Banana Kisses and Raspberry Explosions Everywhere! by Heather Bowles

Good morning, ladies! I’m really excited to share with you today, because this week I have seen an explosion of emotive expressiveness from my daughter.

For a couple of months now, I have worried that my insistent devotion to pumping breast milk rather than switching to formula was affecting her emotional and social development. It really is an incredible time suck, and even as I continue to do it, I wonder if my time would be better served in one on one interaction time with Tabitha. Tabitha’s father has a knack for making her laugh that I envy very much, and the hardwood floors all over our home are really not conducive to positioning my arthritic hips comfortably on the floor to play with her, in any case.

Still, she continues to prove how truly adaptable and mellow a child can be. On Tuesday morning, she woke up with a ready smile even though the wake up call was much earlier than usual, and even when the secretary at the office where we were headed to have her fitted for her corrective helmet called to cancel the appointment, we really couldn’t stay angry. …Although it would have been nice if they could have called any time BEFORE we walked out on the porch to leave! But, that’s a whole other story, and not nearly so pleasant to talk about, so let’s skip that, shall we?

Oh yes. Back to my little, expressive Miss Thing! She’s going through another growth spurt, so I’ve been feeding her a lot more solid foods. In my desperation to get her to babble more, I’ve taken to making up rhymes and jingles about anything and everything that is happening at the time. Her midmorning snack that day consisted of a jar of Gerber bananas, and suddenly, she decided she wanted to imitate my rhyme, with her mouth still around the spoon. The result was that half her jar of banana wound up raspberried all down her bib, her arms, my arms, my glasses… it was everywhere, and it was hilarious! She must have liked the reaction she got from me too, because the sound of her sticking her tongue out while trying to imitate b- or p- sounds has continued all week, and in every situation we find ourselves. In the checkout line at the grocery, in her carseat riding down the road, sitting on the floor with her occupational therapist, it doesn’t matter. She blows raspberries now, and LAUGHS… Oh my goodness. The laughter is like woodwinds and chimes played by fairies. I’m not kidding. It’s that beautiful.

And the kisses? Well, if I could only teach her that she doesn’t need to lick me when she kisses me, I’d wind up with a lot less baby spit on my cheeks. You know what though? I’m not even worried about it. This is too much fun, and who knows? Someday, we may find out it was naturally exfoliating or something. Wouldn’t that just beat all?

Tags: emotional development, Gerber 2nd foods, kisses, laughter, social development