Silas at 2 months

At 9 weeks, Silas weighs 12 pounds 12 ounces and is 25 inches long - a very tall baby!  He received his 2 month immunizations a few days ago.  Of course he cried when received the shots, but he calmed down quickly and we were pleased to see him smiling and chortling at our silly games shortly after his appointment.  However, he awoke from his nap screaming and cried for 15 minutes straight despite all our attempts to console him, by far the longest he has ever cried in his life.  He sounded pained and miserable, poor thing.  A few fussy, sleepy hours later he got a mild fever and we gave him Tylenol.  Another few hours later he was back to his old self after a quiet evening of cuddling and playing softly on the couch.  Phew!

He is just starting to laugh - only the absolute funniest of our games gets a snicker out of him, and he can't seem to figure out how to prolong his laughter, but he's really trying!  He's often very happy and frequently treats us to huge, gummy grins and little mischievous smiles.  He's most amused by loud babbling, having his legs and arms moved around rhythmically while we make nonsense noises, his favorite books, and sticking out his tongue at us when we do it to him.

Although Silas hasn't mastered grabbing entirely, he now reaches for objects in front of his face and can usually manage to touch them.  Coordinating the opening of his hand with a reaching motion is pretty tricky!  He tries very hard as he practices these skills, especially under his baby gym - sometimes he'll make frustrated vocalizations when he just can't get his limbs under control.  We let him try for a while, even if he's frustrated, but if he seems to be getting upset we pick him up and offer him a change of pace.

We have been visited this week by both Silas' grandmothers, which has been good for our sleep (my mother watched him for several hours in the morning so we could sleep in until 8 AM!!) and our sanity.  It's great fun to show off his latest games and charming habits, and it's incredibly helpful to have an extra set of hands when mealtimes come around or when Silas just wants to be carried.  Plus, it's good for the soul to have company.

Brian and I have developed a bedtime routine for Silas that we have strictly adhered to for the last week or two.  While one of us takes a shower and runs a bath, the other will undress him and nestle him in the covers on our bed, which he seems to really enjoy.  Then we sing songs (including his special song, the UU hymn Spirit of Life) to him with the lights low, and give him a bit of a massage, sometimes with some baby balm.  Then he has a warm bath in the big tub with one of us, which he loves, followed by a clean diaper, pajamas and swaddling.  Then the lights go off and he nurses quietly.  If he's not asleep after nursing, I might hold him a little while, but we often put him in his bassinet when he's sleepy, but awake.  At least for the moment, he has been falling asleep on his own, after a few minutes.

(Sometimes he gets a pacifier, too - this is a victory for us.  Silas loves to suck on a pinky finger but until recently he rejected all pacifiers.  After more than a week of offering him 5 different types of pacifiers he might be finally warming up to the idea!)

Although it's probably just luck, Silas only woke up twice last night, giving us TWO 4-hour stretches of sleep at the beginning of the night.  I think that's the most he's ever slept.  Unfortunately I still woke at his more traditional wake times - he has trained me well - but it was encouraging.  The night before last he woke up 5-6 times, so I'm not expecting this to stick, but I do hope that our efforts to help him sleep peacefully and easily are helping.

Brian's vacation is almost over, and I go back to work on Monday.  I had a trial run today to help one of my labmates design a qPCR probe.  Time to get used to switching gears back and forth from babycare to neuroscience!  I'm nervous about the transition, but there's nothing to do but just dive in.  Maybe I'll write more about it later.  I'll be very sad not to be there for Silas all day long and it's hard to imagine him getting so many bottles of expressed milk instead of nursing, but having childcare available might mean that I can sleep during the day if I'm desperate, we have more people involved in his care which I think is good for him, and it's great to use my scientific brain again, too...