While Monstro was at the eye doctor today, I took Alexander down the hall to have his weight checked. His first few weeks of life he didn't gain any weight, and then began putting it on at the rate of a little more than an ounce a day (an ounce a day is the recommended benchmark). Anyway, it's something I'm keeping an eye on.

Becky (Sarah Vowell's Goth name of choice), our favorite nurse, was available so we went into the little pre-examination room and I got baby all undressed and put him on the scale.

Mind you, on December 21 he weighed 10 pounds, 11.8 ounces. Today, the scale registered 12 pounds, 12.8 ounces.

The kid's gaining 2 ounces a day. No wonder my nipples are ready for a retread. Becky took pity on me and gave me not one, but two sample cans of soy formula. Alexander's taking one to two bottles a day. There's only so much this mother can do!

Alexander's bottle of Johnson's Baby Wash has a clear warning to “Keep Out of Reach of Children.”

So much for having a nice clean baby…

Ahhh, 2006 is coming in much better than 2005 went out. Baby is much more mellow today, and nursed beautifully from 3 a.m. until 5:00 p.m, at which point he decided he was having none of it. So we're learning a pattern, and I'm getting an electric pump tomorrow for free from a lovely NohoFreecycler, whose karma in 2006 is assured.

So, our nursing days are not over, and it's not all the doom and gloom I thought it would be.

And, after we finally got baby to bed last night, we watched “Murderball,” which is as compelling a documentary as I've ever seen.

And then we switched over to watch Dick Clark drop the Times Square New Year's ball, which made me both happy and sad, but mostly happy.

Baby is *refusing* to breastfeed, preferring instead to smack down formula to the tune of six ounces at a time. Attempts to put my nipple in his mouth results in screaming the likes of which haven't been heard since those U.S.-founded secret Eastern European prisons were still secret. K sent me a lovely nursing shirt today, and I don't know that I'll ever be able to use it to it's proper ability. Alexander is six weeks old today, which means that he might be almost over his growth spurt and will calm down enough to nurse again, or it could mean that we're stuck offering offerings to the formula devils.

Rhetorical question for the New Year: What do you do when your baby's being an asshole?