Our little Wes Wes is only five weeks (and one day) old today, but (forgive me for the cliche) he is already growing and changing so much. Besides gaining four pounds since birth, here are the things I have noticed have changed since he was born:
1. His skin: As a brand-new baby he had the most buttery-soft downy skin. It was alabaster pale and totally unblemished, save for the giant scratch he gave himself with his long fingernails within hours of birth. Now it seems that his pigment is coming in a bit. He is becoming more "swarthy," according to Stevo. Being that he is almost a quarter Filipino, I think we both expected him to be more olive-skinned, so this was no surprise. His skin, while still quite silky, does seem slightly rougher and tougher than it was only a few weeks ago. He has also started to break out in mild baby acne and has mild baby dandruff. Still so cute!
2. His heft: When he was a few days old, Wes felt almost fluid in my arms, like he didn't have any muscle or heft to him. He quickly started putting on the pounds. But he also started to feel more sturdy. I don't know if it was the weight or the development of musculature or just some ineffable transition to a more controlled body position, but now he feels like such a solid little nugget in my arms.
3. His head control: Perhaps this is a corollary to #2. Along with the heft of body, he has newfound head control. Granted, this is still not really his strong suit. But he has gone from wild head-wagging that made me cringe every time I didn't grab the back of his head fast enough to a much tighter positioning of his head. When he lays on my chest on his belly, he can lift his head, look up at me for 15-20 seconds and then turn his head to the other side and put it back down in a controlled manner.
4. His capacity for breastfeeding: Perhaps this is a corollary to #2. At first he would only take one breast at a feeding, and maybe would not even empty the whole thing. Now it's both breasts, probably twice. His nursing, initially delicate, has become ever more forceful. Luckily he's a natural, with a great latch so it has been no problem for me.
5. His eye opening and eye movement: For the first few weeks of his life, Wes mostly kept his eyes shut. If he did open them briefly, perhaps on accident, he would squint, look confused and close them again shortly. Now he is having more prolonged periods of wakefulness. He will open his eyes in response to voice and look around. He seems to fixate on things in response to stimuli. The other night, I turned on the stereo and he turned to look at it and continued staring at it for several moments as the music blared. He seems to be actually looking at us rather than having his eyes open while looking in our general direction. He will actually cross his eyes if we are very close to his face. So far it seems he has baby blues, but I would not discount the possibility that they could turn the same green as Daddy's over time.
Things that are still the same:
1. Sweet baby smell: I don't know where this comes from or what the physiologic explanation is, but I love that baby smell. Wes by all rights should not have such a sweet smell, as we don't bathe him often and when we do, we usually don't use soap. However, he still does. It has been the same soft, warm, milky smell since he was born.
2. His sounds: He doesn't really make any vocalizations yet and his main sound is crying. However, he does make coos and hums and hiccups. Mainly he does this while he sleeps. His "snoring" sound is an adorable crescendo-decrescendo hmmmm-hmmmmm-hmmmmmm that I have actually filmed because I am so worried that he will suddenly stop doing it and I won't remember what it sounded like.
3. His love of milky: Loves it.
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