Sleep marathon

The biggest development this week was that LEIF SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! And he was not playing around, either -- for his first really long stretch of sleep, he went for bust, calling it a day at around 11 p.m. and not fully waking again until a full NINE AND A HALF hours later! I was both shocked and thrilled.


During that time, he did manage to shimmy around quite a bit without waking himself up. I took this picture an hour or two before he woke up. When I had put him to bed the night before, his head was pointing toward the end of the crib that is off to the left in this photo. By the time he fully woke up the next morning, he had completed the full 180 degree rotation!

Two-month stats

In last week's posts, I forgot to report on Leif's two-month well baby checkup. All is well :-) . He is gaining weight just fine, up to nearly 12 pounds now (starting from a birth weight of 8 pounds, 6 ounces). He's also 24 inches long -- 1/3 of the way to six feet tall!

Playtime with Daddy

Leif chilling on the Boppy lounger with his giraffe



Why hello there, Mr. Leif!




Leif has started to *sometimes* imitate us when we stick our tongues out at him. Aaron and I are pretty excited about this, since we've been trying this ever since Leif was born! My theory is that his newfound interest in slurping his hands has helped him develop this skill -- he can't manage to stick quite his whole hand in his mouth, so he's had to learn how to stick his tongue out further and further to better lick his fingers. An important skill, indeed!

Drool monkey

Granny G. reports that Leif's dad was quite the drooler back in the day. Leif is not into full-time drool bib wearing yet, but he does have his drooly days. The mitts are so he does not scratch Mom while enthusiastically eating (and flailing)! This must have been post-lunch naptime....

Look at the babies!

"Leif, look at the babies!"

Besides his little kiddie mirror, this blanket showing half a dozen babies with different facial expressions seems to be Leif's favorite thing to look at while doing tummy time. Thanks to Dave & Jessica for this neat gift!

Little Finn

Sometime soon, I need to get around to submitting Leif's birth info to the Finnish Population System to get him registered as a Finnish citizen. (I have been a dual citizen for the past few years, which makes Leif also eligible for dual citizenship.) In the meantime, here's a pic of him sporting the colors of the Finnish flag. I think blue and white suit him!

Exciting new pastimes

Leif's two main new pastimes this week have been slurping on his hands and turning his head from side to side (to side to side to side to side to side...). I asked in our Mom & Baby class if anyone else's babies were doing the head turning thing, and several people said YES! Since it doesn't seem to occur at a particular time or serve any particular purpose (they don't seem to be doing it to root for food, scratch their noses, or burrow into our shoulders), we decided it must just be one of those odd developmental things -- they are doing it because they CAN (and last week they couldn't). Ah, all the fun new things you get to learn how to do when you are a baby!