5-6 Weeks

I'm playing catch-up with posts that I had started weeks ago.  Mostly this is for me to remember some of the highlights from the Little One, but some of you may enjoy reading these as well.

5-6 weeks old: This is when I noticed a huge change in her development.  This really was the turning point for me in caring for her because she seemed to be so much more interactive and show more of what she needed compared to those first few early weeks where everything was so new to us.  I wrote down all the differences I saw at that point, so here's the list I wrote a few weeks back.  In no particular order:

• sleeping longer stretches at night (a 4-6 hour block at least)
• showing clear hunger signs (smacking her lips, rooting around, hands in her mouth)
• starting to grab onto things- her bib, my shirt while nursing, the back of the chair while burping, her pacifier in her mouth
• she was able to work her hands out of the swaddle some at night and bring them to her face/mouth
• smiling and cooing
• being mesmerized by the bird mobile on her swing
• bringing her hands together
• kicking her legs like crazy ("exercise time" we call it)
• she seems to be getting into a routine at that point where she eats more frequently during the day (every 2 to 2 1/2 hours), takes 1 or 2 longer naps of 1-2+ hours each, takes lots of cat naps in between the other feedings, and 1 or 2 longer sleep stretches at night.
• her bowels seem to be regulating more
• she has lots more facial expressions- smiles, pouty lip, winks

This age was when things really started to get fun because she would smile back or make sounds to express delight, etc.  Nicknames we had for her at this point were: pretty girl, jumping bean, stinky bum, sweet girl, and wiggle worm.