Time Flies When You’re Having Fun by Heather Bowles
My word. Where do I start? This week was so full of milestones and silliness and eureka moments. Tabitha rolled on to her side this week. Now I’m a little concerned about her cradle swing. If she rolls in it in the middle of the night, can she suffocate on the liner? I don’t know. I need to do some reading tomorrow. In the meantime, the straps have been tightened, but I don’t like keeping her that immobile. That hard plastic is only going to make that little flat spot on the back of her head worse. I wish she would sleep in the Pack and Play. It would be so much softer on her little skull but she refuses to sleep on her back. I don’t know what I’m going to do when she outgrows that swing. Be up every 2 hours answering her screams, I suppose.
Anyways, I’ll worry about that then. This week? I spent so much time laughing, and falling asleep at the pump. She has created this little game which involves us making the most ridiculous faces at each other and making each other laugh. She especially enjoys sticking her tongue out at me. I may wish when she’s in pre-school that I hadn’t encouraged this behavior, but right now it’s hilarious. It has salvaged our changing table routine, too. Before this game, she hated everything to do with the changing table. Not only does she dislike being on her back, but she prefers being clothed to not being clothed. Put the two scenarios together, and it’s an instant recipe for rivers of tears and screams that would peel the paint off the walls. Now you can begin to imagine how unpleasant the changing table was before the Silly Face Game. Today, she might wrinkle her nose a bit, but as long as you immediately greet her with a smile when you put her down, she’s fine. It makes dealing with the poop so much easier!
She’s also staying awake longer. She gets bored very fast during the day. For that reason, I spend a lot of time talking with her. I may not have time to sit on the floor with her every moment she wants me to, but I make a point of making eye contact every time I speak to her. So much is communicated through the face and body language. You can express almost anything without words if you use your body the right way. For example: I was putting her in her cradle swing late a couple nights ago and she was starting to freak out, thinking I would leave the room when she wasn’t ready to wind down. To calm her, I gave her an infant massage and while I did, I told her that I wasn’t going anywhere, that she and I would talk as long as she wanted, and when she went to sleep, I would be in the bed right next to her. In response, she looked up, smiled, and pointed to the mobile. I turned it on, and the look of happy curiosity on her face was perfectly wonderful. We talked for another minute, me explaining that this is the part where she says “thank you”. I swear to you on my grandfather’s grave, she laughed at that. Okay, it might have been my imagination, but she did calm down enough for me to finally get some sleep.
I really just can’t wait to hear her first words. Oh, the conversations we are going to have.
Tags: body language, first words, games, infant milestones, laughter, nonverbal cues, sleep safety, social development, teaching manners
