MORE TIME AWAKE... AND MORE AWARE
Your baby is spending more time awake, and is more aware of his/her surroundings. Wonderfully, we start to witness a preview of coming attractions during sleep, including some smiles, leg movement, and even a giggle or two, as your baby starts actively dreaming.
SMILING AND COOING
During waking hours, we experience spontaneous smiles (because your baby is happy, not because of gas), followed quickly by true social smiling (your baby smiles in response to your smile). Coupled with this is cooing – a lyrical and sweet sound that replaces most of the chipmunk chatter that we hear in the first 6-8 weeks. In evolution, perhaps these milestones served as a survival mechanism - the harried and sleep deprived parent, frustrated and unsatisfied, is suddenly rewarded with smiles and coos, and thus plods through several more weeks of sleepless nights knowing a smile eradicates the fatigue.
I like to compare a 2 month old baby to a newly bought rose bush - the buds are tight and show a hint of color; there is no scent yet, no bloom, and yet there is the promise of beauty ahead. Somehow that promise sustains us as we wait breathlessly for the next step!
WEIGHT GAIN, MUSCLE STRENGTH, AND IMPROVED VISION
During this time your baby will show true signs of thriving by putting on some pounds (thriving babies gain an average of 1 ounce daily), dimples appear and deepen, muscle strength increases, and the transformation from inert newborn to more vital and active baby occurs.
During this time the nervous system is still relatively un-insulated, so babies often react to harsh noises, smells, or changes in routine with fussiness or those aforementioned “witching hours." Vision improves (still black/white/sepia/red tones) and is fairly precise when close up. Distance and color vision are still not well developed. From a motor standpoint, your baby will have a very strong neck at this point, and be able to hold his/her head up for prolonged periods of time. During tummy time she should be able to hold her head up and move it side to side.
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