Then You Are Happy: The Story of Bambin@: 2 Month Update

Two months old! Already a sixth of the way through her first year!

If you think she looks mischievous here, you should have seen the time she winked at my nipple while taking a break from nursing.

I'm never quite sure what to record in monthly updates. What will I be struggling to remember in a few months? What will I find important?

For now, I'm just going to write some basic facts as well as some stream-of-consciousness thoughts on how we're doing.

Two days ago was Greta's 2 month appointment. She got her first round of immunizations and handled them like a champ -- which is to say they were no fun for anyone, but they were over quite fast and she calmed down well. We mostly talked to her doctor about feeding and general health. She had been on a pooping strike for 4 days (which finally ended yesterday and she's been back to her usual pooping self ever since), so we discussed our concerns around that. We probably should have been grateful for the easy diaper changes, since we weren't worried about her not getting enough food. Her growth has been good -- 23 inches long, 15.25" head circumference and 10 pounds, 3 oz in weight. I'm still waiting for the day when I can say that she's heavier than the birthweight of anyone I've heard of, but for now, we're all just happy with her growth trajectory. She's now in Size 1 diapers, which we appreciate because they're the cheapest size.

Overall, she just seems to be growing out of the newborn phase and into the baby phase pretty rapidly now. When I hold her up on my shoulder, I don't feel like I have to support her neck and body nearly as much as I used to -- she holds her head up with greater and greater control. She had always been pretty strong and willing to demonstrate her strength while being held on a shoulder -- but in a "here, let me freak you out by pushing off of your shoulder and throwing my head this way and that" sort of way. Now, she seems to have a more grown-up posture when she's held upright. And when she does tip backwards into our arms or face-plant into someone's chest, it seems to be more intentional (that she's straining to examine the light fixtures above her, or she's snuggling up with her Papa) rather than accidental. She still hates tummy time, but she's getting better at it little by little.

As usual, she kicks like crazy when she's on her back, but she's also occasionally stretched out her legs and let them rest like that -- which is strange, because I'm so used to seeing her either kicking or with her knees drawn up in a fetal position. She looks so grown up when she stretches them out and keeps them that way! She's also started to spend more time on her back looking straight up -- with her head centered at the mid-line rather than looking off to one side. This makes me very happy because when we'd put her in her crib I'd have to orient her so that she was parallel to the "short sides" of the crib so that she could look at the cool high-contrast mobile that we have above the head of her crib. Otherwise, if I positioned her so that she was parallel to the long-sides of the crib and had her head directly under the mobile, she wouldn't be able to hold her head so that she could see directly above her very well, so she'd miss out on the mobile entirely. She's getting long enough now that we might need to change her orientation so that she's directly under the mobile, so I am glad that she's ready to hold her head in a position that will allow her to see it.

When we put her down on the activity mat on her back, she has been very happy to look up at the dangling toys. I can't really figure out what it is that she enjoys so much, since she's not quite "playing" with them yet, but she seems exceedingly happy. Occasionally, she has started to bat at the toys with a bit more purpose (instead of waving her arms around, the way that she did initially), and the other day I watched as she grabbed the hanging monkey by the hand and gripped it tightly as she swung her arm back and forth. It was kind of awesome.

It's interesting to think about baby milestones -- smiling, cooing, holding her head at the mid-line of her body, grabbing a monkey, batting at items . . . I don't think that she's doing anything unusual, but it's still a total novelty to me to witness each thing for the first time. There's a dark side to milestone-watching, though. Earlier this week, I watched an informational video about normal vs. abnormal development for a 2-month old. Greta appeared most similar to the "normal" baby in all areas except tummy time. I became pretty anxious that I wasn't giving her enough opportunities to use her arms and elbows to pull herself up (since she normally does her "tummy time" on a person's chest while she's being held -- and pushing against a soft parent chest isn't quite the same as pushing against a thin quilt on the floor). What made it worse was that the video discussed the importance of pediatricians listening to parent concerns about milestones in order to diagnose developmental problems that require early intervention. So then I felt as though I had been doing something wrong by blissfully living in ignorance of what my child should be doing at each age, and just delighting in whatever she does do.

Also in the past week, I looked up the 2-month update of the son of some dear friends of ours whose blog was the inspiration for this one. (If they're reading this, I'm sure they know who they are.) I felt a pretty strong pang of jealousy and just a little hint of worry as I read about him rolling over. I remember the post from way back when, but when I read it the first time, I didn't really know that it was unusual for a baby to roll over at 2 months. For a couple days this past week, I would furrow my brow at Greta and wonder if there was something I should be doing to "get her" to roll over. Then I remembered that having a baby that can roll over comes with it's own safety challenges, and that I should really be cherishing every moment of limited mobility that she has left in her.

So that's the goal now, just to cherish each stage for what it is. If she progresses quickly, then that's awesome and exciting. If she progresses more slowly, then that's just more time to enjoy babyhood.

To wrap up, here are a few of the things that Greta has been up to this past month.