Warm bath, cool kid

Two very quick remarks:

Alex is starting to develop a striking buddah-belly.

Alex is increasingly capable of hanging out without tears, without crying and without falling asleep. One of the reasons we wanted to capture this set of moments was that it represents Alex's chilling-out state. It's a state we are finding him in increasingly. And we can't wait for more.

Discovering his gaze; Discovering TV

One of the milemarkers we observed over the past couple of days involves Alex's gaze. It's getting increasingly fixed. Seems like our little man is starting to gain visual interest in his surroundings.

He is so interested that he gets into stare-downs with his parents. He watches the mobiles as it rotates above his head in his crib. And... god-forbid! He can even become transfixed on a television screen.

I think what this means is that Alex discovered TV this week. And that sounds like a truly mixed blessing.

Fun with Bubbe and Pop-pop

When Bubbe & Pop-pop visit, there's always fun to be had. And they ran up from Philadelphia for the wknd.

The fun that they ushered in came many forms, including new baby clothes, gifts and hugs. They also had the fun of sleeping on our dining room floor on aerobeds.

Visits like this insure that Alex gets to know his grandparents well and that they get to know our little donut-hole. This series of pictures is a nice documentation of this bonding ritual. Fun.

2 month Check-Up

With a 9-week birth anniversary comes certain responsibilities. And, in this case, they were not altogether pleasant.

On Friday, Alex had his 2-month check up.

Among other things, we learned that our little donut-hole is growing at a faster than average pace. At one month, he was 30%-ile in weight. He's now 53%-ile, having weighed in at a lumbering 11 lbs, 9 ozs. At 23-inches, his height is about 47%-ile.

Unfortunetely, Alex also got a battery of vaccinations. They resulted in short-term and medium-term discomfort and screams of dissatisfaction. As the past three days went by, we also learned that the the side-effects of the shots were annoying. Alex was apt to be drowsy and had a suppressed appetite, making mealtime no picnic.

Now, three days later, he seems to have cleared these silly symptoms.

Much better.

Another cool developmental trick

In yet another sign of Alex's cognitive development, he's getting good at following the movement of objects as they visually pass in front of him. In this picture he's allowing his eyes to track me as I shifted from his right to his left.

Cool.

First Days: Mom's back at work, Dawn's on the case

Sort of like a chapter from the children's book The Cat in the Hat, Mom sometimes leaves the children alone with good caretaking.

Much to her chagrin, Alison went back to work today. Alex took it all in stride, because he was being cared for by our new nanny, Dawn.

He seemed to be pretty happy all day. Dawn also seemed pretty happy all day. Life is good.

We inherited Dawn from Alison's 2nd Cousins, Mitch and Marcy who loved having Dawn help raise their two great kids. She was with them through thick & thin over 9-years (until they moved to California).

We feel pretty lucky to have her. It seems to have made Alison's return to work as easy as these things can ever be.

Graduating from the bassinet

Life changes everyday in some way around here. In fact, it seems like the only constant in Alex's short life is change.

A couple of days ago, little guy took a little step upward with his graduation from bassinet to crib. And, as this picture shows, he can be pretty ambivalent about it at times. Initially, he was a little overwhelmed by the enormity of his space, but he's getting the hang of it.

Unwinding with Uncle Andy

Uncle Andy stopped in for dinner the other night on a last minute business trip. Slowly, Alex is meeting his more & more of his bigger brethren. With a total of eleven aunts and uncles and fifteen cousins, he's just scratching the surface and has a lot of ground to cover.

Post-bath Hysterics

Sometimes the only reason to post a story is the existence of a particularly cute picture.

Nice chest, Frogman.

Handy

Some of the more remarkable moments over the past couple of days have included Alex's growing awareness of his hands. We'll catch him increasingly looking at them and actually using them to swat away unwanted parents.

Little-by-little he's getting it.

Michelin Man, eat your heart out

Cuter and bigger means that Alex has grown to resemble the Michelin Man, at least from the waist down.

Check out those hams!

Weight Gain, Hair Loss

Here on the changing table once again... This picture was snapped in the throes of a diaper change and it seems to be a pose very similar to the picture we included in the formal Birth Announcement (below) taken about four weeks ago. Compariing the two, it's easy to see his impressive weight growth... and his obvious hair loss.

Snow Angel training

Well, it's not as though Alex is in the business of making snow angels yet. But against the backdrop of our white duvet cover, it appears as if he's getting a little practice for next year.

Bonding with Guys

January seems to be Alex's first opportunity to hang out with guys. Over the past week we've been visited by three of our favorite unmarried men who came with their girlfriends lured by Alex's charm. First Amir joined us for dinner with his girlfriend Kathleen, then Jeffrey dined with us with his girl, Marta. Finally, our neighbor Ryan and his girlfriend Kim came over brunch

To their delight they each not only received Alex's charm, they also were on the receiving end of his fury. In each case, Alex serenaded the crowd with hours of screams and cries.

All in good fun!

Hip-to-chin

...and he's looking big too.

That's Alex on his dad's chest. His height is now hip-to-chin. He's not quite the pinto bean he was just a couple weeks ago

No more Speedo's, please.

Funny how quickly this kid's growth homemones have kicked in. One measure of how big he's getting is his diaper size. This week he kicked off the Newborn size (which started to fit him like a snug Brazilian Speedo) and graduated to Size 1.

