Uncle Agoo

Our life is changing more quickly than we could have ever imagined. Little Dylan is growing and changing more every day. Dan and I are adapting to parenthood and changing our sleeping and eating patterns to fit in those necessary daily events in the small spaces of time in Dylan's schedule of eating and sleeping. Dan is helping to keep the house clean, grocery shopping and cooking, while I juggle Dylan's ever-changing schedule as he grows.

At the last pediatrician's checkup, he weighed just under 10 pounds. His hair is actually getting longer. The cleaner it is, the more it stands up. I don't even bother trying to get it to stay down any more. It's kinda cute when it sticks up on his head, so I actually just brush it upwards, now. The pediatrician logged him in at 21.75 inches long, but we think he's just under 24 inches already. The Newborn-sized clothing is a bit tight on him, so he's mostly wearing the 0-3 month sized clothing now. He is still wearing N sized diapers, but switches from N to 1 sometimes. The 1 sized diaper is significantly larger. Shouldn't there be a size "N and a half?"

He must be able to see a little better every day. A few weeks ago, it was fun to see the surprised expression on his face when he first noticed the ceiling fan in his room. Despite it being a white ceiling fan on a white ceiling, Dylan seemed to notice and be enthralled with the strange movement he had never seen before. Shortly after that, he noticed some of the plastic rings hanging near his head in the playyard. He figured out how to bat at them with his right hand. We still don't think he knows whose hand is hitting the rings, but he is able to make the dangling rings move pretty consistently. He also has started to track me from the crib with his eyes and head as I move around his room. I had been taking the opportunity to straighten up his room as he was falling asleep in the crib. Much to my surprise one day, I saw two little round eyes following me as I moved from the chair to the closet to the dresser and to the shelves. Dylan is amazed with blank walls for some reason. Perhaps it is the fascination with the different colored walls in different rooms, or perhaps he just doesn't know that he has the coordination to turn his head in a different direction, but he will stare at a blank wall for disturbingly long spans of time. The most disturbing part is that he does it without blinking.

He is getting stronger from "tummy time" and can hold his head up in the push-up position really well. He uses that arm strength to push away from you when we are holding him in our arms up to our shoulders. He has somewhat discovered his legs, and sometimes flexes both his arms and legs when we pick him up, making him feel like a stiff doll. He can roll over from his belly to his back, but not consistently. I did get some video of him rolling over for the camera, though. He is also using his swaddle as resistance training for arm strength. Swaddling him in a blanket or a specialized swaddling wrap with velcro helps him sleep, but there have been times where he starts to wriggle out of the swaddle as he wakes up from a nap.


He is sleeping decently well. At night, he sleeps in 3.5 to 6 hour increments pretty regularly. About once a week, though, he has a growth spurt and he sleeps for shorter periods and eats more often. those days are really tiring, but we are extremely fortunate that it doesn't happen regularly.

The most exciting development, though, is his interaction with people and things. He smiles when he looks at people. His face lights up especially in the morning when he first sees Dan. Dylan also makes faces and coos and makes other noises when his diaper is being changed. It is fun to watch his face when he is moving his lips to try to make new sounds. He tries to imitate the facial expressions of the person who is holding him. It is also fun to listen to him make new noises. I brought him to Dan once to show off his noises Dylan was making. He had been experimenting with new noises, so it was thrilling for both of us to listen to him. As if on cue, Dylan said, "Unka? Ah, goo!" Then he gave a big smile. We have translated this as Uncle Agoo, and we unfortunately don't have an Uncle Agoo to attach the name to. But Dylan speaks of him often, and he makes us all very happy. In the past few days, Dylan has been adding to his vocabulary with various, oohs, gahs, and boos. He looks forward to having long chats with his Uncle Agoo very soon!