Barnabas Monkeypants

The first couple of days of Henry’s life, I carried him around like he was a brittle piece of glass. In reality — while he’s certainly not ready to go out and wrestle with the neighborhood kids — he’s pretty sturdy. My first lesson in this was when I tried to burp him for the first time.

The nurses said he didn’t have to be burped until Kristen’s milk came in (a lovely idiom, like it was taking a train from the coast and it finally arrived), but once it did, after a good meal, he’d tend to spit up a bit. To combat that, you have to burp.

Kristen and I have our roles down pat. When it’s time for a feeding (he’s more than happy to tell us when), I’ll change him, swaddle him (if he’s fussy), and hand him to Kristen (who then does the hard part). At the half-way point, she’ll give him back to me, where I’ll burp him, then (like Head and Shoulders tells you) repeat.

I’m quite the expert now, but the first time I tried to give it the ol’ college try, I lightly tapped him on the back, and a burp never came. Instead, he spit up all over me.

The next time, I did it a little harder, and he burped, a delicate, lady-like burp came out, but he wasn’t happy. He gave me a mild stink eye (you know what I’m talking about), and still spit up (though not as much).

I soon realized that he’s not going to break so easily. So I thudded away with my left hand at his upper back, his legs on my lap, my right hand holding him up by his chest and chin. And what came out would’ve made Homer Simpson proud. Kristen and I got a good laugh out of it, and ever since, he’s burped like a baby possessed.

He truly is my son.

(This picture is how Henry sleeps when he’s not being swaddled, with his hands straight above his head. It’s so cute, Kristen and I have to hold each other back for fear he’ll wake up because we just want to kiss his little head )

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 9:22 pm and is filed under Barnabas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.