Ben is now well into his 4th month of life, and he's doing great! It's easy to forget about his weekly development when we're watching his sister do new, grand, and funny things every day. But we know "Mr. Chunks" -- my nickname for him -- is taking it all in, and he's doing a wonderful job of adjusting to the world around him. Here are some tidbits:
- He now weighs just over 17 pounds. Woo! He's just so adorably chunky I can hardly look at him without laughing. Note: he isn't chubby. No rolls. He just has a really big frame for his age. We hear his daddy was the same way.
- His schedule is really starting to become regular. He takes one mini-nap in the morning, no more than 45 minutes, then one mega-nap in the afternoon at the same time as Sophie. He goes to bed right around 9pm every night. He wakes up in the 2am hour to nurse, then again in the 5am hour. He wakes up in the morning at about the same time the rest of us do, sometime between 8:30-9:30am. I love how his sleeping times are so convenient, but I have to say that I'm looking forward to the time when I don't need to wake up twice a night. Sophie would wake up on her own for that first night feeding around 12:30am or so, so I started to just wake her up and feed her right before I went to bed; then she would just wake up once more in the night, which was ok with me. With Ben not waking up until 2-something, though, waking him up right before I go to bed seems a little drastic for his natural schedule. I guess I will wait and see how it evolves in the next couple of months.
- If he weren't so huge, I'd have real worries about his eating habits. For one, he is a VERY fast nurser. 3-5 minutes per side, unless he is teething or nursing himself to sleep. However, he doesn't usually drain the milk all the way. I have tried to get him to, but when he's done, he's very adamant about it. One might expect him to need to nurse more frequently, but I don't think that's the case.
- Often in the mornings when I try to feed him, he would rather just look up at me with the most adorable face and have us smile at each other for a while. It's very cute, but it's always hard for me to believe he'd rather do that than drink his milk!
- He is very comforted by his dad. He has very little patience for my efforts to cuddle him or sing him to sleep, but John can almost always put him to sleep at the piano. He's also been falling asleep snuggled with his face against John's chest walking around... he would definitely not do that with me.
- He does enjoy it when I sing to him, but only if I'm really looking at him and he can tell I'm engaging with him. I think he hears my singing as entertainment, not something soothing. (Another difference from Sophie, who is still relaxed by my singing.)
- This week I started taking him and Sophie to the music time for kids at the public library. He likes to stand on my legs and see everything, but today it really zonked him out. He fell asleep on my lap while everyone was singing, and barely moved when I transferred him to his carseat.
- He doesn't really like to sit up. He likes to stand (with help, obviously) or lay on his back. When I prop him up sitting somewhere, he usually fusses.
- He hasn't rolled over yet, but he makes moves like he's going to. He rolls onto his side, but seems kind of far from swinging that leg all the way over.
- He likes baths! Even if he is in a bad mood, a bath is a good way to get his mind off of whatever he's upset about.
- He doesn't like being left alone for too long, like most babies I guess. There are lots of times when he cries just for lack of a face to look at. But fortunately he's not the type of baby to need to be held constantly. We do have lots of gadgets to take the place of being held and stimulated, so maybe that's why.
- He smiles and laughs when I tickle him on his chest and neck. It's pretty irresistable.
- He likes to watch Sophie's TV shows (still just SuperWhy! and Sesame Street). Uh-oh.
I promise I will post some pictorial updates soon... it's just hard to keep track of and choose among our pictures these days, in addition to those that other people take, which we often rely on. Thanks for your patience!
