I’m going to throw caution to the wind and declare that L. is the happiest baby ever. This comes with some risk, since each time for the past 2.5 years I’ve praised C. for sleeping through the night, she would immediately go back to her old ways. But I’m confident L. can shake the curse of the blog.
L. just went through that hyperspace mode of development where, before Christmas, she was just starting to look around and gurgle a bit and now suddenly she’s laughing, chatting, and trying to get your attention. I forgot how fun it is when they get in this mode and sit there watching you, waiting for you to notice them.
Today I had her in her bouncy seat in the kitchen so I could collect the dirty dishes and attempt to straighten up a bit. Every time I walked by her and glanced her way, she had a big, stupid baby grin on her face, would bat her eyes at me, and giggle. Of course, then I played with her for a moment, which just reinforces that behavior. If only directing the behavior of your kids was always that easy! While her big sisters are increasing my blood pressure and taking away IQ points, it’s nice to have one kid who just wants you to look at her.
When she’s awake, it seems like she’s smiling about 75% of the time. She smiles when you give her a bath, change her clothes, get her a new diaper, or just hold her. It’s always a little funny when you have to do the quick clothes change at 2:00 a.m. and she goes from being asleep to wiggling around and flirting with you on the changing table as soon as you remove all her clothes.
We busted out the exersaucer last week, figuring it was time to slowly introduce her to it. For most of the last week, she’s been able to do five minutes or so in it before she tires out. She’d just sit there with wide eyes, trying to figure out if her new environment was safe or not. Over the past two days, though, she’s started to relax and gain some more strength, so she can now spend as long as 15 minutes it in. It’s funny to watch her tentatively put her hand on some of the toys and accidentally make something turn or chirp or squeak. Most of the time she just sits there, looking at me with a big grin on her face. It won’t be long before she can spend half an hour in it, giving us some freedom during the day.
Oh, and I at least continue to be a little freaked out by how much she resembles M. at the same age. I told S. last week we could skip the six month pictures that we have in our hallway and just reuse one of M.’s in L.’s reserved spot.