We wrote this as a gratitude post, grateful we have these memories of Archer. We also didn’t want to forget these things about him. It will be interesting to see if he still has these likes in the next life. We look forward to making more memories with him. Here are a few of our favorite things.
We both got to hold him on my birthday for the first time. This was the best birthday present ever!
I loved how he laughed at the Big Bad Wolf in the Little Red Riding Hood book we had. He thought the wolf was so funny.
He was intubated for a while and developed a favorite side, his left side. They would rotate him, so he’d be on different sides. One night we watched as they carefully rotated everything to the right side. He waited until the nurses and RT were gone, then he yanked and tugged until he was back on his left side and went right to sleep. It showed he knew what he liked.
I love how he would cuddle and squish into me when I was holding him. He loved being held. He loved getting comfy.
I loved singing to him and how he’d relax as I sang. He really liked “5 Little Ducks” and “Give Said the Little Stream.”
I loved reading to him. I loved hearing Peter read to him. I would watch Peter read to Archer while stroking his head. His whole body would relax. The nurses would always comment how relaxing Peter’s voice was. He read him 5 of the 7 books in the Harry Potter series.
He loved his mobile friends: Harry the Hedgehog, Freddy the Fox, and Barry the Bird. He would stare at you when they would stop playing and he wanted to watch them.
The Christmas lights changing colors fascinated him. His eyes darted back and forth trying to figure out what was going on. That first night they had to be turned off because he wouldn’t go to sleep. From then on he wouldn’t go to sleep unless they were on, so we figured out we could turn them to a constant red and he’d fall asleep.
When he was sitting up and looking around you could see him taking everything in. Whether he was in his boppy, on our laps, or being held up, you could see that it was such a different world to him.
He loved the Mama Roo swing and smiled and smiled and smiled in it.
I love he recognized us.
He did so well when we did his trach care, he was so patient with us.
The first few weeks after his first event we couldn’t hold him. We’d sit by him, read, and sing and hold his hand. He had a strong grip when he was a newborn, it continued to be that way. We’d get him to sleep sometimes by holding both hands and placing the back of our hands on his cheeks with a little pressure. I had Peter try it on me once and it is very relaxing.
His big blue eyes, everyone loved his long eyelashes.
I love that he is cute. I would have loved him if he was ugly, but he is so cute with his big blue eyes, long, curly eyelashes, little button nose and chubby cheeks.
He let us know who his favorites were.
I loved how he liked hiding in the blankets. He loved being wrapped up, but hated being hot.
He loved skin to skin after he got his trach. He hated it before that because it was never on the side he wanted, or he got too hot with Dad. That first skin to skin time with Dad I think lasted maybe 30 minutes before they were both so red it looked like they’d been sunburnt.
I loved that he had visitors from our families.
The way he would enthusiastically suck on his binkie sounded like Lisa Simpson, he was so loud.
He loved the sweeties/sugar water/“breasties” as we called them with breast milk.
He liked sucking on gauze with water and drinking water drops.
He liked having someone close by. We sat by his bed all the time.
Did I mention his cheeks, he has the best cheeks.
I love he has his Dad’s butt chin.
His smile, when it would spread across his face, it would make his cheeks even chubbier.
The way he would look at picture books, trying to figure them out.
The way Peter’s voice could calm him down to go to sleep.
He liked baths.
He liked people that were gentle with him and would let you know when they weren’t.
He could snore! I have the best video of it. He snored even when he was intubated.
He loved having his hands up by his face. He would get swaddled and fight to have his hands free, then relax. We sometimes would assist the escape so we could hold his hand. When he started gnawing on his hands, I was grateful he couldn’t eat them whole.
He liked having his gums massaged and would suck on my finger.
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