November 2003
Length: 24" (61cm) - 98th percentile. (Uh-huh, you guessed it, 2/100 babies are taller than Duvan at this age!)
Milestones:
- The smiles, and the giggles!! The smiles abounded this week, and he now definitely expresses excitement with smiling. Marésa also had him laughing today while "pedaling the bicycle" with him. He loves it when he's on his back and you move his legs as if he's riding a bicycle.
- Interaction. Although still only with eyes and facial expressions, we feel like Duvan is starting to communicate with us - really responding to a lot of our conversations and interaction with him.
- Duvan's vision has now really developed. He follows you around the room with his eyes, and will not miss a thing if he's interested in it. The other day we had him on his back in the crib, and he stared at the mobile. At one point we tried to turn him on his tummy to get his clothes right, but he would not look away from the mobile, which was now right behind him - so he stretched he neck around and did everything he could not to lose eyesight of those toys! It is such a simple act, yet it fills your heart with such joy to see him do it.
- Open hands! Duvan is starting to let go of the newborn fist.
Praise God for:
- A great report from the doctor today - all is well, he's developing really well - in fact, we might have to get a bigger carseat sooner than we thought! He's also starting to fit into 3-6 month old clothes.
- Duvan had a pretty nasty rash last week, but he is much better now. Our dear friend Dr. Dan diagnosed him properly and gave great advice on treating it - it's almost gone.
We had an amazing time visiting with Schalk & Jana. We really felt a freedom to do a lot of things with Duvan. On Thursday we went to Washington D.C. for the day, and he was so good! We'll post pictures soon in the journal section of our family webpage (that is - as soon as we've posted the 4 other events in line before it....). He slept through most of the day and missed all the monuments and the white house and everything. At least we'll have pictures to show him later on!
This is the look that steals the heart that's already been stolen a thousand times over. Two days ago Duvan was all bubbles early one morning, and was so amused by his Dad's antics. It was one of the highlights of the most amazing month in our lives. To think that God gave his own Son to be tortured and killed on earth, so that we all might be reconciled with Him. It's unthinkable, and looking into Duvan's eyes and experiencing the sea of emotions that accompany this kind of response from him, slowly gets us to understand the kind of love God has for us.
Marésa had Duvan propped up in the corner of the couch, and he looked too cute to let it pass by. You can tell though from the expression on his face that he's starting to let us know that he's had enough of these two cushions blocking his view of the world!
Duvan now officially falls asleep on his own. We are so thankful to the Lord. It is above and beyond all that we asked for. Last night after putting him down, we were a little surprised when 20 minutes had gone by without a sound from him. So we peeped into the room, and there he was, lying wide awake, looking at everything around him, quietly processing the day's events. It brought tears to Marésa's eyes. When we checked in 10 minutes later, he was fast asleep. We're changing the nightly routine a little, we've started to give him a late night feeding after he's slept for about 2 hours or so, before we go to bed. Duvan sleeps from 8/9pm to 10/11pm, when he get's the late feeding, then through to ~4am, and finally he'll sleep to about 7am or so. We're hoping that soon the late night snack will hold him past the 4am hunger :).
Duvan had his first taste of hiking this week as well! We neglected to take pictures in the woods, but we'll rectify that soon. In the meanwhile, here's Dad with Duvan in the Snugli, ready for the hike! It's a real struggle for him when we're out there, the Snugli is the perfect spot to take a nap in, and must be second only to driving for putting him to sleep, but at the same time the woods are so interesting to look at. So he'll bravely fight the drowsiness that sets in from the rythm of the walking, looking around at the sky through the leaves, the trees and all the news shapes and sounds and smells. He holds out a solid 4 minutes though before losing out badly. :)
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Milestones:
- Neck control. Duvan is able to lift his head all the way if he lies on his tummy. We discovered this when Marésa lay him on his tummy on her chest and he looked straight up into her eyes. (He's done this to some extent before, but it's a lot more refined now.) When sitting him upright, he's also able to keep his head up straigth a lot better, although it still bops around. Only a week ago his head would inevitably fall to a side, at least now he can keep it from falling like that. :)
- Duvan is slowly starting to realize he has hands. It's still very subtle, but he seems to have figured out that if something is in his hands, he can make it move by waving his arms. There's definitely some thought behind it now, though not much control. :)) We love to put a rattle in his hands (he'll hang onto it forever if you let him) and watch him swinging it around whenever he's excited. We're still waiting for him though to see his fingers and realize that they are body parts, and that he can actually manipulate them :)).
- Sucking his thumb. Every now and again his thumb will find itself in his mouth and he'll go "Ooh, I like the shape of this, let me suck a little". He's starting to bring his hands to his mouth and sucking at certain times (e.g. when he's tired, or waking up in the morning and is still by himself).
- First steps toward conversation. We're probably the only ones noticing it ;), but we're starting to converse with Duvan. Marésa has the mother's touch (or voice) to get him talking back to her. He'll coo and make the cutest baby noises at her when she chats with him. It's so special.
