Bennett: 3 Months Old!

WOW!  Does time fly or what?  Bennett is officially three months old.  I would be back at work right now if I was anything but a teacher.  I'm so so so thankful for another month or so at home with him!

Stats:
Bennett doesn't go to the doctor again now until four months, so I can't update with any official weight/height/head stats yet.  According to my own flawed measurements, he might be about 24 inches long, have a head circumference of 40cm, and weight about 14 pounds (but I'm usually off from what the doctor/nurse say, so who knows?!).

Sleep:
*Bennett is sleeping great at night!  He goes to bed usually between 7:30-8:30pm.  We do a bath, pajamas/clean diaper, then night light on, white noise on, and I nurse him and rock him and sing a song or two.  Then we lay him down in his crib and sometimes he's awake, but he can fall asleep on his own at night.  He sometimes takes his nuk and security blanket, but not always.  He sleeps 7 or 8 hours then until about 3:30am, nurses, and goes right back down.  He's up for the day around 6am.   Bennett sometimes has trouble going to bed/staying asleep at night for Daddy and babysitters - he needs to be soothed a few times before he's out for the night.
*Naps are not going so great.  He almost always takes a LONG (2 hour) morning nap, but then the rest of the day is kind of a mess of short naps.  Bennett refuses to stay sleeping for naps in his crib, so usually he naps on the boppy on the couch...a habit we must break soon!  He also needs to be rocked to fall asleep for naps.

Skills:
*Babbles/talks a lot - also uses different volumes and lengths of sounds.  Has some different sounds (coo, goo, ga, ah).  He squeals a little too.  He makes a really proud smile when you talk back to him.
*Can track objects and people; turn his head to locate noises.  Startles with loud noises (like Cooper barking).  He uses these skills to try and watch TV - sassy boy! (Although I do use this to my advantage when it comes time to clip his nails...)
*Rocks on his tummy for tummy time and can hold up his head/shoulders a bit.  NOT pushing up with his arms yet really, but moves his legs like crazy.  Still only rolls to the side (not fully over).
*Still LOTS of smiles, sometimes with his little tongue sticking out and head to the side when he's being "shy."
*Sucks his fist a lot, and has been starting to find his little thumb.  He often accidentally pushes the nuk out of his mouth by chewing on his hands.
*Will sit through books if he's in a decent mood.  So far he loves Peek-A-Boo Forest and Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?  We've made it all the way through The Very Hungry Caterpillar only once.  And he has two recorded books from Missy/Kyle and Amanda/Casey that he will sit and listen to no problem! :)  Hopefully he'll be a book lover like his Mommy.
*Can hold toys in his hand, but still doesn't really purposefully reach for them.  If they're touching his hand, he will grab them though.

Favorites:
*Laying on his back on his playmat and staring at himself in the mirror or grabbing his parrot toy.
*Riding in the car or stroller - usually falls asleep!
*Bath time is still a favorite - loves to kick his legs.  We still have him in the baby sling...we tried without it but he's a bit too small and kept floating up to the top, which made his head almost go under water.  But he is definitely a bit long for that sling - his legs have to crunch up to fit.
*Singing/dancing with Mommy - ABC's, You Are My Sunshine, and Jesus Loves Me are his favorites!
*Staring at fans and lights.
*Being held sitting up or standing, and facing out so he can look around and see everything (thankfully our friends lent us their Baby Bjorn, because Bennett wasn't loving facing my chest in the Ergo!).  He has started to try and lift up when he's laying down (you can see him pick his head up and struggle to sit up - even though the poor boy is nowhere near ready for that!).
*Bennett is getting good at running errands with me, and he is pretty calm and quiet in the carseat/stroller.  He seems to like going out to eat (I think he likes the noise) - Brad and I appreciate that we can still do one of our favorite activities!

Special Things:
*Bennett is starting to LOVE his Daddy.  He has giggled a handful of times, and it's always for Brad.  He loves when Brad plays Airplane with him, even though it ends up with Brad covered in drool/spit-up.  Brad is the one who gets him out of bed when he starts babbling every morning at 6am.  I love laying in bed and listening to them "talk" back and forth.  Bennett is SO chatty with Daddy in the morning!  And everyone we know/meet/see comments on how much Ben looks like Brad!

*A lot of people ask how Cooper is doing with Bennett, and the answer is...great so far!  He pretty much steers clear, although he has attempted to get Bennett to throw his toys for him, and he often naps on the floor next to Bennett.  Whenever Bennett cries, Cooper is ready to follow me into the nursery to see what's wrong.  But he's pretty good about not going into the nursery when I tell him not to, and he always walks in behind me.

*Bennett has had several "play dates" with "friends."  He's still too little to do much other than fuss, look around, or sleep.  Most of his "friends" happen to be girls! :)  His favorite friend right now is probably Erin, who's almost two, because she hands him lots of toys and gives him soft snuggles.  But it's so nice that so many of our friends have babies right now too...once Ben is at an age where he can play with other kids, it's going to be so fun!

We love our little guy and it's hard to imagine life without him in it!  3 months seems like it went quickly, but also crazy that we've only known him that long!

He wouldn't look at me, so I had to blow raspberries.  As you can see...it still startles him.  haha.