Milestone Minutiae

For a couple of days now, we've been getting what seem like genuine smiles from Luke. The best way to get one is to make a funny face and a funny noise. He's also getting good with his arms - the doctor asked me to hold his arms while he looked in his mouth, because Luke was putting up an effective defense. Today I got some more evidence of his spatial awareness - while looking to the left at his gym, his right hand hand hit a hanging toy. He immediately turned his head to look at it.

He's been sounding out words for a while now, and seems to enjoy sounding out long words if you help him break them into chunks. At least twice now, he seems to have read words (in novel situations) that I thought he'd need to sound out. One was the word "river" (and I don't remember the other). Both times I've asked him how he knew, and he just says, "I looked at the letters."

Luke has had a little cough and a little congestion for a couple of days. Last night, it was noisy enough to concern me, so we saw the doctor this morning (he's fine - no need to do anything unless we see a fever). They weighed him: 11 pounds even That's about 3/4 pound per week since his 2 week visit. Emmett gained 3 pounds between his two week and 2 month doctor visits. So unless Luke only gains 1 pound in the next month, he'll be gaining ground compared to how Emmett grew. If Luke gets to 13 pounds by his 2 month visit, he'll have caught up with Emmett, despite Luke's 1 pound 3 oz deficit at birth. Everyone place your bets!

Luke seems to be getting better at using his arms. He's swiping in the same direction that he's looking, rather than all over. Sometimes when he's sleeping, Luke will cry out and then settle again almost immediately. It can be quite disconcerting. Is he having some kind of pain? Or is he having infant nightmares? Luke doesn't fall asleep nursing nearly as much as Emmett did. But Luke can fall asleep really fast. One minute he'll be wide awake, or even fussy (needing to burp), and the next minute (sometimes after that burp) he'll be limp and asleep in your arms.

A while ago at a fabric store, Emmett found a fabric covered in cut limes and demanded that I buy some. He has since taken to calling it "lime spouts" for reasons that I have never been able to figure out. I've been sewing Emmett a Halloween bag. I work on it while Luke sleeps - flat on his back, lying on a quilt. Shortly after I start sewing, Luke will have the rolled up lime spouts on one side of his head. Emmett must have noticed that we sometimes use rolled blankets to keep Luke's head steady. I've never seen Emmett actually rolling the fabric or placing it by Lukes head, but clearly Emmett takes good care of his brother.

Step one: Have a dream where you have two babies, not just one. Step two: Partially wake up to care for the baby, but then look around the bed and ask your husband "Where is the other baby?" He'll very quickly be more awake than you are.

Luke likes to snuggle. Since he can barely control his limbs, it took me a while to figure this out. Reading something about infant behavior, I learned that babies "snuggle" by slumping into the bend in your arm, or wriggling up to tuck their head into the curve of your neck. (This is as opposed to babies who don't like to snuggle, who stiffen when you hold them close.) When I put Luke onto my chest to sleep, he wriggles until his head is practically choking me. At first, I would pull him down so I'd be more comfortable. Now that I realize that he's being social and snuggly, I try to figure out how to angle my head so I can still breathe.

After the bath, Luke made a couple of cooing noises. David pointed out that those were the first (and so far only) noises that he's made that weren't in anger... I got the video camera to try to capture the happy noises, but Luke clammed up.

These days when we walk the dogs with Emmett, he's been walking instead of riding in the stroller. He likes to run out ahead of us down the sidewalk. Sometimes he'll wait for us to catch up, other times he'll run back to us and then head out again. Yesterday on a walk, David suggested that he run up to a fire hydrant and back to us. What a sweet daddy - suggesting that his son go run some windsprints. Maybe later I can get him to chalk a few lines on the grass in the backyard. Emmett does seem to enjoy it, though. I guess I need to find him a track team for three year olds.

Last night, Luke had his first real bath. His baby bathtub is pretty big, but we put it in the bathtub and Emmett managed to squeeze in beside it, so they had a bath together. Luke was asleep when we put him in the bath. It woke him up, of course, but he didn't complain or cry at all during the process! He looked a bit surprised, and seemed more interested in what was going on than anything else. Since the bath, his hair has been standing on end much more. Emmett had a nice bath, too. He got more water and space after Luke was finished, and he liked that part of the bath better. I'm sure it'll be more fun together when Luke is bigger.

... that you probably don't care about. But this blog is where I'm tracking everything, so here goes. Luke makes all the same squirmy, squeaky noises that Emmett made when he was a baby. I think they're standard-issue baby behaviors, but of course I think they make Luke the cutest ever*. He has made Emmett's "sweetface" a couple of times, but not as often as Emmett did. (That's a face with pursed lips, an elongated neck, and eyebrows raised after nursing. Then he'll bob his head a little bringing it back in to snuggle and sleep.) He doesn't fall asleep while nursing as much as Emmett did. He's also spending more time awake with bright wide open eyes these days. To be expected, I suppose, but still fun. *When we first got Jake and Jenny, we thought lots of their behaviors were adorable and unique, too. Then we went to an event with a bunch of greyhounds and discovered that they're typical greyhound behaviors. We still think Jake and

... that you probably don't care about. But this blog is where I'm tracking everything, so here goes. Luke makes all the same squirmy, squeaky noises that Emmett made when he was a baby. I think they're standard-issue baby behaviors, but of course I think they make Luke the cutest ever*. He has made Emmett's "sweetface" a couple of times, but not as often as Emmett did. (That's a face with pursed lips, an elongated neck, and eyebrows raised after nursing. Then he'll bob his head a little bringing it back in to snuggle and sleep.) He doesn't fall asleep while nursing as much as Emmett did. He's also spending more time awake with bright wide open eyes these days. To be expected, I suppose, but still fun. *When we first got Jake and Jenny, we thought lots of their behaviors were adorable and unique, too. Then we went to an event with a bunch of greyhounds and discovered that they're typical greyhound behaviors. We still think Jake and

I have to revise my previous statement about Luke not wanting to play at night. I'll admit it's a gray area, but in this house, 5am is still night. His "days" seem to be running from 5am-5pm or so. If we can just get him shifted by 2-3 hours, we'll all get along a lot better.

Weight: 9 pounds (75%) Length: 21 inches (75 %) Head: 36 1/2 cm (50%) To sum up: Luke is now the size Emmett was at birth.

When Luke sleeps on my chest with his arms out front and his body totally limp, it reminds me of the meerkats on Meerkat Manor flopped down and resting on the sand in the afternoon.

After more than a week, we decided Luke needed a bath. Oddly, after being quite messy when he was born, Luke had gotten steadily cleaner for days. Still, it seemed wrong to expect this to continue. We decided to give him a sponge bath because his umbilical cord was still attached. He didn't protest the cleaning much, but he didn't seem to enjoy it either. We'll have to wait for the first immersion bath to see what he really thinks of bath time.

Luke lost his umbilical cord yesterday. That was day 9 for those of you who aren't counting along at home. Emmett didn't lose his until he was about three weeks old. I only mention it as a measure of just how much bigger Emmett's feeding tube was in utero. In the middle of the night a few days ago, Luke was awake when I wanted to be asleep. He wasn't fussy, just awake and he'd fuss if I turned off the light. So after trying to keep my eyes open for a while, I held him at my side where he could look at my face and I went to sleep with the light on. This was enough to keep him happy, because the next time I woke up he was asleep and I turned off the light. Things are going well with Luke. He no longer wakes up at night wanting to play, though he is sometimes surprisingly resistant to nursing, choosing instead to wail for a while before eating. He has several hour+ waking cycles each day, so we use that time to "play." We play staring games, mimic ga