Updates! Baby is 11 weeks.

One of the things I hear the most from people is, "he's so alert!" It strikes me as funny, not only because both my children are/were extremely alert when awake, but also pretty much every baby I've ever known is also. I mean, are there some really dopey babies out there?

 A question I get a lot is, "How is Zadie handling it?" And the answer is, honestly, pretty well! One great thing is that Lochlan sleeps through the night, so he's not crying and keeping her up. Also, on the rare occasions that he does cry, she still doesn't usually wake up, because it's not super-loud and we can comfort him pretty quickly. Also, she's great at trying to calm him down (even though sometimes her little songs grate on us), and she will fetch things for me pretty reliably.

 On the other hand, sometimes I think back to her babyhood and know how much easier certain things were -- like, no one ever randomly shouted in her ear when she was drifting to sleep. And no one moved my damn Boppy all over the house. And no one pre-tested all her toys. Have you ever had one of those talks with someone where you're like, "Remember that time we went ice skating?" and they just BLANK OUT, like, "I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't think that was me." That's the look she gives us when we suggest maybe she not play with his toys, or use his blanket, or try on his hat, or sit on his swing, or appropriate his Boppy. "Honey, please don't break his xylophone before he's even old enough to use it." Blank look, as if to say, "I'm sorry; I don't speak the language."

 Still, Lochlan is such an easy kid that a lot of her nonsense is mitigated by the fact that I am well-rested. You really cannot say enough good things about a kid who is not running sleep deprivation experiments on you.

 People ask, "What if you'd had him first?" Honestly, we probably wouldn't have waited so long for a second. But assuming that in this scenario, the second is Zadie, we'd have had a nasty surprise. This way, we've had a pleasant one instead! And we didn't have to deal with two in diapers at the same time, so I think it all works out.

 I'm crazy about them both, and I couldn't be happier that they seem to love each other. He looks at her with utter fascination. You can practically see little hearts drifting up from his eyes into the ether.

                                         (Well, perhaps you can't see the hearts in this pic.)

Well baby checkup

Lochlan had a checkup today, so if you're wondering, he is now 11 pounds, 11.4 ounces. He is also 24" (which is, yes, two feet) tall. He's in the 81st percentile for height, but only the 24th for weight. Still, he's following the curve on both, so we just figure I make tall, skinny kids (that's gotta be Sweetie's genes, though!!).

He got three shots, which made him angry, but then we were done. He is perfect in every way.

He grabbed a bing hank of my hair this morning, and my first reaction was "Yay, a good grip!" and my second was... "oh, shit. We've entered the hair-grabbing stage."

As far as what we're noticing at home, he watches people really, really intently. Like, he just STARES into your eyes, and he'll maintain eye contact for longer than most adults. He also watches you when you talk or make faces, and he tries hard to imitate you. I know you can't conclusively know whether your kid is smart or not at only two months old, but I can't imagine a kid who studies the world the way he does being anything less than pretty clever.

He loves to be held, and he still sleeps a ton, which is amazing. It's so lovely to have a cuddlebug. He also just loves to smile and laugh.