Developmental update: the next generation.
Apr. 9th, 2009 09:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivkaColin is two months old today. To celebrate, over the last few days I have put away almost all of the 0-3 month clothes and broken out the 3-6 month size. Alex always marched neatly along with the calendar matching the clothes sizes exactly, so this is kind of a departure for me although I realize it's par for the course for a lot of babies.
Colin feels very solid and heavy. He's got big hands with fat juicy fingers, and big solid meaty thighs, and cheeks that look like he's storing up nuts for the winter. He looks well-fed and satisfied and prosperous. I feel so good about being able to support this kind of growth with my milk.
He still nurses a lot. I think we just came off a growth spurt, actually, because there were three nights in a row in which he had one two-hour stretch of sleep before waking to feed and then the rest were shorter. (Last night went much better.) I'm curious to see what his eating patterns will be like when I go back to work, because when he's around me all day and I smell like milk and my breasts are right there and impossible to overlook he wants to latch on very, very frequently. Often just a few sips is enough to re-establish that all is right with his world.
Despite the frequent wakings, the nights aren't so bad. Okay, that three-night stretch was pretty bad. But for the most part I can't even tell you how many times a night he nurses. We co-sleep. When he starts grunting and rooting around it wakes me up and I haul myself into a sitting position (still can't nurse lying down) and feed him. Then a while later I realize that I've been asleep sitting up against the headboard, and he's asleep in my arms. I don't really wake up all the way unless something unusual happens. So I get decently rested.
Beyond eating and sleeping, there are now actually other things: quiet alert periods and active alert periods. Active alert periods involve lots of kicking and arm waving and vocalizations. Quiet alert periods are all about high-intensity gazing. He likes to look at us, but even more he likes to look at areas of high contrast, like a dark wood doorjamb against a white wall.
He does this fantastic thing where he initiates a long period of eye contact, smiles a lot, and coos. He actually says "goo, goo" like a baby in a comic strip. That and "ohhh." He'll coo at me and then I'll coo back and then he'll coo again - it's so cool the way conversational turn-taking gets established so early. And the smiles are fabulous.
He continues to be a very content, happy little boy. There are things he hates with nuclear intensity - riding in the car, having his clothes changed, sponge baths - but apart from those things he has few complaints. Although he prefers to be held, he can be put down in the swing or on a floor blanket for 10-15 minutes at a time without flipping out. That makes things so much easier!
Not much else is going on. I can put a lightweight rattle in his hand and he'll grip it, but he doesn't examine it or move it purposely. I think that happens next month.
Colin feels very solid and heavy. He's got big hands with fat juicy fingers, and big solid meaty thighs, and cheeks that look like he's storing up nuts for the winter. He looks well-fed and satisfied and prosperous. I feel so good about being able to support this kind of growth with my milk.
He still nurses a lot. I think we just came off a growth spurt, actually, because there were three nights in a row in which he had one two-hour stretch of sleep before waking to feed and then the rest were shorter. (Last night went much better.) I'm curious to see what his eating patterns will be like when I go back to work, because when he's around me all day and I smell like milk and my breasts are right there and impossible to overlook he wants to latch on very, very frequently. Often just a few sips is enough to re-establish that all is right with his world.
Despite the frequent wakings, the nights aren't so bad. Okay, that three-night stretch was pretty bad. But for the most part I can't even tell you how many times a night he nurses. We co-sleep. When he starts grunting and rooting around it wakes me up and I haul myself into a sitting position (still can't nurse lying down) and feed him. Then a while later I realize that I've been asleep sitting up against the headboard, and he's asleep in my arms. I don't really wake up all the way unless something unusual happens. So I get decently rested.
Beyond eating and sleeping, there are now actually other things: quiet alert periods and active alert periods. Active alert periods involve lots of kicking and arm waving and vocalizations. Quiet alert periods are all about high-intensity gazing. He likes to look at us, but even more he likes to look at areas of high contrast, like a dark wood doorjamb against a white wall.
He does this fantastic thing where he initiates a long period of eye contact, smiles a lot, and coos. He actually says "goo, goo" like a baby in a comic strip. That and "ohhh." He'll coo at me and then I'll coo back and then he'll coo again - it's so cool the way conversational turn-taking gets established so early. And the smiles are fabulous.
He continues to be a very content, happy little boy. There are things he hates with nuclear intensity - riding in the car, having his clothes changed, sponge baths - but apart from those things he has few complaints. Although he prefers to be held, he can be put down in the swing or on a floor blanket for 10-15 minutes at a time without flipping out. That makes things so much easier!
Not much else is going on. I can put a lightweight rattle in his hand and he'll grip it, but he doesn't examine it or move it purposely. I think that happens next month.
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no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 01:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 02:00 pm (UTC)That's just too cute for words. Amanda used to like to say "blurb" when she was very young. She also liked for us to say it to her. Eventually it became something of a nickname.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-26 02:29 am (UTC)