2 Months Stats and Ruminations

Otto's already two-months old!


Otto at two months!

And he's growing like a weed! At his two month well-baby appointment, our doctor confirmed what's pretty much obvious to everyone--Otto is a healthy, strapping young boy. He's already 24.75" long (96th percentile) and 14 lbs 9 oz (also 96th percentile), which, while a workout for us, is apparently a little light for his length.


He's already nearly outgrown his Moses basket....



And here you can really tell he's already about half Stella's weight...


People always say he looks very "boy"--I don't know if that's partially due to his size, but he is sturdier looking and broader-chested than Stella was at this age.


Smiley boy!

It's interesting being mother to a boy. Being a feminist, I was really cognizant with Stella about not "over" gendering her or only introducing girly things. She's got blocks and toy cars, and we purposely often got gender neutral colored things (pacifiers, dishes, etc.) even after she was born. I didn't think there was any need for her to be a super girly infant, and I didn't care if sometimes people assumed she was a boy. (And I still find myself being annoyed about little girls being left out of certain baby themes. Why can't little girls also be "rockstars" and have cute guitar-themed PJs?) But there are such stronger norms about boys not being girly. For example, we were trying to introduce the pacifier using some leftover from Stella's newborn days. He seemed to like one best that happened to be girly (a pink heart on the end of it), and we found ourselves discussing how we felt about using it in public or getting something less feminine. It's also interesting how it plays out in the way we talk about/to Otto. He's "little man" versus Stella's "baby girl" and "flirts" when he's smiling. There are probably myriad other tiny ways we telegraph certain expectations about being a boy that are so deeply ingrained in our subconscious that we're not even fully aware of them. It's something I'll be interested in continuing to ponder and examine.

And Otto's just different from Stella, too, in temperment and certain preferences. On the happy side, he seems to be moving towards being a better sleeper than Stella. For the past week or so, he's only woken up once or twice a night, which I hope he keeps up as my return to work is fast approaching which will mean far fewer opportunities to nap and play catch up! And he hasn't taken to a pacifier (which we find a mixed blessing given Stella just gave hers up) but instead seems to want to suck on his fist. He's more content to sit quietly (Stella was constantly in motion), but, like her, he wants to be sitting up or facing out.


Working on finding his thumb/fist


Being held, upright of course, by daddy

It's also been interesting to adjust to being a mother of two instead of just one. I've heard people worry that the second baby gets the short end of the stick. In some ways, I suppose it's true. But I almost feel like I'm a better mother of two than one. With Stella, I sometimes just felt like I had a hard time balancing spending quality time with her and feeling like there were other things I needed to do with my time. With Otto, that's just a fact of life. And because we've been through it before and don't intend on doing the baby thing again, the sweet things are that much sweeter and the less sweet times seem less bad. This time we really do know that it will all be short-lived.


Our two babies! (Of course, Stella needed her time in the photo, too....)

And it's cute to see the two of them starting to develop a relationship. Sure, a lot of times Otto's just along for the ride that is life with Stella, but he's also fascinated by her and will get to experience a lot more as a baby. And I think Stella will love it when he's a little older and more interactive. Yesterday, she was playing peekaboo with him and trying to give him toys to play with.


Along for the ride


Looking up to big sis!

I've got another week and a half of maternity leave. So while things feel like they're well in hand now and we're getting a good handle on this family of four thing, we're all about to have a new adjustment as I go back to work and Tyler starts his paternity leave with the growing, amazing Otto!