Week 22

After coasting along for several weeks without major changes, you seem to have decided it’s time to get moving my baby. You now roll over with abandon—from back to tummy, from tummy to back. Almost the minute I set you down on your quilt in the mornings, you roll over to begin playing on your tummy. You even inch yourself forward by tiny increments by sticking your tush up in the air and pushing up on the tips of your toes. It’s not really crawling—more like scooting along on your belly or sometimes even your head. It gets you moving, and that’s all you care about!

You have an incredibly strong grip and you love to pinch and grab things. Coming from the woman who nurses you, I can say that this is not always fun.

Your power of concentration is lengthening and your temperament is really evening out. I won’t go so far as to say that you’re low maintenance (come on, look at your parents! How likely was THAT?), but you fuss much less frequently and you can entertain yourself without intervention for longer stretches of time. You’ll fixate on something and just stare and stare, or you’ll try to do the same task again and again until you get it down. You’re a strong-willed and diligent little guy when it comes to learning new things.

Your verbal skills are blossoming, as evidenced by the little video clip I published from YouTube yesterday. You make ALL kinds of noises, and it’s clear that in your head, you make perfect sense. While they may not contain any recognizable words, your sentences have a definite cadence and a start and stop. You’ll make a string of noises, stop to look at me, wait for me to respond, and when I do then you’ll answer back with another string of noises. I just LOVE THIS! It’s my favorite new trick of yours, these conversations we have.

Actually, wait—I take that back. My FAVORITE new trick of yours is your ability to sleep through the night in your crib!!! Granted this has only happened once, and even then it’s not as though I sleep through the night because I’m up to peek in on you to assure myself that you’re okay, and to pump so that there’s a bottle supply for Sarah during the day. Typically you're up around 10 PM wanting a snack and again around 3 or 3:30 AM. But wow—a week ago you were still in our bed. Now you’re sleeping on your own in a crib like a big guy. In fact, I’m watching you on the wonderful video monitor Chooch got us as I type this. You’re currently on your back with both arms over your head, wearing a cozy Halo sleep sack covered in footballs and basketballs and track shoes. Sometimes you end up on your side, sometimes you even end up on your tummy—you seem to be comfortable in a number of different positions, and I’m guessing you enjoy being able to move around a bit more than you could when you slept with me in our bed. You’re waking up a bit earlier in the mornings now, but you still wake up happy as can be, just babbling and smiling up at the world.

Your eyes are still blue. You’re growing more hair. You’re the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen. Of course I’m biased.

I’ll close, as always, with your 22-week photos.