Tummy Time in different places, like his changing table, so the view isn't always the same.

I sometimes play music for him on my recorder, although my repertoire is limited to a few songs that I can play by ear. Luckily, Dominic doesn't mind the endless repetition of "Doh-a-Deer," although we're not sure that "What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor?" is the most appropriate music for a baby. Dominic himself seems a bit skeptical on this point:

Whatever we're doing, though, clearly Tummy Time is no longer synonymous with Torture Time: