2 Months

Sprout has spent the last month staying awake for longer and longer periods of time.  One the minus side, this makes things a bit more difficult for us, as gone are the blissful days when we could set the baby down on his lounger and go about our business.  On the upside though, we get to see more of his sweet personality.

1)  About the middle of the month, he started smiling while he was awake, and although it still wasn't clear whether it was truly reciprocal, we all cooed at him with renewed vigor.  Around 7 weeks, or about a week after his first real awake smile, I noted an actual social exchange - I smiled, he smiled back, and the sun came out from behind the clouds.

2)  He started cooing this month too, but at first, it was clearly an unhappy noise, more of a whimper than anything else.  After about a week or so of that, the coos began to take on happier overtones, and now, we have little happy chats whenever he wakes up from his nap or gets his diaper changed.

3)  To go along with the coos, Sprout has been obsessive about his tongue - he will stick it out, and we will see his eyes go wide with interest as he feel it with his lips and licks a little bit.  Then he will move it to the other corner of his mouth, move it in and out of his mouth, and look even more fascinated.

4)  When he isn't entertaining himself with his tongue, Sprout likes to have this tinkling elephant toy dangled in front of him.  This was Fuzzy's favorite toy at this age too, so there's clearly a genetic affinity for elephants in the family.

5)  Sprout's chunky little legs are incredibly strong.  He likes to be dangled from the armpits with his toes on the ground, and he will push and kick himself up and down, exercising happily.

6)  I'm happy to report that on June 2nd, Sprout ate at 10:30 PM, and then went to sleep until 4:40 AM, resulting in a glorious five uninterrupted hours of sleep for Mama.  May this day be repeated soon.