Second Child Syndrome

"Poor Alex," I remarked the other day at dinner. Jonathan was sitting in his new chair at the table, picking out the green pieces and eating his meat and rice. Meanwhile, Alex was smiling and content on the playmat in the living room. He'd managed to reach up and grab the giraffe foot and was waving it around. Chris and I realized that this achievement would have warranted Jonathan a full blog entry, but for Alex, it was simply dinner table conversation. So, in the interests of parity, I'll describe how our little snugglebug is doing these days.

1) Sleep. Alex was born, apparently, with an innate timer set to go off between 2:30 and 3 AM every night. It doesn't matter what time we get him to bed - 11:30 PM after "Lost" on Wednesdays or 9:30 PM if we're feeling particularly tired. No matter what, he's awake at 2:30, ready to eat. We are trying to keep the late-night fuss to a minimum - low lights, no cooing or playing - but so far that wake-up call hasn't budged. He still gets wrapped in the baby straightjacket every night but he's in the crib now - he's outgrown the cosleeper.

2) Motor milestones: Alex hates tummy time unless he has a pillow or blanket wedged under his chest. So he's not doing a lot of pushups yet. On the other hand, his head strength is getting better and better. He sits upright on my lap for his nebulizer treatments (a legacy of his hospital stay that we're hoping to get rid of soon) and rarely needs me to pull his head back up. He's definitely right-handed and loves to look at his fist. The grabbing of the giraffe is new but now that he knows what to do, he loves to watch his mobile and the toys in front of him, planning how to get hold of them as well.

3) Social milestones: Alex is so happy to see Jonathan, and the fact that they're now spending all day together puts him in a great mood. He also seems to really want to talk. The grunts are subsiding (though he's still a startlingly noisy baby) and when he's happy he will coo in the most delightful manner possible. His smile is a huge open-mouthed toothless grin than lights up his whole face.

See, Alex? We're paying attention, we swear!