Feeding time

One of the biggest fears I had since Josh came into our lives was not being able to handle him properly. I mean when you look at him, he looks so small and fragile. One mistake and.... you get the idea. Of course babies are made of sterner stuff and can (theoretically?) take the usual mishandling of inept parents. Lately, I decided to put that theory to the test. Apparently, it is true. The kid can handle more than the usual maladjusted carrying from a fearful yet excited parent.

I started out with shifting him from his face down position to sideways position. I was glad to find out his neck did not snap even if his head appears to be about a third of his body mass. Next, we moved to carrying: a tricky proposition for first timers but manageable. After a few false starts, he finally settled semi quietly in my arms and even stayed still. That did not seem to hard.

Then we proceeded to feeding. That is, bottle feeding. Applying the lessons learned from carrying I managed to ease the plastic nipple just right in the middle of his mouth. It appears the baby has his own ideas on how and when the nipple will be inserted. I placed this on his lips and he finally grabbed it and did not let go. All the while, he was slipping lower and lower.... Ah, gotta work on that grip.

Ana liked that so much that she took a picture. Me, I feel I need more practice. All in all, learning the feeding thing along with all others earlier gives me more confidence in caring for the kid. Maybe one day, they can leave him alone with me already. Although I fear that day won't be soon. But then again, who knows?

Funny but carrying the baby reminds me of the "indian carry" grip they taught us in ROTC when carrying a rifle with one arm. About 4 years back, I 'indian carried' my G3. Fast forward to 2006 and I am 'indian carrying' Joshua. Can't say I actually traded my G3 for a baby but I'm very glad that in January 2006, I have both a baby and a G3.