Pax weighed in at just under 13 pounds at his two-month doctor's appointment, and I'm guessing he probably weighs about 14.5 now. He also measured a smidge over 24 inches long. Those stats put him in the 75th percentile for weight and length, and the 25th percentile for the ratio--it's looking like he's going to end up tall and slender like his mommy*.
We all know that I am striving to be Mother of the Year, and in this quest I constantly do things like not give Paxton tummy time for six days of the week. I'd simply forget about it until I'd go to mommy group on Tuesday morning and see another mom flip her baby onto their stomach. I was somewhat afraid that my poor child wasn't going to be able to hold his head up until he was sixteen because his mom was (is) such a winner**.
So when Sandy (our doctor, whose name is actually Sandra and I have no idea if she's ever actually given me permission to call her Sandy, but that's what I keep referring to as) said "let's see your head control" and flipped Pax onto his belly, my blood suddenly ran cold. She was going to figure out my dirty little secret once she witnessed Paxton lying there with his head firmly smooshed against the table, his tiny, undeveloped neck muscles unable to lift it up.
That's not exactly what happened.
What happened was that Pax lifted his head off the table. He then put all of his weight on his legs when she help him in a standing position. Then he kept his head steady, even while turning it to look around, while sitting upright.
According to Sandy, my two-month-old had muscle control typical for a baby twice to three times his age. That's pretty good for a kid who almost never got tummy time.
Since then, Pax has pretty much only been lying down to sleep. He likes being upright. I still don't give him enough tummy time, but I feel much better about it now. He's almost always being held in a way where he needs to hold his head up, anyway, so he is getting the exercise in. My husband likes to make him "fly" through the air now that he can hold his head steady--whether Paxton actually likes it is yet to be determined.
Other new tricks include better hand control, eye tracking/focusing and (my personal favorite) actual reactions to stimuli. Newborns tend to just cry and take up space the first couple of months, but now we're getting to the point where Paxton will "talk", follow you with his eyes, smack things with his hands, kick his feet and smile in response to... well, pretty much anything. He spent about a week being in love with the stuffed giraffe on the toy bar of his bouncer--I could plop him in the bouncer to wash dishes or make dinner and he'd happily coo at and swat that giraffe the entire time. The love affair is, sadly, over... for now. Pax is currently in love with blankets... he's discovered that he can ball up part of a blanket and put it in his mouth, which is (apparently) way better than some stupid giraffe.
I managed to get a giggle out of him a week ago. Sadly, no one else was around to hear it, and he hasn't done it since.
I don't know if I mentioned this before, either, but Pax has been sleeping in his pack-n-play (with a bassinet attachment). He's been doing it for a little over a month, actually--and he's taking a nap in his crib right now. This is a major accomplishment... for the longest time Paxton would not sleep unless he was being held or he was in his bouncer. We had a ridiculous arrangement going where we would get him to sleep in the bouncer and then pick the entire bouncer up and very carefully transport it to the pack-n-play in our bedroom. I am so very, very happy that he's sleeping in the bassinet/crib now. (Also, the vibrate-y bit on the bouncer broke yesterday and it no longer vibrates. Does anyone know if that's fixable?)
So, that's what is new in the world of the geekling. Our next great adventure will probably be starting solids in a couple months--the doctor said we could see about starting cereal at four months, but I think we're going to hold off and do a sort of baby-led-weaning hybrid seat-of-our-pants thing around five or six months. I've still got awhile to think about it.
*Mommy could stand to be a little more slender these days. Dang pregnancy weight--when am I going to fit in pants again???
**Other Mother of the Year accomplishments include constantly forgetting to bring formula along when we go out, smacking the top of Paxton's head against the wall (BY ACCIDENT), and leaving my one-week-old baby with my mother so I could go ogle Chris Helmsworth in Thor.
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