My dear daughter,
So, I have described our routine when you were under a month old. Is it too different now, 4 months later? Well, it is. I find it is getting increasingly enjoyable.
You are much more responsive now to our stimuli. You pay attention to our expressions and respond to them with expressions of doubt, puzzlement or joy. Everything you do places smiles on our faces.
You like to intone a lot. It’s almost like you are commenting on the current subject, or complaining about something. You do it a lot in the morning – it’s like you’re saying that you’ve slept well, that you had nice dreams and that you’ve wet your diaper 4 times.
We are still amazed and impressed that you’re sleeping 8 to 9 hours straight every night. You go to sleep between 22 and midnight (we are trying to get you to sleep earlier, but it’s hard), and you sleep through the whole night, uninterrupted, until 8:30 or 9am. Sometimes 10:30am in the weekends. That is just so awesome we even avoid talking about it to friends and family; it might break the magic or attract their envy.
After we wake up, either me or your mother prepare breakfast. If you’re still asleep, we have breakfast and then we wake you up (and it’s smiles all around), we change you, and then your mother feeds you. A little bit in the breast, and then some “tetê” (which is how we call the formula). Your appetite has been growing steadily, which is always a good sign. You started with 30ml of formula when we got home from the birthing center, every 3 hours or so, and now you’ve been getting 150ml or more. Until a couple weeks ago you also took 20 to 30 minutes of breast milk, but your mother’s flow rate may not be attending your expectation anymore, so in the last couple weeks you’ve been releasing her breast earlier. We will try collecting her milk with a special pump, so you may continue to benefit from it.
During the week, after breakfast either I play with you while your mother do the dishes and make up the bed, or she plays with you while I do the same and get ready for work. After some play you usually take a longer nap, sometimes 1 hour of sleep.
Then I go to work heartbroken and missing you both a lot. Your mother takes care of you the whole day. Sometimes you both go out to buy some groceries. Mom gets you some sunbathing in the window or the balcony, every other day she gives you a nice bath. Most of the time you’re both in front of the TV, but she reads to you every day from your baby books as well. And from your Back to The Future book for babies I’ve bought.
Once I get home I wash my hands, clean it some more with alcohol, then I kiss you, hug you and lift you. Then we play a lot! We walk the whole apartment, I hold you standing up, sitting, we sing, read, laugh to each other, show our tongues and it’s the happiest moment of my day. I have dinner, together with your mother if you’re not crying or complaining (with you close by in the stroller), then I take a bath and stay with you till bed time, to give your mother her well-deserved rest. Caring for a baby is a lot of joy, but it is tiresome. It sure helps to burn some calories. You rarely accept to lie down in the couch with us. Which I think is just fine.
Sometimes you take a nap between 20 o’clock and 22 o’clock. After that small nap there is a last diaper change and some more feeding and some more play. Around 23 o’clock we start your going to bed process.
At this point we’ve already dimmed the lights and put you inside your swaddle. That’s a really good thing, the swaddle. It ties you in a way that must resemble being inside the womb, so you get less agitated.
Then we start to lull you to sleep. The pediatrician said we have to stop doing it, so you learn to go to sleep by yourself, but it seems we’re not ready yet. It usually takes you about 5 minutes of lulling for you to go to dreamland. First you would sleep in your stroller beside our bed, right next to your mother. Now we’re putting you to sleep in your cradle, which you also seem to enjoy. These first nights your mother is also sleeping in the same bedroom; we’ve placed an extra bed in there. I have slept there with you too in the past, but mom won’t trade places with me now because I think she will miss you a lot when we are definitely sleeping in separate bedrooms. So will I.
Love,
Dad
Aspergers Dad 