Helen saw Allan crawl for the first time yesterday, and she captured some of it on video. You can see a larger version of the same video here.

Today’s stats are as follows: Length: 30 1/2 inches (greater than 95th percentile) Weight: 24 lbs, 11 oz. (90th percentile) Head size: 18 1/4 inches (75th percentile)

I’ve been meaning to write an application to let kids bang on keyboards since before Katrina was born. Thankfully the world need not wait for me to get around to this.

• If you use Windows: Baby Smash.
• If you use Mac OS X: AlphaBaby.

Elena and Allan really enjoy AlphaBaby — I’ve configured it to speak the letters pressed, display random pictures we’ve taken in the past year for other keys and mouse clicks, and draw colored stars on mouse movement. Allan tried Baby Smash yesterday on my work laptop and enjoyed it — it has a different yet equally enjoyable set of features. He also enjoyed pulling off the H and J keys from the keyboard.

"I prefer to call them dried plums, thank you."

I had to haul all the kids to the Doctor again yesterday since Katrina still seemed to have some sort of infection. While we waited, Allan began screaming bloody murder and straining again. Poor guy can’t even go when he’s just eating fruits and veggies! The previous Wednesday, I had actually watched him empty his bowels like he was a tube of toothpaste. We’re talking, like two feet of poop. By Sunday, I thought Allan’s pears would help him. Monday he struggled, but hardly went.

As the pediatrician walked in, Elena, Katrina, and I were yelling, “Come on, Allan! You can do it! PUUUUUUUUUUSH!” Allan was beet-red, on the examining table, with his diaper wide-open. Without missing a beat, the doctor ran out of the room and returned with a rectal thermometer to (ahem) “help” him out a bit. We knew he wasn’t finished, but he did feel some relief, poor boy! He went a bit more in the afternoon after much struggling and yelling.

So now I have to feed Allan prunes twice a day. I gave him two containers yesterday. We might have to up the dosage soon if we don’t get results.

Length: 28 1/4 inches (97th percentile); Weight: 21 pounds, 9.1 ounces (95th percentile); Head circumference: 17 3/4 inches (75th to 90th percentile)

Allan’s car seat is good up to 22 pounds. Phew! We have a few more weeks left.

Miracle of miracles! Allan finally slept in his own crib all night long! It’s such a relief that he’s finally figured out how to sleep by himself.

Can someone please pass the disinfectant?

Allan had quite the exciting week, with the introduction of solids and all. Unfortunately, his bowels weren’t so excited. After the 2 1/2 tablespoons of rice cereal, I decided that it was time to introduce some sweet potatoes instead. On Thursday and Friday, Allan ate a container of stage one sweet potatoes. Surely this would jump start those bowels, right? By Saturday, I was really getting nervous. So was Brad. And most importantly, so was Allan. Somehow Brad convinced Allan that it was time to just let it go. When Brad changed his diaper, he was surprised to see only a small amount of substance. We knew more was coming. We could smell it in the air. The clock was ticking. Allan was miserable all day.

On Sunday Brad excitedly brought Allan to me and said, “This is for you.” I politely refused his offer to allow me the privilege of changing Allan’s poopie diaper. Alas, when Brad went to change him, there was Nothing! False alarm.

After Brad went upstairs for an afternoon nap, I placed Allan in the exersaucer so I could practice some music. Allan became fussy after a few minutes, so I decided to take him out. As I lifted him out of the saucer and onto the changing pad I noticed there were globules of poop running down his legs. Allan was so happy and giggly. Then I looked at the exersaucer. Surprisingly, Allan’s poop had propelled out of his onesie right onto the base of the saucer! There was no poop on the fabric seat! Katrina was kind enough to photograph this amazing feat.

I think I must have gone through half a bag of wipes in order to clean the boy off. He kept grabbing his dirty socks and spreading his mess everywhere.

As usual, Brad lucked out on this one.

Allan in the pre-rice cereal days

So I began giving Allan rice cereal this week. The boy seriously poops like 3-4 runny stools a day under normal circumstances (with just breastmilk as his food source). on Monday, Allan ate 1 teaspoon of rice cereal. No poop. Tuesday, he ate another tablespoon. No poop. Wednesday, I gave him ANOTHER tablespoon. Still—no poop. That’s the definition of insanity, right? I knew rice was constipating, but I thought it would simply normalize his stools, not eliminate them!

By Thursday, I decided this was serious business. I called my neighbor, Vandana, and asked her to pick up some sweet potato baby food in the afternoon. Surely, that would loosen things up! Katrina fed him the entire container. Allan loved it. I’ve never had a child who actually finished an entire serving in one sitting at only six months of age!

Today I eagerly awaited the explosion of Allan’s bowels.

NOTHING.

Updated March 31, 2008: You can see a higher-resolution version with better audio and video at YouTube. I tried embedding that one here, but the YouTube player stretches the video vertically.