will work for chuckles

Elias laughed out loud for the first time a few days ago. It really took me by surprise. I thought it would happen gradually, like smiling, but all of a sudden, while trying to distract him from his mounting fussiness by simultaneously swinging him from side to side, bouncing on the exercise ball, and singing to him, he downright chortled. Twice. And then got a really bad case of the hiccups. And then got really fussy and eventually took a nap.

Of course, we've spent most of his wakeful time since trying to recreate the setting. Later that evening he chuckled, again unexpectedly, this time on the changing table. The following video is our attempt to get him to do it again for the camera:



Finally, he chuckled a little this morning, again after being changed, while I was lifting him into the air. Neal went for the camera and we got a few more laughs out of him.



Laughing seems to bring on the hiccups every time.

Otherwise, we continue to try and puzzle out his digestive issues (you can hear me pleading with his belly in the top video to work out the kinks already). I made the mistake of reintroducing soy lecithin/oil, eggs, and peanut butter in one meal the day after our appointment with the GI doc and sure enough, later that day and into the next morning he had more blood in his stool (it sounds scarier than it is, trust me). Based on that and how he reacted before, we're pretty convinced that eggs are in fact the culprit...at least, one of them. He seems to be doing okay with the soy lechithin/oil so I'll give peanut butter a try next. I'm eager to throw in some dairy, too. How great would it be if I only had to eliminate eggs from my diet? If it turns out to be multiple allergies, well, we'll have to go from there...Either way, I look forward to more laughing as he continues to feel better.