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A few days ago my grandfather, Victor’s recently 88-year old great-grandfather, had a heart attack. He survived. The doctor’s call it a “small” heart attack, but small compared to what?

He’s still in the hospital, they’ve inserted a ‘stent‘ into one of his arteries, now they’re going to wait for a few days to see if it’s necessary to insert others into other arteries. The artery with the stent was 95% blocked, which isn’t good. His cholesterol is good, his blood pressure is relatively normal, but his genetics are working against him.

My mother and her mother have been up to see him, and the report is he’s doing fine. He’s just bored. My little sister, Melissa, lives a few blocks from the hospital and has promised to see him every day, so I don’t think my grandfather will be bored for long.

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Meanwhile Victor spent this past week trying to stay cool, which hasn’t been easy for any of us considering the stifling heat wave we’ve been living with.

This is the second heat wave Victor has been through in his very new life. During the previous one my girlfriend found an air conditioner for her apartment, so Victor and his older brother have a refuge when the humidity drives the temperature over 40C.

I have a few strategically placed fans, so once the temperature drops to a more comfortable mid-30C’s it’s safe to have Victor up here for short bursts. Victor, his mother and I watched “Year Of The Dragon” and “Capote” here on Saturday night, it actually dropped to the low 20C’s, so it was very comfortable. Victor spent most of the night sprawled out on the couch in a ‘Jesus Christ pose’.

As of this past Tuesday Victor is now weighing in at a rotund 17lbs 13.5ozs, and he’s gaining 1/4 pound a week. Which, according to Quentin Tarantino, is a “Royale with cheese” in France every seven days.

Victor has also gained the ability to move forward. He’s not crawling, but while he’s on his stomach he can use his legs to push himself around. So he can now move forward, backwards and roll around almost at will. Pretty soon he’ll be looking for his own apartment.

There are also new noises this week, specifically one where he purses his lips like he just ate ten lemons, and hums. Mostly it sounds like “mungh-mungh-mungh-mah” but then there’s “mungha-mungdah-mungdah-dah”.

New foods this week include creamed corn, creamed chicken, oatmeal with mixed fruit, pear juice and a mixture of prune juice and apple juice. He freaking loves, loves, juice, but I think it’s more the bottle than anything else.

If I hold that bottle in front of him he just goes nuts trying to grab it. His eyes get huge, and completely focused, his arms start waving and his hands clench and unclench. He can’t raise his torso yet, so he can only reach as far as his arms will let him, and once he grabs that bottle he starts trying to jam it into his mouth.

Which, if he grabbed the bottle correctly, is no big deal. But if he grabs the bottle wrong he’ll jam the nipple up his nose, or in his eye, or he’ll try to shove the bottle into his mouth sideways. It takes a few seconds, but he can now readjust and get the business end into his mouth.

And if he’s in his car seat, and the bottle falls beside him, he can now reach over with the opposite arm, grab the nipple and pull it back to a point where he can use both hands to get it back into his mouth.

None of this feels normal. Victor turns seven months old today (Monday, July 12), and it just feels odd sometimes noticing the things he does that mean he’s getting older.

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Photo Of Victor’s Week:

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