Something new every day
Seems like my 12-week-old son learns something new every day.
This weekend, we made the big change. We moved him out of the bassinet in our bedroom and into his own crib in his own room. I am not a big fan of kids-sleep-in-the-parents-room school of parenting, but I recognized the utility of having him nearby in the first few months of his life when my wife seemed to be getting up every 5 minutes to breastfeed him. But there was no question he was outgrowing that bassinet. He is more than double the weight he was at when we brought him home from the hospital.
The transition went great! I'm not sure if it went so well because (a) he has more room to stretch out in the crib, or (b) he likes the little "sleeping bag" thing we bought for him so he won't kick off his covers, or (c) he has just perfected the art of shoving his fist in his mouth to suck on it! Or, of course, a combo of all 3. :)
Now, watching the shoving-fist-in-mouth thing develop has been VERY interesting! Babies learn at a surprising rate. For weeks now, I've been suspecting he would be a thumb sucker, because he loves to suck on his fist when it's near his mouth. Recently, he's gained enough motor control to know he can actually DECIDE to put his fist in his mouth! LOL!
I was watching him try hard, on Saturday, to achieve his goal. Unfortunately for him, his aim was still bad. Instead of getting it in his mouth, I watched with amusement as the poor guy kept smacking himself in the forehead! LOL. (Naturally, I helped him move his fist down to his mouth.)
On Sunday, he was still smacking himself in the forehead, or sometimes when his aim was good, in the cheek. But each time, he would then slide his fist down, stick his tongue out to see if the fist was there yet (since it often wasn't) and then re-adjust until it WAS.
By Monday, he was having no trouble at all getting fist to mouth accurately every time! Occasionally, he even gets a finger or thumb in there too, instead of just a fist.
But what progress!
I know the non-parents out there are laughing themselves silly at what a big deal I'm making about something so simple, but there really is something to this: watching your kid, day by day, figuring out the world. The actions, sights, feelings, sounds and smells that we adults (and even small children) take for granted are all new and exciting to a baby.
And for me, it's been amazing watching my little guy set his first goal, work towards it and finally achieve it! :)
This weekend, we made the big change. We moved him out of the bassinet in our bedroom and into his own crib in his own room. I am not a big fan of kids-sleep-in-the-parents-room school of parenting, but I recognized the utility of having him nearby in the first few months of his life when my wife seemed to be getting up every 5 minutes to breastfeed him. But there was no question he was outgrowing that bassinet. He is more than double the weight he was at when we brought him home from the hospital.
The transition went great! I'm not sure if it went so well because (a) he has more room to stretch out in the crib, or (b) he likes the little "sleeping bag" thing we bought for him so he won't kick off his covers, or (c) he has just perfected the art of shoving his fist in his mouth to suck on it! Or, of course, a combo of all 3. :)
Now, watching the shoving-fist-in-mouth thing develop has been VERY interesting! Babies learn at a surprising rate. For weeks now, I've been suspecting he would be a thumb sucker, because he loves to suck on his fist when it's near his mouth. Recently, he's gained enough motor control to know he can actually DECIDE to put his fist in his mouth! LOL!
I was watching him try hard, on Saturday, to achieve his goal. Unfortunately for him, his aim was still bad. Instead of getting it in his mouth, I watched with amusement as the poor guy kept smacking himself in the forehead! LOL. (Naturally, I helped him move his fist down to his mouth.)
On Sunday, he was still smacking himself in the forehead, or sometimes when his aim was good, in the cheek. But each time, he would then slide his fist down, stick his tongue out to see if the fist was there yet (since it often wasn't) and then re-adjust until it WAS.
By Monday, he was having no trouble at all getting fist to mouth accurately every time! Occasionally, he even gets a finger or thumb in there too, instead of just a fist.
But what progress!
I know the non-parents out there are laughing themselves silly at what a big deal I'm making about something so simple, but there really is something to this: watching your kid, day by day, figuring out the world. The actions, sights, feelings, sounds and smells that we adults (and even small children) take for granted are all new and exciting to a baby.
And for me, it's been amazing watching my little guy set his first goal, work towards it and finally achieve it! :)