Marcelo: February 2008

5 months! that might as well be 6 months ... which is like half a year. You're almost half a year old?! What happened. Weren't you just born.

During the past month, your hair has continued to ~~fall off~~ fuzz up into dingle berry shaped little rat's nests and fall off. It's OK, mine has too. I think it's all related through nursing. All you had left was a little row of hair at the back of your neck and a narrow little line of hair about 3 inches long at the top of your head like a mowhawk. I have to say, I received a lot of pressure to cut it all off but I just couldn't do that to your little baby hair. Just as I started noticing a decrease in my regular two-pound-hair-ball-loss from shampooing down to say maybe only a half pound hair ball and far less clumping into a big rat's nest, I noticed you are finally growing tiny little new hair of your own. It's coming in pretty much how it was before, maybe a bit lighter. So it was a dark brown, almost black but not black when you were born and now it's coming in a medium brown. We've turned the corner on the hair loss issue. I can't wait until you have hair again.

We've also made progress with the battle against eczema. I don't think we're winning but at least we're holding it at bay for now. The eczema has gotten worse. More oozing, cracking, bleeding, crusting, scaling, drying, scratching, did I say oozing. Yeah, it was pretty bad on your face, elbows, and even on your chest. A couple of weeks ago, we took you to a pediatric dermatologist at Primary Children's Hospital. They quickly prescribed some steroid ointment after looking quite shocked that you could manage to crack a smile despite the way you looked. It's definitely working, but now we just can't stop using it or the inflamed areas just come right back with a vengeance. I have also gone full circle in my search of more effective lotions and potions. I'm sticking with the Vanicream cream, Cetaphyl lotion, and regular no name petroleum jelly. The plane petroleum jelly seems to really work well on your head which has improved greatly just in the last week. I can keep applying it without making your hair into a sticky fly trap. You have no more dry scales on your head, no cradle cap, and much less itching. You're also scheduled to see an allergist next month as your pediatrician recommended. For now, I'm so happy to see your cute little face again and even more to be able to snuggle up close to you and give you kisses without getting goop on me.

Lately, you have been very vocal. I don't know if it has something to do with the improvement of your eczema, but it seems like you like to squeal joyously quite a bit lately. You've been to a couple of parties and you want to be an active participant.
You've also discovered your toes. I guess you hadn't had much of chance to look at them before, because your feet are always covered up. You are getting much better at grabbing things with your hands. You can now grab the dangling toys in you swing at will and make the lights and music turn on. We clip your binky (which you seldom use) to your infant car seat and you love to use it as a bunching ball. Just last week, you managed to grab it and put it in your mouth even though the ribbon barely allows it to reach to your face. I was so excited for you.

You continue to be a very happy baby although you still won't let us get a full night's sleep. We have a prescription for Atarax for your eczema and I may just have to start using it soon. My only other complaint is that you haven't been behaving very well when I nurse you. First it's too much for you and you choke and spill, then it's not enough and you've started pinching. Let me just say this to you now, if you want to continue having premium mommy milk, that's gonna have to stop immediately or you're going to go straight to formula mister.

You really enjoy it when your sister talks to you. I think you guys will have a lot of fun together when you get a little older. I know Sofia will be so happy to have a little companion to play with. She likes to sit next to you in your bouncy seat and explain things to you. When you cry, sometimes, she'll come over to you and say, "It's OK, Marcelo, I'm here". Sometimes, she hugs you so tight. I think she wants to make you hers, take you into her room and snuggle you in her bed like a stuffed animal. Don't worry; I stop her before she's able to drag you away by the neck.