Contrast (8/21)

We're seeing first-hand how baby's like to look at that which is high in contrast. The black and white books we have are the ones he pays most attention to. He stares out the side of his crib to look at the crib slats and the dark shadows of the slats upon the white wall.

Auditorally, he likes it all, and he's hearing alot of music, from the classical music we try to have on as much as possible, to our singing, piano playing and his musical mobiles. Oddly enough, if Mark sings him an upbeat song (think: foot-stomping bar-tune-sing-along for children) that could annoy any adult within three minutes, Liam will often be asleep within two minutes.

How do we calm him when he doesn't sleep? In short, we try something different -- keep moving. Some of the "5 s's" also seem to work: saying shhh in his ear, swaying him on his side, swinging him in our arms, sucking and swaddling, though swaddling is the least successful -- the guy breaks out of even the tightest swaddle in minutes.

Mark watered today. That didn't deter the deer from eating nearby.