- First shower! Tonight Duvan and Daddy had a shower together. Dad had come back from playing racquetball and was all sweaty and needed a shower. Duvan had just had a long day of being baby and was also in need of a bath. So they decided to have a bathroom-party and showered together! (See picture below).
Praise God for:
- Last week was growth spurt week. At one point the little guy was eating every 2 hours, just like a newborn. This (and a couple of nights out with his parents) meant that his schedule went a little by the wayside. So this week is officially "Get back on track" week. Well, praise the Lord, because it's going really well! He's practically jumped right back on the boat with us.
- We continue to praise God for the wonderful child He has blessed us with. We praise God for His peace, patience and joy that is evident in Duvan's personality! We looked at some newborn pictures this week, and we were struck by how much our relationship with him has grown in the last ~7 weeks.
We're each learning more and more of each other as time goes by. Everyday holds a whole bunch of new experiences for Duvan, and new surprises for Mom and Dad. We're learning to interact with each other in subtle and unique ways.
We've learned what are the things that gets Duvan smiling without failure. Playing with his arms while singing to him (or making all kinds of silly noises) always elicit hearty laughs. He loves it when you move around his arms and legs, or rub his body up and down while talking to him. Once he's on a roll, he'll smile for anything. He'll stare into white space and get this broad smile on his face. We'd love to know what's going through his mind at those moments! Look at his dimples, we're not sure where he got those, probably Marésa, although hers are in different positions. It could also just be due to those puffed baby cheeks!
Like we mentioned in the Milestones section, Duvan is able to control his head a lot better now. Here he's pushing up to look at Dad and and the camera.
Peaceful sleep. 100% trust, no fear.
Duvan hung out with his friend Madeleine on Sunday evening. She was very interested in him and was very helpful in patting him, rocking him in his chair, squeezing his toes, touching his face. Their experiences were very opposite though. He was stunned by the newness that Maddie brought, while she quickly got bored by how little noise or movement he made, and decided that until he gets his act together and learn some tricks, she'd rather hang out with the adults. :)
The (now customary) sleepy picture.
We can write a thousand word essay for this picture, or we can let the picture speak for itself.
Marésa and Duvan had a lot of fun today playing with Mr. Inchworm. Duvan actually realized that if he pulls his arm in, the worm comes closer to his mouth and he can suck on its leg. Moving his arm away, takes the worm's leg away. Yup, we're first-time parents, we get excited over minute details.
He thought Mr. Inchworm looked very funny over his head. We thought so too.
Earlier this evening Duvan had another new experience, and he thoroughly enjoyed it. He got so excited during the shower that he almost fell asleep by the time we were done (normally he's very awake after his bath). This could have something to do with the nice warm bathroom, or with the fact that he exerted tons of energy jerking his arms around and trying to process the weird feeling of all these warm drops of water pelting him with a thousand tickles a second.
Comments
Dis so lekker om te sien hoe Duvan ontwikkel. Hy lyk so lewendig en bewus van alles wat om hom aangaan, dis so mooi. Ons is mal oor die ou dimpeltjies!
Posted by: Schalk & Jana | November 13, 2003 06:55 AM
- Conversations. Yup, of the most elementary kind imaginable, but it's there. Each of the conversations is super rewarding, and leaves us so amazed at this wonderful and exciting time of development. This afternoon, Marésa and I independently experienced Duvan calling to us. I was sitting working on my thesis, and so was not really paying a lot of attention to him next to me in the bouncy seat. I was aware though that he was looking at me. Then he started "talking" Duvan-talk like crazy, and when I looked at him, he had this look of anticipation on his face as he stared into my eyes, waiting for my response. He knows.
- Response to music. Duvan is starting to show excitement when he hears music. On Sunday evening, Marésa had him in her arms trying to calm him down from evening blues (see below). I had the guitar out and we just sat together and sang praise to God. He almost immediately became very peaceful and just sat and stared at us as we sang. Today, Marésa was busy in his room putting laundry away, with him in the (ol' faithful) bouncy seat with her on the floor. She was just chatting to him, while working away. Then she decided to turn on some Vivaldi for him, and he became very excited, and kicked his feet and laughed and smiled away. He definitely responded to the music, and kept "dancing" to it for some time. It was amazing!
- Evening meltdown. :( By 6 or 7pm Duvan is starting to feel that the day is now getting really long, and he starts battling with the opposing forces of wanting to get rest and hanging out with Mom & Dad. Along with this comes times when he seems to realize that he's really tired. Before it appeared that he did not really care so much if he missed a nap, but now he expresses the weariness a lot more. The only thing that seems to really satisfy him during the evening blues is to turn him facing out and giving him the apartment tour. We do not mind this an awful lot, as it has led to some other new developments:
- Mirror talk. Some of Duvan's favorite places while walking around are mirrors in bright lit places. At most mirrors he'll interact with us, or stare at the room through the mirror, or at the light above it. But at the framed mirror by the front door, he will look at all the other things until he notices a handsome baby staring back at him, and immediately becomes very interested in this dude returning his wide-eyed interest. He almost always starts talking. Here is where he's learnt his first word, "Ah-boo". It is incredibly cute, as there is hardly any voice behind it, and is followed by a series of soft, voiceless explosives with his lips.
