Tenzin is NOT a shark.

By flipping a shark on its back, the shark will fall into a trance-like state, thus immobilizing its movement. Researchers, for quite some time, have been exploiting this natural trait (tonic immobility) to handle sharks safely. Our next child better be a hammerhead.

Last night began with fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Rachel read to a very receptive Tenzin for almost an hour and a half. She has the cutest way of talking to him and using her "poetic license" to decorate the story. Her edits work two ways:

1) The Plot Twist: "Little Miss Muffet sitting on her tuffet" will turn into something like "Little baby Tenzin tangoed on a mango"

- or -

2) The ?Huh?: She'll end every nursery rhyme with "Now that doesn't make any sense!" As in, "Stuck in his thumb and pulled out plum, and said 'What a good boy am I!'…now that doesn’t make any sense?!?! How does a plum make him a good boy?"

Tenzin will watch her face with the most intense expression, reacting to her every word. It's an adorable sight to see.

Unfortunately, all good stories must come to an end. After fantasy time, he ate and ate and ate...... then bubbled and bubbled and bubbled. This is where the rollercoaster began.

We've done everything we can - stayed away from dairy, switched on/off of multivitamins, stayed away from spicy foods - but it looks like he's inherited his dad's flatulent DNA. There's no kicking it. And it might not be any comfort for Tenzin, but I'll try to explain it to him by saying, "One day you will not only appreciate these, but enjoy them!" He has yet to find his dad funny.

So here's the rundown of the ways we tried to get Tenzin comfortable/stop crying (last night), in order:

Bouncing, bouncing with swaying, on his stomach accross our legs, rocking in glider, walking up and down the steps, bouncing on the couch, sitting in vibrating chair, sitting in vibrating chair while Dad drinks a quick Heineken, swaddled in sling, sitting in car seat, strapped in car seat, swinging in car seat, strapped in car seat on top of vibrating chair while Dad makes fake car horn noises, strapped in car seat with zerberts applied to belly and feet, held while Dad cleans lips after realizing Tenzin put his heel in the diaper during last changing, watching Dad rinse out mouth with new Heineken, out of car seat held to chest, laying on chest, walking up and down the steps, and finally, back in Mom's arms sound asleep.

I'm sure I missed a few positions, but I'm also sure this won't be the last post about sleeplessness....I know I'll have plenty of time to take notes in the future. Just sometimes, you wish you could place him on his back like a shark.

Also, I'll try and get some late night video. When he's crying at 2:00 AM it's not a deathmetal scream or anything, but a confused whimper cry that's hard to explain. Kind of like a combination of kicking and cooing. I just want you to know that it's really not that bad. You just feel lost as a parent when it seems like nothing is working! Trust me, the facial expressions alone are worth the tape.

In the meantime, I'm happy to tell you that Tenzin is 100% healthy. As of his 1 month check-up, he is 9lbs, 11.5 ozs and 22 in long. For those keeping track, Tenzin almost doubled his birthweight in two weeks (his Mom has the tender chest to prove it!)! I NEED to get some new pictures up....his chins are developing chins!

Much Love,

James, Rachel and Tenzin