Two-month weight: 4.95 kg.
I read my novel as the baby sleeps on my arm...When he's not quite awake but hungry he's like a baby bird, opening his mouth and turning his head from side to side, eating air.
The baby is not self conscious. He doesn't check or censor any of his actions. He's new and fresh and natural. He stretches with his whole body upon waking in the morning, arms and legs straight out. He yawns unreservedly. He's figured out he can roll while on his back by kicking up both feet at once to create energy, and then directing that motion by swivelling his hips and swinging an arm or two in the direction he wants to go. He's opening and closing his hands when reaching for things.
He still seems to do some things more by instinct than by intention, especially feeding-related movement and reflex things to protect himself like the startle reflex or turning his face away from objects approaching his face. He doesn't fight sleep to stay awake like adults do, who might work shifts and use caffeine. He interacts but there isn't any guile. At some point he will start to impose his will and adapt his behaviour to ours. Right now he might protest things or communicate by crying, but he doesn't try to manipulate or charm, to influence or adjust an outcome. I wonder when we will have to start parenting. Some of his movements are to develop strength in his arms, legs, neck, and back so he can crawl and walk later. Where I do see more of his intentional behaviour is in social behavior of cooing and smiling, though the language acquisition process is hard-wired to some extent. When I talk to him in three languages he is very intent.
He has a very long attention span, longer than mine. He can play on his mat if I'm sitting near him for 45 minutes at a time! When he is barefoot and wearing pastel-coloured cotton pants he looks like a retired guy who is going to go play shuffleboard, especially when he sleeps like he's lounging, both arms up at the sides of his head. He favours the starfish or snow angel position, all splayed out.
I remember playing with various small children and how they outlasted me with their energy and capacity for hours of imaginative play. The way to earn the trust of preschoolers is to listen to them well, maintain eye contact, and talk to them properly, waiting for a response. Our family doctor can monitor health, which for kids is about growth and development. Whether the baby grows up to be healthy and self-actualized might be somewhat beyond medicine...
July 31: We ask our close friends, a couple planning to have children, to be his godparents. Neither of us have had godparents, but the idea started to grow on us as our friends became the baby's most consistent visitors outside of family. She especially seemed to have a special bond with him, missing him between visits, and holding him for long periods of time. He looks up at her and falls asleep, secure and untroubled. It will be nice for him, and they, to have each other.
August 7: We receive our first out-of-country visitors: my aunt and her two daughters and son-in-law! We spend a few hours together....I wish they lived closer.
August 13: Three months old and he celebrates by sleeping through the night for the first time! 1245-0615.
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