Good sleeper

Andrew has been sleeping through the night much more reliably than in the past. I think we've gotten stretches of at least 6 hours all week! He is also much more interactive and actually plays by himself in his bouncer. You can see in the picture that Lynn keeps hanging more and more toys, and he plays with them all. His favorite activity is to pull on the rings until the chain breaks, which I don't think I could do if I tried (the notches have to be lined up just right).

Happy Morning Baby

We woke up this morning after a very good night (6.5 hours straight) to find our baby in his crib flipped to his side and exploring the elephant toy that hangs next to him. Awake, but playing happily alone. He has been showing a lot more grasping and self-play the past week, much of it with the dangling toys in his bouncer. He has also been bubbling quite a bit, which I guess is a more "advanced" form of the drooling he was doing earlier. He seems quite proud of himself for blowing bubbles, but he is also quite happy when we wipe his face (usually).

Andrew's other recent developments are the proliferation of the social smile and saying "a-goo". When the aunts were here, Emily became an expert at getting him to smile. She would gently brush his cheek, and he would grin from ear to ear. Jenny never achieved quite the same level of response, but he was clearly happy to have both of them there. Along with the smiling, Andrew is trying very hard to communicate verbally with us. He is obviously not saying anything too intelligible, but his parents are hard at work trying to figure out his sounds. The only thing we've picked up so far, and it might just be wishful thinking, is that he gets really happy when he hears his name. He also got really good at saying "goooo" (as most babies do), and then started adding "ah" at the beginning. I swear he's trying to say "Andrew". He probably has no idea that it's his name, but I think he's realizing that his parents say the word a lot and they always seem so happy when they say it. Perhaps he thinks "Andrew" means "best thing ever", which, in a way, it does.

Doctor Thumbs Up

Last Friday, Andrew went to the doctor for his 2 month check-up and immunizations. He is officially 10 lbs 3 oz. On one hand, we're ecstatic he's over 10 lbs. On the other hand, he should really be closer to 12 at this point, so our mission to fatten our child continues. The doctor was also impressed that he is drooling a lot, which she says means his oral development is ahead of schedule. Apparently drooling is a sign that he's getting ready for teeth! I always knew we had an advanced baby. Now if only he could get some real hair.

The past couple days Andrew has enjoyed meeting his Aunt Emily and Aunt Jenny (Nick's sisters) who came to visit him. They have been impressed with what a good boy he is (usually), especially on our outings. Then again, if they heard any of the activity last night, they may have gotten a better idea of his true range (Lynn was up at least 3 times, and Nick helped a couple times too). He was probably just too excited about having his aunts here to sleep.

Birthdays Galore

Andrew would like to wish his granddad, great-uncle Al, and cousin Nathaniel very happy birthdays. He would also like to extend a very warm "Welcome to the world!" to his new cousin Levi Michael Salmon. Unfortunately, he is a day late. He's two months old! What do you expect?

To the Zoo!

Last Saturday was such a beautiful day that we took a family trip to the zoo. Andrew enjoys time in his stroller, so he was happy to be out and about in a new place. He couldn't see all that well into the various exhibits so he was getting pretty bored. He did react when we walked into the zebra building and he smelled the unique smell. We also walked around the conservatory and discovered that the paths were not the most stroller friendly. It was nice to get out with Andrew as it was over 40 degrees for the first time in Andrew's life! It was also a great outing for Mommy and Daddy as we have always loved going to the zoo and conservatory and even had our wedding photos taken in the park there. It was a grand day out.

Excuse to post a photo

We took some pictures this weekend, and they were just too cute to keep to ourselves, so here they are. In terms of news, Andy had his first play date today with Russell, his friend who was born two rooms down from us in the hospital. His parents Rita and Tim are friends of ours from church, so we're hoping the boys become good friends so they can raise Cain together. Lynn says Andrew was well-behaved the whole two hours, alert and smiling the whole time. Apparently he was just happy to be somewhere new, like a little Mr. Excitement. On one hand, his father was also notorious for being happy in any situation, so there's a Nature influence. On the other hand, Ruggles has been known to get excited no matter where we take him, so Nurture may be at work too. Either way, we're just happy that we can dress him up AND take him out.

Another Weight Check

We went in for another weight check yesterday, and Andrew was up another 3 oz. Hooray! Any increase is a reason to celebrate at this point. However, we got lectured by one of the other pediatricians in the office (not our primary pediatrician, who we think is excellent) because he did not gain at least half an ounce per day (he was half an ounce under that guideline). But we will just take from that lecture what is helpful and discard what is just WAY overcautious.

In other news, Andrew has started making real facial expressions (e.g. social smiles) recently, occasionally mimicking his parents, which is quite exciting. He is also very good at tracking things and likes to bop the toys that dangle into his playpen, and he's cooing up a storm. To be fair, Lynn has been noticing these behaviors for a couple weeks, but he is now doing them at increasing frequency. It's amazing to watch him go from a blob that is desperately trying to make sense of our confusing world to a small mammal figuring out how to interact with it.