Dear Grayson —

You are two months old! The differences between Now You and Just Born You are vast and sometimes hilarious. (You are a few days older than two months, actually, but I’m trying really hard to prioritize playing with you over writing about playing with you.)

You smile a lot now, intentionally, awake and asleep, and you giggle sometimes, although it sounds a little like you’re choking. I sometimes catch you laughing in your sleep, which is pretty much the cutest thing that happens in this house. We’ve finally made it to the breastfeeding support group, you and I, and you charm the heck out of the other moms…at least until you start wetting your diapers, one after the other, and yelling about it. You do love it when I sing to you, though, and you seem to expect “You Are My Sunshine” and “ABCs” on the changing table — you usually grin as soon as you hear the first notes.

You still hate being wet. We’ve started using disposable diapers at night to see if the absorbency will help you sleep a bit longer.

(It doesn’t seem to make a difference.)

You love looking around and are pretty good at controlling your own head when you’re calm. When you’re sleepy or there’s a lot going on, your head zooms from side to side without any particular success in providing input. You do this when you’re not holding your head up, too — I’ve started using burp cloths more regularly in the last week or two because you’ve drilled your face into my collarbone more than once. Oh! And you’ve run into my teeth at least once, too. This does not seem to bother you for very long, but I’m not sure why I haven’t gotten a proper fat lip yet.

With Pooh

The playmat and small mobiles are much more interesting to you now, and you respond to textures rather adorably. Your great-aunts Barbara and Joy sent soft Pooh toys this month (my mom, their big sister, loved Pooh), and you love the feel of them on your face. We’ve also started putting you in your bouncy seat with a blanket from one of our cousins that has three different textures, and you snuggle with it in the morning. Your hands are getting huge and you’re starting to reach for and grab things intermittently — my face seems to be your favorite target right now. You’ve gotten my glasses once and my hair…well, that was foreseeable.

Your nana came to stay with us for a little while this month, and you had fun listening to her stories and learning her face. Auntie Grace comes by often and I’m pretty sure you know her voice; you’ve heard it for a very long time. You met your Auntie Bean this month. Just wait until you meet her boys and the new baby girl she’s bringing into the world in October! And you met your Grandpa Gingras for the first time — his first duty as a grandfather was to hold you while you shat your diaper LIKE A BOSS.

Rodney is getting closer and closer to you, or so Daddy and I think. He’s found a way to get under your swing so he can nap when you nap, and he’ll lie down next to your playmat when you’re hanging out there. When you scream about something, he comes to help; if you’re within reach, he will lick you, and yeah, we will let him (most of the time). I’m pretty sure his doggy enzymes cured your cradle cap.

Your non-newborn hair is coming in and looks light brown at the moment. You have a wicked widow’s peak, which Nana thinks you get from your dad and I think you get from Uncle Chris. Either way, your head is getting very fuzzy, very fast…just as Mommy’s shiny pregnancy hair is, predictably, falling out by the handful. Oh, well. It was nice while it lasted.

Watching hair grow is way, way more fun than it sounds.

You’re still rolling with an official diagnosis of “fussy” and “vigorous,” which basically means “colic,” which, in turn, basically means, “Hang in there, Mom and Dad, because there’s very little you can do.” You’ve changed your eating habits and usually only nurse on one side at a time; you nurse frequently and for less time, but you seem to be growing by leaps and bounds and lord knows you’re going through plenty of diapers, so I’m going to let it ride. You spit up a little more often now, which is to say, at all — this is a new thing for you. And Daddy is waiting patiently for you to get better at pooping, because right now? You’re sometimes a little insufferable when you need to get something to come out of your butt. (And yet, you sometimes blow out a diaper like it’s no big thing. Weird.)

With Grandpa

You nap best in your swing, but you do know the difference between naptime and bedtime. About halfway through this month, you let us know you wanted an earlier bedtime. Although you fight sleep like a champ during the day, it’s usually not too hard to get you to go down for the night. These days, you’re out by 9:30 at the latest and usually make it to 2 or 3 before you want to eat or be changed. Some nights, though, you back everything out by an hour or sack out too early and feel like playing at 11:30, so…we’re still adjusting. Between walking the dog, eating dinner, and trying to get you clean, fed, and ready for bed, nighttime is still a bit difficult for us all.

The way you respond to me has changed, and it seemed to happen almost overnight. You’ve had a couple of Mommy-only days, which both melts my heart and teaches me that I need to work on my core strength, because you are now closing on on 14 pounds of solid baby and my back’s a little tender. But you seem to know me, not just as Big Milk Thing, but also as a source of comfort when you’re fussy or tired. It’s not fool-proof — you will still wail your head off at me if you’re overtired or I’m too slow to feed you (heaven forfend). Most of the time, though, the look on your face when I come back into view is, “Oh, it’s YOU! Oh, hi! I missed you.”

That look is so much louder than your colicky screams — you have no idea. 🙂

Love,

Mommy