Interacting with Silas

In the last week Silas has begun to interact with the world on a whole new level.  When we put him in ours laps he studies our faces carefully, occasionally breaking out into a big smile - now with smiley eyes!  He is very good at mimicking our facial expressions - he'll stick out his tongue, make "ooh" and "aah" faces and noises after we do, and coo at us, as if conversing.  He's fascinated by all kinds of sounds and expressions we make, and often (assuming he's not having an off day), these quiet interaction sessions can be half an hour or more before he wants to change position or be in motion.  He tracks bright objects with his eyes, moving his head accordingly, but only against bland backgrounds - he prefers to look at faces.  (If he can't see a face, he's almost certain to look at a window!  We think he loves the contrast and light.)

This morning he rolled over, front to back, after pushing his shoulders and head off the ground.  He did it twice, and by the time we got a camera out, he was too tired to do it a third time.  We feared nobody would believe us, but when Grandma Marsha came to visit around lunchtime, he did it again!  Grandma Marsha was also the recipient of some certified Megawatt smiles, which is great - we haven't been able to show them off to others yet.

Lately, when he's fussy (and not hungry or wet), it's almost certainly because he wants to be carried around the house over our shoulders, looking around.  His head control is good enough that we don't have to hold up his head for him, and he can rotate his neck well enough to look at whatever he's interested in.  Brian made up a little song to sing to him as they walk around together.  I'm trying out Broadway tunes or constant narration of the surroundings.  Unfortunately, sometimes Silas seems to be so stimulated by looking around that when he's tired, he can't quite bear to close his eyes... Several times he has fallen asleep on my shoulder, only to let one eye open a tiny bit, get excited again, and fuss because he's so tired... This means that sometimes he needs to be shushed to sleep in a dark hallway.

Silas is sleeping about as well as we could expect him to at night.  He almost always gives us a 3.5-4 hour stretch between feedings at the beginning of the night, and sometimes two.  When we put him to bed, and the next one or two times he goes back down after eating, he is likely to fall asleep easily even if he's awake when we put him down.  Towards the end of the night, he generally wakes to eat between 4:30 and 5:30.  After that feeding he often has trouble returning to sleep and requires soothing, or else he goes to sleep but sleeps so fitfully and noisily it's hard to believe he's getting any rest!  Every couple of days, he does seem to think that 2 AM is playtime and we'll open our eyes groggily to see a smiling little baby beaming at us from the cosleeper or changing pad.  It's adorable, but it means one of us has to stay up with him, interacting minimally and just keeping him soothed, until he realizes it's nighttime, which often takes an hour or more.

He now takes 1 bottle of expressed milk per day, so we can keep him acclimated to a bottle.  This means I have to pump, which isn't very dignified, but I suppose it's important.  It's nice for Brian to be able to give Silas a bottle, and since it's winter (and therefore difficult or impossible to nurse Silas outdoors) it extends our "range" a little bit when it comes to walks and hikes.  (I'm finding that it's not too hard to nurse Silas discreetly indoors, especially with a nursing cover, but I think it would be a difficult experience for both of us to nurse on a park bench when it's 20 degrees F!)  I am slowly starting to build a freezer stock of milk, but I have so far only managed to store 10 ounces.  I don't think I've quite got this pumping thing down yet.  The pump isn't to blame - I've got the latest greatest electric double pump, courtesy of my insurance (thanks, Obamacare!!).