Bribery and the Bottle Strike

Not much going on here; just a standard Tuesday for us (i.e. Ray at work (hopefully only one of the jobs today...), Karisa at home watching Roscoe, trying to work, doing a load of diapers and going to the grocery store and post office).

Our nanny ended the bottle strike yesterday by bribing Roscoe with TV.  Yes, he LOVES trying to watch the TV.  If the TV is on he will crane and contort his neck in an attempt to see it from wherever he happens to be.  Liz pulled her stroller with car seat in front of the TV, let him watch and kept slipping in the bottle until he had 2oz.  Not a full feeding, but she was able to do it a few times during the day.  I can even imagine the look he had - think Joel as a child in front of the TV - mesmerized like this magical box holds wonders he cannot comprehend and nothing else matters at that moment.  I understand because I still get that feeling when I walk into a bookstore.  Hooray for bribery!  Let's hope Wednesday and Thursday go as well and that someday he will not be permanently scarred from all of the bribery and TV watching at such a young age.

The more we settle into the nanny routine, the more I find myself having internal battles about the environment he is being raised in 3 days a week.  TV, movies, crotch dangling baby carriers, Lysol, bleach, chemicals, chemicals, chemicals... all of it makes me cringe at the thought of all of the unnecessary crap and toxins entering his system already.  I am so careful at home about what we use for cleaners and detergent and all of that and then I realize that hours upon hours he is exposed to all of the junk I work so hard to avoid.  Although rationally I know that I do things that make other people cringe and we each have our own cringe-worthy list.  Alas.  When I find my body tensing and forget to breath I remind myself of the fact that I trust his caregivers and he is happy with them.  That I can't protect him from everything and it is much more important to me that he is shown lots of love despite the Other Stuff.  Liz even called her own pediatrician to ask about Roscoe not taking a bottle.  And she took a video of him laughing.  And she Skyped her mom in Mexico to "introduce" Roscoe to her.  Those little things remind me that we are making the right choice for him right now.

I have not taken any pictures, but here are a few tidbits you might not know about our little Roo:

1.  His right ear folds over.  Like completely.  And gets suctioned to itself and stays like that until we un-suction it.  I don't know why because it does not appear to stick out any further than his left ear.  And he doesn't seem to mind.

2.  Roscoe and Ray have matching birthmarks so faint you can barely see them.  On their right thighs in the same spot lies a little brown spot.

3.  He has been watching the dogs for awhile now and the other day he was watching Ikaika and then reached out his hand toward him and Ikaika licked it.  Like, hello, nice to meet you.

4.  He really has no interest in rolling over or sitting up.  I know he CAN roll over because he has, but he just won't do it.  And unless the sitting is accidental on the way to standing (with help), he will have none of it.

5.  He puts on his Wide-Eyed Concentration Face and watches us intently when we eat or drink now.  I tried giving him his little spoon, but he pushed it out with his tongue so the tongue-thrust reflex is still present and he is not quite ready for solids yet... but soon.