Our Second Month

Oliver is two months old! Time is still flying by and if you watch closely you can actually see him grow. He’s really packing on the pounds and shooting up like a weed. It will be fun to see how much weight he’s gained and how long he is when we take him in for his two month checkup next week (it will not be fun to watch him get his vaccinations).

For his first month Brian and I made a list of all the things we had come to know about our son and, as I expected, a lot has changed in this second month. I thought it would be fun to revisit that list and edit it to reflect the Oliver we have come to know in his second month. 

• He loves the outdoors. When Oliver is fussy nothing calms him faster than walking outside with him. He quietens instantly and stares intently at the leaves as the breeze blows through them. You can just see him taking in all the sounds and smells. Oliver still loves the outdoors although the heat is starting to get to him and to us. Brian has started taking him on walks around Town Lake at about 6 am when Oliver wakes up for the day. Brian loves getting to spend the morning with Oliver, Oliver loves the walk and I love the two hours of peaceful sleep I get when they both leave the house. 
• He hates four o’clock - am and pm. Oliver definitely has a “witching hour.” At four o’clock in the afternoon and four o’clock in the morning, Oliver gets fussy. If he can be asleep when that hour rolls around he’ll sleep right through it. But if he happens to be awake then it takes the full hour to get him to calm down. We don’t know why he hates four o’clock but we’re hoping he grows out of it soon. Four o’clock is no longer a problem. He still gets fussy sometimes in the evenings but the timing is less predictable and it doesn’t happen everyday. He’s generally a happy, calm baby and we know how lucky we are for that.
• He loves speed. Or, more accurately, he hates red lights. Oliver conks out as soon as the car starts moving but is apt to cry when we stop for pesky little things like stop signs and red lights. He’s a highway baby. Still true but he no longer stays asleep after he gets out of the car. He used to take long naps in his car seat. Now as soon as we bring him inside he wakes up.
• He hates baths? We’re still not sure about this one. He has seemed to hate every bath I have given him at home but loved the bath he took at Grandmama’s house this weekend. We’re going to try bathing him in the kitchen sink and using warmer water to see if we can’t get him to enjoy baths at home. Oliver loves baths now (although he’s still not a fan of getting out of the bath). Every night Oliver and I get into the bath tub together (so much easier than setting up his baby bath in the kitchen) and hang out in the water. He loves to float on his back and kick the water to make it splash. Baths completely relax him and get him ready for bed. Warm water was the key to Oliver’s bath time happiness. 
• He can sleep through the dogs barking (even if he’s in the same room) but wakes up instantly if I sneeze. Still true.
• He loves Townes Van Zandt. By the second bar of Pancho and Lefty, Oliver is calm and his eyelids are starting to droop. He also loves to be sung to - even if Brian and I are doing the singing (we’re both tone deaf). He’s still a huge fan of music although he’s branched out a little more so that Brian and I don’t have to listen to Townes Van Zandt 24-7. The song “Mama’s Going to Buy You a Mockingbird” is like baby Ambien to him... by the time I get to the line about buying him a billy goat he is calm and starting to drift off to sleep.
• He loves to fall asleep in our arms but wants Brian and I to rock him to sleep differently. With me, Oliver wants to be chest to chest and with Brian he wants to be face to face. Although I still rock him to sleep every night, Oliver has become less dependent on us to get to sleep. Just in the past week we’ve started putting him in his swing for naps when he’s sleepy but still awake and he drifts off to sleep on his own. 
• He hates green chiles. I’m just going to assume this is still true. Too afraid to test it out.
• He loves company. When people come to visit they almost always comment on how calm and quiet he is. He saves his crying and fussiness for Brian and me. Still true.
• He’s a decent sleeper. He’s no rock star in the sleep department - we are still a long way away from that magical six hour mark - but Brian and I know how fortunate we are that he sleeps as well as he does. We can usually get six to eight hours of sleep a night (of course, that sleep is broken into three or four naps). Oliver continues to be a good sleeper - usually giving us two four hour or longer stretches at night. He’s got his days and nights figured out and still takes at least one long nap a day. The most I have had to get up with him in the past month is twice a night but most nights I’m only up with him once.
• He won’t sleep, however, if he’s not swaddled and no mere mortal swaddle can contain him... it takes a miracle (blanket). Oliver won’t even go down for a good nap without being swaddled. I’m sure he’ll grow out of that as the summer gets hotter but for now, it’s swaddle (and swaddle tightly) or no one sleeps. He still loves to be swaddled and has luckily not outgrown his miracle blanket yet. 
• He has always hated tummy time but in just the past few days has come to start tolerating it. Plus, he’s started playing on his activity mat and staring at his mobile - totally entranced. That’s been an awesome development - we can actually “play” with him now - it’s not all just eating, sleeping and pooping. He still doesn’t really like tummy time but despite the fact that he doesn’t do a lot of it, he’s gotten pretty good at holding his head up. He likes to play on his mat and is starting to reach for things and bat at his toys. He’s also “talking” a lot - he’ll lay on his mat, in his crib or in my lap and coo and “giggle.” It was an adjustment for me when he started making happy noises since before any noise he made was a cry. He would coo and I would try to comfort him like he was crying but now I’ve gotten used to how vocal he is.
• He loves being in the sling but sometimes gets overheated. So, while wearing him usually buys us an hour or two of quiet, it often ends with him going from zero to screaming when he realizes he’s warm or uncomfortable. We have not used the sling much in the last month since it has gotten so hot. He’s much more comfortable sleeping in his swing. He has started liking the Baby Bjorn now, though, and in just the last week has developed enough neck and head control to face out so he can see the world. He prefers that to facing me now.
• He’s got a sixth sense for when food is ready. Whether it’s placing the top piece of bread on the sandwich or me picking up a plate full of food for dinner, Oliver can sense it and chooses that time to demand his next meal. I’ve gotten to eat only about ten hot meals in the last month. Although he lets me eat breakfast and lunch he doesn’t ever let me eat dinner undisturbed. It doesn’t matter what time we try to eat dinner, Oliver will inevitably wake up and demand to be fed when Brian puts my dinner in front of me. It happens every night and I’ve gotten really good at nursing and feeding myself at the same time.
• He loves to dance - he demands movement from all who hold him. Oliver is rarely content sitting still but loves to be rocked, bounced and swayed all over the house. If you hold Oliver, be ready to move and groove. He will eventually fall asleep if you two step around with him but you’ve got to work for it. We can now sit with Oliver in our laps and play with him but if he is upset the only thing that will calm him down is the “Three S’s” - swaddle, sway and sing.

We’ve had a great second month with Oliver - he’s grown so big and has become so interested in the world around him. I look back at the pictures of his first week and can’t believe how tiny he was. He’s an amazing little boy and we are so lucky to have a healthy, happy and calm baby.