So Owen resembles Dr. Strangelove, from the movie “Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”, first released in 1964.  Stanley Kubrick directed and I saw the movie as part of a class in college (not joking, we watched it in ‘Cult Films’ class). 

Owen doesn’t look like Peter Sellers and hasn’t grown a tiny moustache, but he does have Dr. Strangelove’s uncontrollable arm/hand. In the movie, Dr. Strangelove’s hand/arm makes all kinds of inappropriate gestures and is difficult to control.  Owen however, has 2 uncontrollable arms.  They wake him up from sleeping sometimes, windmill when he’s angry, and he makes fantastic claw hands like Wolverine from the Xmen sometimes.  Unfortunately, this means when it’s time to eat, no matter how ravenously hungry he is, whether calm or upset, his little arms and hands get in the way of his destination every.  Even with mouth open and an expression of intense focus on the boob, invariably one of his little limbs comes and knocks him off target, at least temporarily.  He’s getting better at this, but still his hands thwart his mouth some of the time.  Oh well, at least he’s stopped slashing himself with his tiny dagger fingernails and can now go without infant mittens for most of the day. 

Less-little O has graduated to size 1 diapers from newborn diapers.  He’s getting more thing fat, although his butt is still pretty petite.  His
Dunbar shins are even thickening up a ltitle.

I’m getting better at doing things with O when no one is around to help.  He’s a a few sponge baths with just me (he rests on his foam sponge on the bathroom floor, not the counter when it’s just the 2 of us).  We’ve gone on neighborhood strolls and gone in the car together to the pediatrician, for which we were even on time. 

The newest small victory is that I’ve figured out how to shower when it’s just the 2 of us at home.  He certainly wouldn’t enjoy being in the shower with me, but doesn’t mind sitting in his vibrating chair outside the glass door.  I think he likes the noise from the water and the warm air. 

Now if I could just figure out the crying thing….  So far, everything I’ve read puts TinyO well into the normal range of babies as far as crying.  1-3 hours a day is considered normal crying for babies his age.  This seems like a lot of wailing when it actually happens, particularly since his cry really tugs at my heart.  It makes me drop everything and want to pick him up and make it better, which I suppose is the whole reason babies cry.  It can be a little frustrating when we’ve fed, changed the diaper (at least once), cuddled, added or subtracted clothes, and he’s still wailing.  The ‘Happies Baby on the Block’ DVD Jen and
Chad gave us was pretty fantastic and definitely has things that have worked for chilling out AngryO when he gets worked up.  Guess I’ll keep reading the ‘Happiest Baby on the Block’, which seems to have some additional good explanations and suggestions so far.