July 5--Two Months

Dear Ethan,

Today you are two months old. Where to even begin? Usually I just banter on about some little observation I've made about our lives, but on these posts I want to capture you. I want to make sure I remember every little thing that has gone on in your world in these past thirty days so that someday you can look back and understand how you became who you are and know how intensely you have been loved from the moment you came into the world.

This month has held all kinds of changes for you. For one, you "woke up", which means that the previous schedule of eat, sleep, poop, eat, sleep, poop is a thing of the past. Now there are entire hours at a time when you demand attention and stimulation. And so I stimulate. with books. with tummy time. with your busy little swing. with walks to the park. with larry the lion and the musical inch worm. with your aquarium kick and crawl. with my endless rambling and off-key singing. You usually end up paying more attention to whatever is happening just above you to the left rather than anything I present to you, but every once in awhile you reward me withe some bonafide undeniable interaction and eye contact. You are also developing some serious strength in your neck, back and shoulders--pushing yourself up during tummy time and scooting along with your legs. It won't be long until you are rolling over and if you don't watch out, you're going to end up crawling wayyyy before you're supposed to!



taking a break during the tummy time



First, a little shmooze with Larry the Lion. Next, the Sunday Crossword...

You did quite a bit of getting out and about this month. You went to visit Grandma Judy and Grandpa Harry a couple of times. You made your first foray into the land of yuppidom by hanging out with mommy & daddy at Starbucks. You also got in touch with your inner fashionista when mommy took you to Georgetown when Tress came to visit. You were quite the hit at Sephora, as you insisted on being held rather than making do in your stroller.


Baby's first latte! Relax, people, it is an empty cup; there is no steaming hot beverage wedged into my son's stroller!



"To H&M, Jeeves!" Tress chauffered you around Georgetown this month.

That's another big "thing" this month---HOLD ME, MAMA!!! Yes, I know you can't speak, but you are a remarkably proficient screamer and you have a fairly distinctive "if you don't hold me, there'll be hell to pay" tone. You won't find me complaining; I know there'll be a day when you won't want to be in the same room with your lame-o mom, so right now while I am the center of your universe, I will soak it up with every fiber of my being, even if I do kvetch about it after 6 hours of sitting on the couch.

To avoid the constant couch potato-ing, I have attempted to "wear" you in a variety of different slings and gizmos so that you are smooshed against me and therefore content, yet I can still accomplish something other than widening my butt all day long. I think we may have struck gold just in the past week. We tried the NoJo sling, the hot sling and the moby wrap. No-go on the NoJo, and you were not at all warming up to the hotsling--apparently you don't feel like hanging out in a pouch anymore. The Moby wrap was nice, but it is about 50 feet of stretchy fabric that I am pretty sure I would end up accidently hanging myself with in an attempt to wrap it around myself correctly. I did love how snug you were in it, and perhaps we will revisit it when I am a bit more coordinated in the ways of the baby-wrap, but for now, you are a Bjorn baby. You finally hit the weight requirement, so I plopped you in that contraption as soon as I could figure out how to put it together. Voila!!! I cleaned an entire room of the house with you babbling at my chest, playing with your fingers and watching the world go by. You were on me, you were secure, you were happy and I was not vegetating on the couch!! Ahhhhhhhh...


You made your first friend this month, too, when little Chloe Marie came into the world. Imagine, two months old and already chatting up the ladies. We are going to be in so much trouble with you...


Little E and Little C live it up in the pack and play

Speaking of trouble, this month your digestive system decided it needed to liven things up a bit by creating more acid than your little belly needs. This is loads of fun for all of us, as you tend to scream like you're feet are on fire just moments after eating. And there's the spitting up. I may have mentioned it in previous posts, no?

Well, Monday I could take it no more and we went to see the doctor. She gave you a prescription for Zantac and now, even though the stuff apparently tastes horrifying, you seem to be a happier little man already. We have to mix some of mama's milkshake in to the dropper to even get you to consider ingesting it (such discriminating tastes for a two-month old!), but you are getting it down, and fingers-crossed, we have heard the last of the reflux wails.

You are moving tonight from your pack and play next to the bed to a "snuggle nest" that we are going to fit in the bed between Daddy and me. I have wanted to have you in bed with us all along, but you've been so tiny, I was afraid of smooching you. Hopefully the snuggle nest will get you that much closer and we will have an easier time getting together for those midnight snacks you seem to like so much.

Eating has become such an easy routine for us, thank goodness. You've definitely struggled to make peace with the boob on its own--no bottle (okay, one bottle at night from daddy), no shield, no nothing but you and the boob. But you're there now and you could give any other little kid lessons on how to eat like a champ. How the human race survived considering all the difficulties some women encounter with breastfeeding is beyond me, but it is definitely a worthwhile endeavor and I'm so glad I didn't stop. At the doctors this week, she mentioned adding rice cereal into a bottle of the milk to help with the reflux and I almost keeled over--unless I can eat the rice cereal and have it come out a few hours later in the milkshake, we'll pass on that, thanks...obviously mama's milk is good enough for you considering you have almost doubled your birth weight in these past two months.

At 8 pounds, 4 ounces, you have grown completely out of your preemie clothes and fit perfectly into most of your 0-3s, although I don't know what it is about 0-3 pants--they all still look like parachute pants on you (ah, the 80's). In your little jeans you look like you should be rocking it old school with MC Hammer. This is not a look I want for my son. So we take off the jeans and wait for you to grow. But I have to admit, I love seeing how your once skinny little frame is filling out into rolls and chewable little chubby parts. Daddy says you're starting to look like the Michelin Man--you'll never know in a million years what that means, but it makes me laugh.



"Can't touch this..." Ethan rocks it old school with the parachute jeans a la MC Hammer

You're finding your voice beyond the screaming, too. You have this funny little "terydactle" noise you make (your friend Chloe makes it, too and sometimes you make the noise at the same time--quite a chorus) and that is now spanning out into coo's and surprised sounding "ahh!"'s. Alas, the sneezescream is gone, but there are so many other little sounds coming from you these days, I hardly miss it.

There are smiles on your face these days, too, although they seem to still be random and directed at something going on in your mind (dare I dream?!) rather than at Daddy or me. My favorite face you make is the little "o" your mouth turns into when you see something interesting or new...there is almost mischief in your face, even now at two months. It is almost too much to bear. I do a lot of melting these days.






The look of discovery...

We go through growth-spurts, you and me. Together and as individuals. I love watching you change each day and I love knowing that every day you change me, too. I am becoming a mother; something I've always wanted to be, even though I never really, truly knew what it meant. I am so grateful I have you as my teacher, my sweet little man.


GO, SOX!!!