Little Man turns ten weeks old today. And he's more fun than ever!
I love that we're seeing a lot less fussing and a lot more smiles. Like most babies, Alex is happiest in the morning. But nowadays he's pretty content throughout the day and even the evening for the most part.
He still fights his sleep during the day. He'll fuss a little bit to let me know he's sleepy, and then it's best to put him down right away before he gets so tired that it's hard for him to go to sleep. As for night sleep, in the last couple of days he's started going longer stretches for the first part of the night. He'll eat around 7p or so and then go down right after that and sleep until 1a. I like seeing a six hour stretch in between feedings! After that it's every three hours for the next two feedings. But during the day he's starting to make a little more progress in stretching his feedings, too. He's been going 3.5 to 4 hours which is where we want to be headed. Hopefully longer stretches of night sleep in the wee morning hours are right behind this. He still uses his paci to go to sleep a lot of times, but that's about it. During his play time, he has become content without it.
Speaking of play time, Alex will sit in his swing or talk to his animals on the discovery mat for several minutes at a time now. He doesn't require quite as much attention from me like he used to so it has become easier to get some things done around the house. He also still likes to go outside or for a ride in his stroller. He's a big fan of the outdoors. And he's become quite the little trooper for outings during the day. I've even braved shopping for new clothes while I've had him in tow. (I won't go into the clothes subject on the blog - too depressing. Suffice it to say that I have my work cut out for me.)
Here are a few more things we're seeing these days...
• He's starting to discover his hands more. Not only does he suck on his fists, but he will occasionally rub his eyes when he's getting tired.
• He's got great eye contact and will follow an object if it moves. He's constantly studying his surroundings and still loves to look at ceilings and lights.
• He's starting to smile in response to a smile you give him. We don't see this all that often, but occasionally when you smile at him he'll smile back.
• He still doesn't like his tummy time. I've got to do better about giving him more of this! (On that note, let me just say that tough love is a lot harder than I thought it would be. That could be a whole blog posting in and of itself. Hmmm. I'll store that one away.)
• He takes his vitamins like a champ. This is only significant because those drops are the most foul smelling things you've ever encountered in your life. It pains me to give them to him because I think they must be disgusting, but he swallows them down like they're candy. I hope this doesn't change. We're considering ourselves lucky.
• He's starting to like his baths now. He still doesn't like when we get him out, but the bath itself isn't quite as dreadful as it was in the beginning.
• Unfortunately, we've moved to the stage where he spits up quite a bit. He reminds me of his friend Jackson. These days we change clothes less because of diaper leaks and more because of spit up going everywhere. This usually requires both Alex and I to change.
• He LOVES to stretch - especially after we take him out of his swaddle blanket. It's so cute to watch. He raises his little arms over his head with his fists clinched tight and arches his back with his legs curled under him. Precious, I tell ya!
• A couple of days ago I saw the first tears starting to form. Now THAT will break your heart!
• But let's end on something sweet. When Alex is sleepy, he'll put his head on my shoulder and cuddle up for a while. Oh, how I long for him to be a cuddler.
