Mason Shoma

I am a pretty good baby. I don’t cry that much any more. I don’t fuss that much any more. Maybe I’ve just gotten use to life on the outside. More likely, Mommy and Daddy have gotten better at reading my moods and understanding my needs better. I have gotten much better at communicating, letting them know with calls, whimpers, coos and cries about my immediate needs. But even a good baby like me needs a good cry. I nice wail to let it all go to reset and realign.

Today’s trigger was being changed after messing my clothes. As I mentioned in my previous post, I often poo when nursing. But I also like to sleep after nursing. Having pooed so much that I needed a wardrobe change interrupted my post-nursing sleep and I was not happy about that. Hence the cleansing good cry.

I’ve been having the biggest poos in the morning! I know this is not a normal topic of conversation, but this blog exists to share, and this is me sharing. So, as I was saying, I’ve been having some major morning movements. I often poo when I nurse, a bit of a input-output thing. I’ve got to make room for milk. So some of these poos are large and multiple poos and my diaper just can’t handle it. At these times it leaks up the back. I’ve had to have complete outfit changes first thing in the morning a few times this week. Thankfully, I do not have any pictures to accompany this post. I just thought I’d share.

Since I am a baby, I spend the majority of the day asleep. Sometimes it is a peaceful sleep, and sometimes it is restless. Sometimes it is a long sleep, and sometimes it is a short nap. Sometimes I sleep with a lot of body movement, and sometimes I sleep with a lot of facial movement. This morning was one of those peaceful and long sleeps with a lot of facial movements.

After such a long sleep, sometimes I’m not ready to wake up, but I know I should. It is not the best start of the day to wake up, eat, and then go back to sleep. But, hey, it happens.

According to books and online resources, there are some tells to help parents understand their baby’s moods and status. One that I heard was that babies hands are clenched when hungry and open when sated. Well, since I am in a food coma and my hands are open, I guess you could say that I’m sated.

I heard of thing called “man boobs”, where men have ample chests. (Don’t ask me why I heard of them. I’m online, I hear and see things a two-month old shouldn’t.). Anyway, I think I got them. I’m not a man yet, so let’s call them “baby boy boobs”.

Oops. It looks like the pictures didn’t show up before. Here they are.

Tummy time is a lot of work. It requires a lot of effort and it gets kind of hot exerting all that energy. So, sometimes it feels better to do tummy time topless. It also gives you all the opportunity to admire my muscles! Those rolls and crease in my arms are muscles, right? Hmmm? What’s that? Baby fat? Okay then. Admire my baby fat!

Daddy seems to be waiting eagerly for the day I can talk to him. We have our daily chats in my Daddy chair, where I participate in the conversation by making a variety of noises at the right conversation intervals. But sometimes that is not enough for Daddy, and he wants me to actually speak words to him. So that’s where the ventriloquism comes in.

I woke up at 6 this morning in a pretty good mood. I wasn’t hungry or sad or anything when I woke up. I just needed to burp. So I called Daddy. I have gotten pretty good about not crying for any old reason. In the middle of the night, if I need Mommy or Daddy I just call for them. If I’m hungry, it is a desperate cooing. If it is a diaper change it is a short “wah”. If I need a burp, it is a repeated “ehr”.

So Daddy got up when I called for him and saw that my eyes were wide open. He picked me up, bounced me a little and I burped. He checked my diaper and saw that I also needed a change, so he took care of that as well. But when he picked me up to rock me back to sleep he saw that I wasn’t sleepy as I usually am. My eyes were still wide open. It was 6 a.m. so there was nothing wrong with me being awake, so he put me on my play mat. I spent some time there playing.

But before long, I realized that I was not ready to be awake, so I started telling Daddy that I wanted to be picked up with an “nn, nn, nn”. And once he picked me up I settled into my tree frog position and quickly fell asleep. So I was a temporary early riser.

Ugh. Daddy turned me into a merman. As you can see, I’m not really into this look. But oddly, I did not kick off the towel as I normally do. I don’t want to be a merman, but I must admit that the towel does make me look tall, slim, and trim. Hmmm. Not that I want to be a merman, but I do make a very pretty merman.

