Marcus Screams

Marcus went to the doctor's again for his four-month checkup this past week. He's slipped a little off his previous growth curve, weighing in at 15 pounds 4 ounces and measuring 26 inches in length. That's good for 70th percentile in weight and 90th percentile in length. His head is still small, but still growing, somewhere around the 25th percentile. Can't imagine why he has such a small head when his parents are such large-headed people. And his malformed ear is still malformed, but there's nothing to do for now. He can apparently hear okay with the good ear, which is good enough for me.

He reaches for objects a little bit more if he's interested, and looks all around the room to see what's going on. He still can't sit up straight, which is what I'm waiting for. His smiles and giggles still aren't quite as frequent as some other babies, but he does it enough that I know he's not abnormal. He loves to touch my stubbly face when I haven't shaved, and he reacts now when he looks in the mirror.

In the past three days, he's discovered a new voice that he likes to exercise. It's a shrieking sound that drives me bananas, like a parrot's screech. Mostly he does it when he's bored and trying to entertain himself, which is a lot of the time. It's a little embarrassing when we take him out in public, though it hasn't stopped us from going out. Just took him to Peter Luger yesterday, and tomorrow we're heading to Jean-Georges for brunch with my parents.

It's not a squeal, exactly. Really, it's a screech. And it's annoying as hell. I don't think he's asking for attention, and it's not usually when he's upset. He's basically replaced cooing and gurgling with screeching. A loud, long, high-pitched screech like an owl on the hunt. This had better be a phase, because I don't know how long I'll be able to stand it. Actually, as long as you keep him engaged, he keeps the screech holstered. It's the moment you leave him to his own amusement ... that's when he pulls it out. One screech after the next. And he doesn't get hoarse until the end of the day. He's got some lungs on him, he does. And very pliable vocal cords too, apparently.

We're trying to give him vitamin drops every day, and luckily he does like the taste of it. The doctor says it's important for vitamins A, D, and C, all of which are lacking to some extent in breast milk. If we were feeding him mostly formula, he wouldn't need the drops. The only reason we don't give it to him every day is because we forget. We're lame parents. But I don't know if he really needs the vitamins anyway. I mean, he drinks almost a quart of breast milk a day, and he gets plenty of sunshine because Janelle takes him out every afternoon. He's probably okay if we forget once in a while. Right?