- Attention span. It's hard to measure, but it appears that he's able to stay focused a lot longer. It's a lot easier to sit with him and just talk with him for long periods of time.
- Hair. You might have noticed this (Great-grandma sure did), but Duvan's hair is a lot different from when he was just born. He's now lost almost all of the initial silky reddish-blonde hair (except for a patch in his neckline), and is working hard on growing a respectable covering for the head.
- His loving arms of grace which envelopes and protects Duvan in every situation, even when we're not around.
We've talked about this a lot now, but now you get to experience a little of it yourself. We've not been able to capture Duvan at his best talking time, but here is a little sample of how the conversations go.
Hi to Grandparents (17 seconds, MP3, 50kB)
(For those who don't follow the Afrikaans, Marésa is basically asking him to say hi to Grandma, Grandpa and finally Great-grandma.) This activity fills a large part of our days with him, because it is so much fun!
His Grandma Martie made him the most adorable little outfit, and he handsomely wore it on Sunday to church:
Sneezing is another of Duvan's regular activities, which automatically puts it way up there for things that make you love him. It's quite natural for babies to sneeze a lot, since they only breath through their noses. So to keep those airways clear, they do a lot of sneezing! Here's an action shot, mid-sneeze.
Here Duvan is hanging out on Dad's legs on Sunday afternoon. He's always very interested whenever his Mommy is close by, and will push himself way up to watch her every move.
Hanging out in his crib is a lot of fun!
Duvan's playgym is also starting to become more interesting. He has not quite realized that the bright, noisy objects hanging above him are actually his toys, but he enjoys watching them swing by his face anyway.
And now, the weekly sleeping shot. Pure bliss...
Click on the link below for more shots and a comical story about Duvan's rude awakening on Friday evening... Oh yes, and HEY, please leave a comment letting us know you were here!
Comments
Aai, aai. Hoe 'n ouma en oupa se tranekliertjies darem kan werk by die aanhoor van daardie stemmetjie! Pragtig, Mamma!
Posted by: Martie Jacobs | November 19, 2003 01:55 AM
I love looking at your pictures, they are great!! It's good to have those memories to show him when he is older. :-) God has truely blessed you guys.
Posted by: Marci | December 6, 2003 09:52 PM
Length: 24.25" (62cm) (95th percentile)
Milestone: First set of shots (vaccines). :(
Also, just so you don't go media-dry, we'll post a picture from a film roll that we took right after our Washington D.C. trip with Schalk & Jana.
Comments
Wow! I haven't looked at Duvan's website for a few weeks. I can't believe how much he's growing. His smile is contagious and I just love the dimples. When I was a small child I envied my friends who had them. Well I guess some of us are just born blessed. Happy 1st and last Thanksgiving to Duvan. Afterall, there will be no need to celebrate this holiday in South Africa.
Posted by: Melissa Forbes | November 25, 2003 06:00 PM
- Duvan now sleeps 11 hours a night, 8pm to 7am. We could not have asked for a better schedule!
- First reproducible laughter. It's the most beautiful thing in the world, when Duvan is laughing. Marésa was dancing with Duvan in his room on Saturday morning, and every so often would squat down with him. He loved and would start laughing whenever she did it. Now of course it's one of our favorite games. :)
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- Duvan noticed his right hand for the first time today! This has now resulted in a lot of entertainment for Mom & Dad. We've laughed so much, because whenever we lay Duvan down on his back, his right hand shoots up, with the left hand tucked into his chest, and he stares at his fist. :) We'll get some shots of it soon and post it!
- Interestingly, now that Duvan knows that that fist is his own, he has also realized that he can make things move with it. He's now purposefully hitting objects with his right hand when they hang within reach!
- No more evening blues! Woohoo!
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When Duvan wakes up in the morning, he will chat with himself for 20 minutes or so. This is great, since he no longer wakes up crying, but rather really happy. The downside is though, that during this time he's constanty rubbing and scratching his face, and sometimes those nails are sharp enough to leave some scars. :( Here he got himself under his left eye. It's amazing though that none of these scratch marks will last longer than a day. It is completely healed by tomorrow morning.
Duvan and Jan have this game where Duvan will "bounce" on Dad's chest while lying flat in his arms like this. Duvan loves it, and Dad too!
On Thanksgiving day we went for a stroll around the neighborhood.
Here Duvan and Dad are in bottle training in preperation for when Marésa has to return to work in December. Duvan had no problems taking the bottle, as long as the milk is not too cold.
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