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| Happy 2nd month birthday Bee! |
Dear Bee,
You have become so much more aware this month. You’re smiling, cooing, responding.
You have a playmat that has a map of the world suspended from above, which responds to vibrations by flashing and playing a variety of tunes. You love it! You’ve learnt that you can set it off by kicking the bars. Whenever the music stops, you kick like crazy to get it started again. Sometimes if you are not lying in the right position, you just kick aimlessly at the air, so we pop over and give the playmat a little shake for you.
Another favourite spot is the change table. You love it when we sing to you while we change your nappy. We’ve noticed that when we stop singing, you start kicking madly. Apparently you think you can start us singing again this way too! And it works – whenever we see your feet going, we start singing again.
You also love the mobile that I made. The high contrast colours have you transfixed.
I’ve starting to introduce tummy time, using a prop under your chest to make it easier. We’ve been having some successes in the last few days, with me lying on the floor next to you, using a mirror to show you the “other baby”. You’re not overly fond of it, but you are happy enough for a minute or two here and there.
We’re also starting to play the “rolling game”, where we roll you from your back to your tummy and vice versa, singing “rolling this way, and rolling back” over and over again.
Reality of being a second child is that I don’t always have time to play with you as much as I’d like to. Sometimes I’ll be in the middle of playing with you, and I’ll hear “Mummy I have that wee feeling” and I have to stash you somewhere safe (usually on the floor – you can’t fall if you are already down there) and bolt off to attend to your sister.
But at the same time, you get the added stimulus that your sister brings. You love sitting and watching whatever she is doing, just as much as she loves showing you.
You also, apparently, enjoy watching Playschool. You will turn your head and actively watch it. Not that I intended to introduce television to you at this early age!
Your increased awareness has also brought with it the increased over-stimulation that the early months are renowned for. There are times when you want to lie in your bassinet, swaddled and with your dummy, and left alone to just stare out the window. Other times you need to be swaddled, gently shaken and shushed.
We’ve found that the 5 S’s settling technique works really well whenever you’ve gotten a bit hysterical. The hardest times are dinner time (you must be able to smell the food, as it starts exactly whenever dinner is served), and also when we turn out the lights at JJ’s bedtime.
The biggest improvement came when you finally took the dummy at about 7 weeks old. Your suck reflex is quite strong (no offence!). For the first few weeks, you loved to suck on our little finger, which of course was not a long term solution… It took three different brands /shapes before we found a type that you liked. You like the green cherry-shaped ones.
Last month’s small trip to the hospital turned out to be nothing that you couldn’t handle on your own, thank goodness. Since then you’ve had a couple of minor colds followed by mild conjunctivitis, which we are treating with some antibiotic eye drops.
You also had your first bout of vaccinations when you were 6 weeks old – Rotavirus, Tetanus, Hib, Polio, Diphtheria, Whooping cough, Hepatitus B and Pneumococcal disease. You screamed, especially when the doctor gave you the second shot. Poor little thing. But it does make me feel a lot better about letting other people hold you. Especially whooping cough, as there is quite an epidemic going around Australia these last few years.
You are still sleeping about 15 hours a day, with about 9.5 hours of this being “overnight”. Not in one go of course – you wake several times a night to nurse, as would be expected at this age. But you nurse quickly and go back to sleep easily. You usually take 10 minutes to nurse, and another 10 minutes to fall into a deep sleep, before I put you back in your cot. If I need to change your nappy, add another half an hour. I don’t mind being up though, as this is my blogging time! I’ve mastered typing one-handed while nursing with the other. It’s quite peaceful really…
Love you as much as butterflies love flowers.
xx
Mummy
PS: Click here for last month’s letter