Speed Trials

December 20 means Nico is exactly three months old. That’s a whole season! Crazy to think that I was wearing tank tops and flip flops when we got discharged from the hospital, and now we’re toting him around in a snowsuit!!

Nico and I had a weird week. As I was recovering from Mastitis, our feeding schedule was sort of all over the place, which meant the return of green poop. In case you’re wondering what’s the big deal with green poop, it’s that it usually accompanies extra gas and bloating, more spitting up, and a generally grumpier demeanor. Nico has done a lot of back arching after feeds, which is another sign that he’s got stomach cramps and gas.

But he’s also had some major breakthroughs this week, too. I mentioned last week that he hit a milestone and can hold himself up a lot more than ever before. He’s on the brink of turning over, and he continues to develop his ability to grab things. He’s also becoming a pro at turning pages of his books.

Angelo decided to set up Nico’s Jolly Jumper two nights ago, and to our great relief, Nico LOVED it!! It’s no secret that Nico likes to be held. It’s hard to put him down for a long period of time, but he was content to stay in his Jolly Jumper for a good 20 minutes before wanting to be in my arms.

The other big development is that I started to do EC with Nico. I’ll do a more detailed post on it later on, once we’ve had more practice at it, but basically for the last 6 days, I’ve been undressing Nico and placing him over the toilet whenever I had an inkling that he needed to go. I didn’t overthink it, and really, I don’t know if I’m doing it “right”, but I just thought I’d start doing it and see how it goes. Let me tell you, it’s been AMAZING. Nico has really taken to it, and he can sometimes hold it until I bring him to the toilet. And if I bring him to the toilet and he doesn’t have to go, he will actually squirm and cry out in a very distinctive way, so I know it’s not the time. I’m really impressed with how well we’ve both taken to it overall (there’s been some misses to be sure, but I try not to dwell on those). For something that I once thought was really crazy and unmanageable, it’s really been a positive experience for us.

Nico smiles so easily now, and he’s been giggling from time to time as well. He’s also been loving his father lately. He stares up at Angelo and no one is better at making Nico laugh. Now that we’ve been at this for three whole months, we’re really starting to feel more like a family of three, instead of two babysitters and a newborn (does that make sense?). Life these days consists of more than just trying to keep Nico alive – in all our interactions in the day-to-day, there’s a sense of love that flows both ways. Whenever I lean in to give my boy kisses, he takes my face into his hands and smiles and coos. He brings me closer to him and lets me kiss his face. Our Mother-Son relationship has become reciprocal, and it’s really made these days the golden age of Nico’s life to date.

I love you Nico!