Okay, maybe it's too much information, but worth noting as a growth measure.

Grandmother-in-law, sort of

The English language has it's limitations. There's not really a word for Grandmother-in-law (not blood-related). But that's sort of the role of Shirley Dudley, the granny of three of Alex's cousins.

Shirley stopped in today to demonstrate her well-practiced baby handling. During her 60-minute visit, she soothed and entertained our little one. Chalk it up as a new friend for Alex.

Dreaming of a better year

Well, for the first year in recent memory the Packers did not have a hope in the world of making the playoffs. Despite speculation swirling about Brett Favre's possible retirement, hopes remain high in the Rosenzweig house. Alex is clearly dreaming of a better year next year.

Bubbe & Pop-Pop's return.

Bubbe & Pop-pop finally flew back yesterday from their month's vacation in Arizona, and they made a bee-line for Brooklyn. Alex was clearly psyched.

Spontaneous visit from Scooter & Wendy

Saturday afternoon was unstructured and open to interpretation. Scooter & Wendy had been threatening for some time to swoop in from Westchester, and we benefitted from their spontaeity. From 3:30 to 8:30 we got a full dose of Sophie's good energy, and they dosed up on Alex's cuteness.

Chillin with the Little Man

Apparently babies are supposed to settle down a little bit after the first month. Well, we are now deep in Alex's fifth week and lo-&-behold he's fussing less and less.

Alex chills out for a couple minutes at a time, staring intently around the room and lording over all he sees. This picture is a glimpse of this new laid-back behavior.

1-month check-up: Getting Ji-normous

Time really flies. The other day Alex went for a one-month pediatrician appt. Because he has been the picture of good health, most of this particular exercise amounted to a glorified weight check. And our bruiser is now tipping the scales at a very muscular 9lb. 3ozs. For those keeping score at home, that's roughly the 30th %-ile for a 5 wk-old.

Dr. Gordon was impressed with a number of things. His rippling muscles seem to always please the adoring fans. His strong grip gives him an air of--um--confidence.

The most suprising thing that she suggested during our visit... the routine use of the pacifier. Because he's truly an excitable kid, she wants us to find ways to allow him to develop self-soothing techniques. The plug seems to be the best example of this. And over the past couple of days, it has produced the desired results.

Sage: a new friend

Alex completed his two-day New Year's tour of the Mid Atlantic today. After a successful visit to Philly yesterday, it was up to Connecticut today.

After taking in the beautiful sites of the Merritt Parkway, we reached the friendly home of Emily and Jeff and their 21-month old daughter Sage. Sage is the first person Alex has met who is remotely close to his age, and he developed an instant crush. He was so interested in looking good for the lovely Sage, that he spent nearly four-hour of our visit without crying or showing signs of loss-of-control.

All of the adults seemed to be very impressed with his good behavior. Sage, on the other hand, was pretty underwhelmed. But she was certainly up for a cute photo-op.

Another visit to Great Grandmom

Alex&his crew took a trip to North Philly today for his second visit to his Great-Grandmom in two weeks.

It was in many ways a re-enactment of the last visit. Cue adoring grandmom, a lunch catered by us, a number of diaper changes, a lot of story-telling and, of course, the obligatory photo ops. All tolled, it was a very nice visit.

It was particularly meaningful as a mile marker, a point from which to compare his growth over the fifteen days since Fran & Alex were last together. The growth themes are generally in two categories: Alertness and Flesh-&-bones. Alex has a more intense gaze these days than he did two weeks back. As a vision passes in front of his eyes, Alex is very likely to follow it with his eyes and even likely to crane his neck to maintain his view. On the other hand, Alex has put a good amount of weight on.

His cheeks are beginning to puff out and his arms are growning flesh.

One significant twist in this visit was a guest appearance by Ruby. Ruby has seen many of the Cohen grandchildren come into this world, so this was a particularly important box to check.

Rarities and outtakes: a photo of dad with Alex

A new dad's job is generally the A-V guy. So it's pretty common that the days go by with lots of pictured authored by dad... but not many taken of dad.

So here's a rare photographic moment.

Don't let the scarcity of evidence suggest that dad doesn't spend a lot of time with Alex.

Amusing himself on Jacqueline's visit

Alex can keep himself amused in many different ways. The joy is typically very fleeting, as he bursts into tears within about thirty seconds.

One of the ways in which he had fun with his cousin was by getting a bath. (and it gave us a very nice photo-op).

The other way was by chipping into our Scrabble game, but as it turns out his attention span was about three seconds.

Jacqueline - A cousin comes to visit

NewYear's Weekend 2006: and it was an occasion for Alex to meet a cousin for the first time.

Jacqueline and her mother Julie drove down from Boston on Thursday and stayed through Saturday.

Jacqueline has a magical way with babies. Her lullabies singing and jig dancing was entertaining for adults and soothing for Alex. There's a lot we can learn from Jacq.

And of course, her mom is a pretty spectacular baby-whisperer herself. She rolled up her sleeves and changed countless diapers (she hasn't lost anything since going into diaper-retirement a couple of years back).

Jacqueline & Julie also got a full dose of NYC on Friday afternoon, as they caught a Broadway matinee performance of Peter Pan and wandered uptown to spectate the lighting of the world's largest menorah, near the Plaza Hotel.

So inspired, they came home and we lit one of our own and sat down for a Salmon dinner.