Very Young Jolyon - Week 3

Here we are, a few highlights from the third week with Very Young Jolyon. They chronicle the relatives a bit, but I know there are about a bazillion photos more on everyone else's cameras. What with the constant and welcome presence of the papparazzi, we got a bit lax with the photography ourselves, but thanks to digital photography, eventually we'll get to share with everyone else.

The Forsyte Saga reference photos were not included in week 3 because of the excitement of having so many visitors... I think we might get a few in today, also to chronicle Jolyon's massive pimple outbreak.

Jolyon continues to be an absolute delight. I'm so amazed that we made him, and I love him so much it's hard to put it into words. Even his acne is cute. Awake smiles are still not particularly frequent, but there's absolutely no better feeling than watching your baby smiling up at you.

He is starting to be more clear about things that upset him, I think as a part of having ever more extensive alert periods in between the eating and the crashing. Most often, the solution is related to emitting gas or solids (liquids seem to be no problem whatsoever). We've also started getting good at figuring out when he's just overstimulated and tired, and swaddling him takes care of it pretty swiftly.

We're not particularly fussed by the fact that sometimes Jolyon is just cranky - it happens, and getting distraught over the fact that baby is crying or fussing is not really very productive. We take the attitude of the midwife that delivered me and say that after we've taken care of all the things that could be bothering him (food, diaper, gas, position changes), perhaps a baby just need to exercise his lungs a bit sometimes. We're lucky in that we have mostly intermittent grizzling rather than nonstop wails of rage, so all in all, it hasn't gotten overwhelming yet. I should also stress that this is a very occasional thing, or else we'd be more concerned about coming up with reasons for the crankiness.

I did read an article about how parents are super paranoid with their Precious First Born (PFB) and then ease up dramatically with the Neglected Subsequent Children (NSCs). It made me laugh because a lot of the things we're doing with our PFB were things they described as second-time parent behaviors... so I shudder to think where we will end up a few children later if we were never at the sterilizing things stage with the first. But, all in all, I think being laid back and not stressing has allowed us to enjoy our baby so much more, and just be really happy during this time, rather than tense or worried. It only occurs to me later, "Oh, right, he's sucking on my finger, but I just changed his diaper and then petted the cat and then picked up things from the floor", but you know, Jolyon seems fine.

I find it rather exciting that Jolyon has started having preferences. He really likes being held out in front streched out on a lap or arm, which is a position you see most often in the photo album. He totally still loves to kick, and his left leg seems to be his favorite or more dominant kicking leg. He's starting to vocalize more during those alert and kicking times, too, which is totally entertaining. He seems to like music, and dancing to music, and he definitely loves baths. Clothing removal has become much less upsetting, too. He's starting to grab at things like my hair - I'm looking forward to having enough hair so that I can do the Heidi thing (you know, braids pinned across my head out of baby reach).

All in all, I think our initial day-5 description of Jolyon's personality to the social worker as mellow but happy is still spot-on. I can't wait to see what other aspects emerge next!

Addendum: We've been having a bit of a heat wave here in Seattle this week, but so far we're coping fine. Our apartment is pretty shady and cool, and while we're freezing most of the year right now it's an excellent asset!