How to Amuse Yourself with an Infant, Vol. III

Garden Gnome

One Month Old

Dear Silvie,

You reached the one month mark on Wednesday.  I intended to write this letter to you on Wednesday night but you decided otherwise.  For the first time you launched into an extended time of crying inconsolably from about 6 p.m. until midnight when you were so worn out that you essentially passed out.  Your papa and I took turns trying to comfort you and make you comfortable.  You wore us both out.

Fortunately, that doesn’t seem to be your normal demeanor.  During the day you wake up, eat, get changed which takes about half an hour, and then you have another half an hour or so of happy time before you need to be put back to sleep.  You coo and grin and flap and kick with great vigor.  It is my favorite time of the whole day.  After “happy hour” we have yawning, complaining time.  Because your hands flop uncontrollably about your face which startles and awakens you, we usually swaddle you up into a little burrito before trying to put you to sleep.

During the day time you have a hard time getting to sleep.  You like having a pacifier but when you start to relax, it falls out of your mouth, and you fuss until someone (me) reinserts it for you.  While we try to get you to sleep in your co-sleeper during the day we don’t have much success.  We often resort to wearing you, putting you in the swing or sitting you in the bouncy chair for your naps.  Motion is your favorite calming mechanism.

You are a much better sleeper by night when the house is dark and quiet.  You generally have 3 to 4 hour sleeping cycles which is really great for your mama!  When you do wake up at night you usually go right back to sleep once you’ve been fed.  Often we both fall asleep with you in bed beside me.

You are growing and changing in front of our eyes.  You are chubbier and your eyes are so much more focused and expressive than they were even two weeks ago.  You make all sorts of grins and grimaces some of which seem to actually be purposeful.  You’ve lost some of your hair on the front half of your head–a little male-pattern baldness perhaps?  And, as I mentioned before, you are active, very active.  When you are unswaddled, your hands rarely stop moving.  We have lots of pictures where your hands are just a blur.

I’m glad babies start out as infants and develop quickly into little people.  It’s no secret that infancy if my least favorite developmental stage.  We are doing fine and I am not going to crazy being at home with you every day, but I can’t wait for you to grow a little more.  Each day you move a tiny bit closer to developing your own personality and engaging a little more with the world.  I look forward to exploring your world with you.

Love,

Your Mama

Calendar Girl, 1 Month Old

Silvie, 1 Month