DASH AT TWO MONTHS OLD

Read Dash’s:

Growth: Started wearing size 1 diapers at the beginning of the second month.

Height – 0.6 m (1′ 11”) (46th percentile)
Weight – 5.8 kg (12 lb 11 oz) (57th percentile)
Head circumference – 38.5 cm (15.2″) (27th percentile)

Developmental milestones: Smiles back; coos profusely at toys; can grab my hair (but the hair pulling did not get painful for me until he was three months old).

Loves: Staring at lights, including screens (e.g., when I work on my laptop, TVs at restaurants).

Sleeps: 7-8 hours at night in one stretch. He usually gets swaddled in the velcro Ollie swaddle (the best and the only swaddle blanket you need) around 9:30 pm – 12 am and wakes up around 5:30 am. The fullness of my chest started to wake me up around 5:30 am as well because by that time they feel like they are about to explode. So Dash and I wake up together, needing each other, Dash for food and me for pain relief.

Dash is such a good sleeper that he does not need to be “put to sleep” by us. He puts himself to sleep. Sometimes we have to rock his Dock-a-Tot or sing to him (at most, three songs) for him to fall asleep. But, the majority of the time, we lay him down in his Dock-a-Tot in his crib when he is still awake but drowsy (e.g., he yawned or rubbed his eyes or he has sleepy, heavy-lidded eyes), turn off the light and leave the room. Then he just falls asleep. We turn on the air filter for white noise when he sleeps and turn it off in the morning when he awakes.

Feeding: Still exclusively breast fed. He is a good eater. His latch is sometimes still bad, i.e., not wide enough, so my breasts are sore sometimes. I realized that two of my nursing bras are too tight and hurt my breasts. It took me a while to realize that the small bras were sometimes the culprit for my sore breasts.

I had used regular pillows for nursing. But I got a used My Brest Friend pillow a few days before Dash turned two months old, and oh boy, I was silly to not have used it earlier. It makes breast feeding go a lot smoother and more efficient.

Highlights: Four-day trip to LA for his first X-mas, NYE slumber party at friend’s.

Our favorite facial expressions of Dash: Thankfully, he still POUTS (the nurse at the pediatrician’s office said “Aww, he still pouts!”); the silent, breathless, red scream face he made when he got his first vaccination shot; still sleeps with his arms up in superman position or DJ position.

Nicknames we call Dash: chunkster, chubster, stinker (when he fusses at night), sleeping champ. Old ones we still call him: package, old man, 고객님 (“dear customer”).

Miscellanous: Must cut fingernails every 4-5 days, but still have yet to cut his toe nails since birth. He still has yet to cry us a river.

Umma’s recovery: Went to chiropractice three times for lower back pain. Started doing Bikram yoga and hot Pilates seven weeks post partum, to build core strength to alleviate lower back pain.

Memorable moments or thoughts:

1. I love that Dash looks at least a little bit like Care Bear. Care Bear’s face makes me happy, so to have one more face that looks like Care Bear makes my life even happier. Double the face, double the love!

1/4/2019 – A few days after Shake Shack opened in Palo Alto.

2. When I took him to the pediatrician’s office for his first vaccinations, the nurse came in with a tray of needles and other supplies. As I was holding Dash down on the bed to get him ready for the shots, I said to Dash “I’m glad I’m not you.” And the nurse cracked up! She said she did not hear anyone say that before. She is probably used to mothers saying things like “I wish I could take the shots in your place my baby!” I hated needles when I was a kid.