Here’s what Levi’s life is about at the ripe old age of seven weeks:

• He’s starting to smile at us responsively (he’s been smiling reflexively and in his sleep since birth).

• He grabs a very strong hold of your shirt or hair or whatever gets in the path of his hands.
• He sucks on his fingers and fists when he’s hungry.
• Instead of small grunting sounds or cries when he’s hungry, he now lets out a loud singular scream. He knows that will do the trick!
• He can now track us pretty accurately when we move. He stares intently at our faces, and he’s still mesmerized by his daddy’s hair for some reason.
• He loves to observe lines and contrasts. In his nursery, he especially loves the wainscoting, bookshelf, and the mushroom on his mural.

• When he gets mad, he sticks that lower lip out into the saddest little pout, and his fists fly about aimlessly like he’s throwing spaztic air punches.
• He can hold up his head really well! He can push himself up to about 45 degrees when he’s lying on his tummy, and hold it for probably 30 seconds or more. But he has what we call “sudden failures,” when his head goes crashing down without warning, bashing into your jaw or whatever happens to be in the way.
• He knows to stop crying as soon as you pick him up. But if you wait too long to feed him when he’s hungry, he’ll make these angry little quacking sounds while chewing on his pacifier.
• When he’s “occupied” (i.e. thinking about pooping), he opens his eyes up wide, gets really still, and makes this “ooh” expression with his mouth like he’s sucking on a straw. While he’s actually doing the deed, he grunts really loud, arches his back, makes fists, and kicks his little feet.
• He’s okay with baths, but man does he hate it when they’re over! We warm the bathroom up to 85 degrees, but he still wails like we’re abusing him in the most horrible way. It is so sad!
• When you pull a bottle out of his mouth, his tongue is cupped into a perfect little circle. We’re trying to teach him to open his mouth up wide for breastfeeding, and he has learned amazingly fast! Now when he’s hungry and knows he’s about to be fed, he pops that mouth open like a little baby bird. It is really cute.
• He likes to go on walks with the whole pack (sans Sushi). We stick him in his Ergo carrier, and he sleeps and sighs the whole way.

• He goes through lively spells every day where he just sits there bright-eyed for hours on end, absorbing all the goings-on. We like to read him his Rainbow Zebra book from Nonna when he gets like that.
• He was eating well over 30 ounces a day (!), but he’s now off of his growth spurt and eating more like 26-28 or so. But he is definitely a snacker. He’ll eat an ounce here and there all afternoon.
• When he was a month old, he developed what we thought was the worst case of baby acne ever. However, it was apparently a rash in reaction to zinc. I guess we were caking the Desitin on a little too thick. Once we backed off on that, his skin cleared right back up.
• His eyelashes have gotten very long! I know it’s a little thing, but I’m relieved b/c he had none to speak of when he was born, only lanugo.
• His thighs have gotten huge! He’s definitely plump. It looks like he’s got all these rubberbands clamped around his limbs. Even his little toes and feet are fat!
• He has an umbilical hernia, and it’s growing larger. That’s why his belly button looks slightly dark and balloonish. Unfortunately doctors won’t intervene medically until the poor kid is several years old, no matter how swollen it gets. I just hate it!

• He still has his “cradle cap” (sloughing skin on his scalp), but it’s getting a lot better.
• He started crying real tears a few weeks ago, but now they stream down his face when he stays upset long enough. It’s absolutely heartbreaking!
• If you read The Baby Whisperer, then you’ll understand what we mean when we call him a “textbook baby.” Unfortunately, he seems to have inherited his mom’s lack of patience. Otherwise, we can’t tell too much about his personality yet.
• Just like in the womb, he gets the hiccups often. When they’re bad enough, he’ll act annoyed.

Those are the main things that come to mind – I’ll post more as I think of them.

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