Steppin' Out (With My Baby)

It’s growing time!
We had a great week with Jeffrey. Rochester has been graced with nice weather this past week, reaching into the mid 60’s. With his progress, we decided that it was time to enjoy the big wide world. Fire up the Zooper, we’re going for a walk!
We headed down Lake Ave., enjoying the sunshine, and Jeffrey went right to sleep. The bumps in the sidewalk must’ve soothed him. Once we got to the center of town, we decided to visit the firehouse. It’s quiet and there likely wasn’t going to be a lot of people there; plus we’d get to visit with Sue.
At the firehouse, we had fun posing the boy in a fire helmet, on the ambulance and on the firetruck. He’s still tiny enough to actually fit into the helmet – but not for much longer! Sue told us that she was proud of us for not falling into many of the new parent paranoia traps until today – arriving at the firehouse with him in a onesie, pajamas, a jacket and 3 blankets.
The good weather continued, and with the blessing of our pediatrician we went for another walk on Thursday. Once around the block and a quick run through the aisles at the local Ben Franklin. His stroller really seems to induce narcolepsy. We even got a chance to say “hello” to some of our neighbors, whom we haven’t seen in several months!
On Friday morning we got a visit, bright and early, from the Early Intervention counselor with her teacher and physical therapist colleagues. They were very impressed with his progress. The therapist applauded our attention to tummy time and was impressed about how well he could lift his head and upper body, as well as his gaze. She told us that it may only be a few weeks before he’ll start to smile – a real smile! All in all, he’s right where he should be, and in some ways even ahead of where a 10 day old should be.
Finally we went to visit Dr. Smith-Burke for his weekly checkup. Get this – 12 ounces since last visit! His cheeks are filling out and his legs are getting bigger. And certainly he’s getting stronger. Most noticeably he’s getting louder. He showed us that when he got his Synagis booster.
Danielle’s going to finish off the rest of this week with her own post about Jeffrey’s first visit at home from Grandma and Grandpap Sheppard… to be continued!