Parent Extremis

Noah is taking a nap right now and I just ate lunch and am now sitting at the kitchen counter in utter and total silence watching him on the video monitor.

After feeding him downstairs in front of the television with the dog running around yapping I noticed that he looked tired so I just carried him upstairs and put him in his crib. I turned to close the curtains fully expecting him to wake up and scream about the whole putting-the-baby-down thing and demand a new diaper, another feeding, twenty-bucks for the night, ma! But he didn’t. He opened his eyes just long enough to establish where he was and then he closed them and went back to sleep and that was a whole thirty minutes ago. If past performance is an indicator of future behavior he will be waking up with a scream in about eleven minutes.

But for now, SUCCESS!

Noah’s upset sleep patterns a few weeks ago were due to a period of extreme growth and neurological development. I believe this and I read it in a book too. Since that period of awfulness he has returned to sleeping through the night and he has also mastered, MASTERED I tell ya’ the art of rolling over back-to-front and front-to-back. He’s a little genius!

The book, The Wonder Weeks describes major developmental milestones in a baby’s life and when they occur, approximately. This book doesn’t tell you what to do about them, which is cool because we all know I don’t like being told how to parent. But, by knowing when some major developments are going to occur it prepares you steel yourself for those tough weeks when your baby doesn’t sleep so well or needs more feeding or is just overall clingy and fussy.

EDITED TO ADD: It was more like seven minutes. URGH.

Noah is exactly three months old today. It’s been a huge whirlwind of ups and downs and sleepless nights followed by sleepless days. The utter bone-thrilling joy of seeing my baby boy smile at me first thing in the morning does more to keep me going than any cup of coffee, any handful of zoloft or wake-up sex ever could. The compromises and life changes are endless and sometimes a little depressing but nothing would be me turn back the clock.

Meanwhile, while I’ve been admiring Noah’s increasingly chubby little face and not sleeping, he’s been doing a world of developing.

The first three months of life are very important for the infant, and very difficult for the parent. What seems like an endless cycle of feed, diaper, soothe, rock, pacify, feed, diaper, feed, clean up a blow-out diaper and a pile of spit-up is just the beginning, but it does get easier. For the baby, it is three months packed full of developing motor skills, vision and hearing development and lots of observing personal communication.

By the end of three months it is common for newborns to recognize voices and turn toward them, blow bubbles, coo or mimic facial expressions when you play with them, stretch and kick, hold an object for a few seconds with a firm grip, hold their heads up and possibly roll-over, although that usually comes in the next month or so.

All babies develop at their own pace. If you fear that something isn’t on track with your newborn’s development, see your pediatrician immediately.