I want to bring it back to my son here as he is now 5 weeks old and on track to be one tall bean sprout (he is already in the 83% for height). It is amazing to watch his development, day by day, as his built in defenses to outside stimuli slowly break down and he becomes more aware of everything around him. He still sleeps like a rock for the most part, only occasionally making sounds in his sleep as he dreams of pooping or eating, but during his waking hours, he wants to do nothing but stare at the world. Even in the car, if he is not tired, he will just stare at the back seat he is facing. His eyes wander intently wherever we go, room to room in the house, to the doctors, to his grandparents. He is a giant sponge right now, absorbing everything around him that he can see. Some days, I can hold him in front of me and he will just stare back, trying to figure out who I am as I talk to him. Deep down he knows, but its almost as if I can see the little gears grinding away inside his head, trying to make associations between different sounds and the sights that he sees. He is even developing different cries for his situation; hunger brings on an incessant screaming for food, a diaper change is a little less intense and softer, and if he is in the midst of pooping, he grunts and turns red trying to empty his bowels. It is truly amazing to watch him develop even over his first month of life. I know he is going to start developing more quickly as time progresses, but for now I will be amazed at every little sign of progress he exhibits.
Perhaps one of the most amazing things about my son is that he loves to try and fight off sleep. His eyes will start drooping when he is tired only to spring wide open and look around, droop again and pop open, over and over till he gets a little fussy, his body telling him to sleep but his brain fighting it off. It seems that even at this early age that he doesn't want to miss a second of daylight and everything that is happening around him. There are days when he sleeps and sleeps and sleeps, but those are becoming fewer as he persistently stays awake. Sleeping during the night is improving for the most part. He gets at least 1 four hour stretch every night and even snuck in a 6 hour stretch once. Hopefully soon, or at least before my wife goes back to work, he takes the plunge and decides to sleep through the whole night. I have a feeling however that he might not do that till after 9 weeks. The doctor said that babies usually have a growth spurt at 3,6, and 9 weeks and as we are coming up on 6 weeks soon, he is frantically eating as much as possible, storing it up to grow some more. But in the end, he is on his own schedule and will decide when and if he wants to sleep through the night (although his dad really hopes he sleeps through the night soon).
During his fussy times, I discovered a remedy that seems to get rid of his fussiness; flying him around like an airplane near the ceiling. As soon as I lift him over my head, he usually stops crying and starts looking around, probably amazed at the different point of view being offered to him. There was one day when he even got to fly around the house for 20 minutes before tiring of the experience (or rather before my arms got tired of the experience). His fussiness, the little that he has from time to time, is probably just his inability to communicate what he is feeling, his tiredness, his discomfort, his "something". As he develops, my wife and I are going to start teaching him baby sign language. Baby sign language is a simple way to help our son communicate with us before he can speak. It is actually extremely easy and infants supposedly can start learning, associating, and communicating by the time they are seven months old. So we figured, why not start a little early so he can at least see the movements even if he can't make the associations or do anything else with them at this point. There is so much for even us to learn as parents. It is a joy to learn along with our son, to try and figure out what is going on with him and to help him through this early stage of life as best we can. Life truly is amazing and I wouldn't trade in this experience for anything. I may have had doubts before about raising a child, but those are all gone filled now only with excitement and joy.
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