Two Months

How can it be possible that my little peanut is eight weeks old?! He's already such a big boy in so many ways - he can lift up his own head (a trick that he's been doing since a couple of days after birth. He can also hold his head at a forty-five degree angle, can follow objects with both his eyes and head, is reaching for things (although not quite grabbing them yet), and most deliciously he coos and smiles! He "sleeps through the night," which is to say that he sleeps for four to five hours at one stretch (and he's been known to sleep for six hours on occasion).

We had our two month check-up last Thursday, 5/28. Jackson's stats are:

23.5 inches long
10 lbs. 15.5 oz.

Jack began sleeping through the night around Mother's Day, and we've since moved him out of the bassinet (or sassinger, as my niece Dylan called it) and into his own bedroom. I remember putting him in the crib when he first came home, and how little he looked in the crib. Now doesn't look quite as overwhelmed by all of the space.

He's grown one and a half inches, and has gained three pounds and five ounces since his birth day. Like I said at the beginning of this post, he's already such a big boy in so many ways. And, he lived through his first series of immunization shots. Of course he cried, but he was such a trouper and despite the doctor saying that he might not be interested in eating or that he might run a fever, Jackson went through the rest of the day as though nothing had happened to him (of course, I was a wreck after hearing him cry when he got the shots). Dr. Wade (his pediatrician) was so pleased with Jack's progress.

In the beginning, Jack had lost quite a bit of weight, and we were concerned about his slow rate of weight gain. We stuck with the breast feeding, supplementing on occasion, and took Jack to the doctor for frequent weight checks. By the time he turned three weeks old, he had regained all of the weight he had lost, and then some. "They" say that average weight gain for babies is one ounce per day. By that calculation, and taking into account Jack's slow weight gain to start, he has exceeded that average!

In addition to his weight gain issues, we were also mildly concerned because Jack had not passed his hearing screening in the hospital. The doctor advised us to follow up with an audiologist after Jack's six-week birthday. We made an appointment with Children's Hospital in Chalfont last Wednesday 5/26. He passed with flying colors - his hearing was normal in both his right and left ears for both loud and soft sounds, and he had great responses for his middle, inner, and outer ears.

Jack is such a joy! I wonder often what he will like, and what he will be like, as he grows. For now, he likes the red giraffe on his activity mat, and staring out of the dining room window. Sometimes he likes his mobile, and sometimes he likes his swing (especially the glowing light and the rotating fishes). He loves to be cuddled, and pretty much lives for being tied to me in his sling/ wrap. He tolerates bath time, and sometimes outright dislikes it (mostly because it delays receipt of boobie snax, or because it's cold when he gets out of the tub and he's wet). He loves when people make raspberries at him, and he likes to look at people's faces. He also loves to sit in his sling/ wrap, look out at the world, and take it all in. We read to Jack nightly, but we're not sure how he feels about that just yet... He likes being sung to, and I'm trying to instill in him a love of 80s pop (hey, don't judge! I don't know many lullabies, and I sing him songs I know all the words to - could be worse: Jesse's mom sang him to sleep with Mack the Knife. Talk Dirty to Me doesn't sound so bad now, huh?).

I can't wait to see what surprises Jackson Francis Benner has in store for us over the coming days, weeks, months, and years!