Some hilarity for your Friday: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/your-baby-translated
Crying, 6:20 PM = “The ways in which you are failing me are at once too numerous and too complex for either of us to ever fully comprehend, but we will both spend the rest of our lives trying. The work will never end.
So, according to this app I just downloaded (the Wonder Weeks), Emily is going to hit her first major developmental leap in the next few days. Here’s what’s in store:
Because your baby is so young, it is very difficult for an adult to understand exactly how her perception has changed after going through this leap. A father described the post-leap change he saw in his daughter as follows:
“She doesn’t see me; she looks at me. She doesn’t hear me; she listens to me. It seems like a kind of awakening from anesthesia, alert, born a second time, after which she enters a new world again.”
Daddy Vincent
These are examples of what your baby might do after going through this leap:
(Note: A baby never does these things all at once! Your baby only does a few things from this list.)• Looks at something longer and more frequently
• Responds to touch differently
• Gives a social smile for the first time
• Responds to odors more clearly
• Is more awake and “busy”
Strangely, it seems as though Emily has already shown some signs of this leap. She’s always been a very intent “looker”, and only continues to observe her world more and more. She’s had a few social smiles, although they are fleeting, and not reliably every day. And she has definitely started to seem much more awake, alert and busy. Especially when we put her on her pop n play mat! She does get easily overwhelmed in there, trying to reach and grab the toys, and not being able to. I think it’s frustrating for her, so I’ll pick her up and cuddle her after 5-10 minutes (or sooner, if she seems to be more upset). She loves cuddles, even more than play time at this stage!
She really wants this yellow flower, and would spend hours trying to grab hold of it if Mommy didn’t intercede and give her a break!
so that’s what we’re up to now. Sleeping, cuddling, reading books, lying around on the floor, lots of talking and making silly noises, singing, playing music, bath time, and outside time. She’s got a full and complex life, and is handling it all beautifully!