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I can be cranky when I wake up. I like my sleep and don’t like to be roused from it. It’s not like anyone is actively waking me up. I just wake up on my own because I’m hungry. Which is usually every 3 hours or so. But sometimes I have a really nice long deep sleep, often when napping on Mommy or Daddy. After those naps, which can go beyond 4 hours, I wake up in a really bad mood. I normally wake up cranky. I am very aggressive when I’m hungry. So imagine what I’m like when I wake up really hungry. There is a lot of crying, snorting, rubbing of my face, kicking, punching, and rooting for milk. It is not a pretty sight.

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Sometimes lying on my mat or being carried gets old. I look at Mommy and Daddy and they rarely lie down on a mat. If they do, it is to talk/play/read to me. And I never see them get carried either. They do this thing called “sitting”. I want to do that. But unfortunately, I can’t hold my head up on my own yet. So, if I sat in a chair, I would get a sore neck or simply topple over. That’s why I enjoy sitting in my Daddy chair. Daddy sits on the floor with his back against the couch, and makes a nice little chair for me that supports my head. I can look around and get a new perspective of the world. I often spend my Daddy chair time just chatting with Daddy, which is a lot of fun! So while I work on holding my head up on my own, I always have my Daddy chair to provide me with sitting comfort.

Look at my wrist in that picture! Ouch! But, actually, NOT ouch. It doesn’t hurt at all. Sure, it’s at a weird angle, but I have very flexible joints. I assume all babies do. That’s how we all fit in our mommies’ tummies. Even out in the real world, it pays to be flexible.

I’ve been more grabby lately. I grab onto things when they come near my hand. So when Mommy or Daddy is carrying me, I often grab onto their clothes. They seem to like it. It makes them feel needed, I guess.

What they don’t like is when I pinch. It is still a grab, but in a more sensitive location. For Daddy, I often accidentally grab that bit of skin right where his armpit meets his chest. It is loose enough for me to get a really good grip and sensitive enough to cause Daddy to yelp. Don’t believe me? Test it out yourself. Pinch and pull. Hurts, doesn’t it? Now imagine it being pinch by tiny, but vise-like, chubby fingers operated by a baby boy who doesn’t know his own strength. Ouch!

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I think this is called a love seat. Probably originally intended for two people, but I just wriggled my way in between Mommy and Daddy and now it is for a family of three. More than just a love seat, a loving family seat!

Poor Mommy is overworked taking care of me. I mean, just feeding me is quite a chore. Look how big I am. Now imagine how much milk it must take to fill me up. Then take into account I am sucking all that energy and nutrients out of Mommy. She is all tuckered out on the account of me. So with the right timing and positioning, she naps when I nap, which is what all the experts suggest. When I fall asleep on Daddy instead of in my crib, on my mat, or in my chair, the three of us are all crowded on the couch and Daddy is pretty much immobile for a couple of hours. No worries. He keeps his game controller nearby and logs in a couple of games of COD. I don’t know what that is but I doubt it is age appropriate for me.

Sometimes I am so comfortable and content that I forget where I am and who is holding me. At these times I have to look and check. This time it was Daddy! I should have guessed. It felt a bit on the hairier side. And, yes, this position is comfortable to me. Don’t ask me why, it just is.

Yep, this is how I roll. Pretty cool, huh?

(Of course, I’m always buckled in properly. This picture was taken after we safely arrived at our destination.)

Okay, this photo was staged. Of course I am not using the remote control to operate the TV. I don’t even like TV. I don’t even know what a TV is. You wouldn’t know this, but I’m looking in a totally different direction from the TV. Maybe this pictures is just a glimpse into the not-too-far-away future.

I’ve been doing my tummy time daily, and I think I’m improving. Not only can I hold my head up at a 90 degree angle, I can hold it up longer. I still have some trouble remembering which muscles to use to hold me head up. I spend most of my tummy time trying to propel myself forward with my legs. Then I finally remember to use my core muscles to raise my head. But once I get it, I do pretty well!

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As you can see, I’m enjoy holding my head up because there is much more to see.

As you can also see, I’m quite proud of myself. Now that I can do this, what shall I do next?

Watch out world, Mason is coming! <Insert sinister laugh>

While waiting in the doctor’s waiting room I fell asleep in Mommy’s arms and that gave Mommy and Daddy some time to admire my eyelashes again. They are pretty full and long for a baby barely two months old. Trust me, they are all natural and no mascara was applied.