Baby Talk

It should come as no surprise to anyone that I get a lot of my information, parenting and otherwise, from the Internet. It's a dicey proposition, given the extraordinary amount of worthless stuff out there, but as a former business reporter, I like to think that know how to separate the wheat from the chaff. So I've found a few sites about child development and parenting that I regularly review, as questions arise.

A few days ago, for instance, Little G started acting a bit out of sorts. She still slept through the night, but she was extra cranky before bed, before naps, or just out of the blue. Over the last three months, she's developed a few patterns for sleeping and eating, and we've taken some solace in the fact that we can plan our days around those things. But these little fits have been throwing those plans right out the window. Additionally, she really seems to be a happy little girl, so the fact that over the last few days she didn't seem as happy gave us pause.

Our reaction? To the Internet!

Turns out, as babies go through growth spurts (which the Internet tells me happens at approximately 7-10 days, 6 weeks, 9 weeks, 3 months, 4 months, 6 months, etc...), they sometimes need to sleep more (or less) and eat more (or less). As confusing as that sounds, at three months old, it does provide some comfort in knowing there's a reason she's out of sorts. Granted, there's not much we can do about it, but at least now we know something we didn't before.

But the cool thing about all of this is that many resources tell you to look for marked changes in skills or behavior once the growth spurt is over and the crankiness wears off. Major milestones are sometimes crossed right after a growth spurt. Last night, after a reasonably crank-free day at home, Little G decided that she was ready to chat the night away.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, Little G tell us about her day, with embarrassing (to me) asides from yours truly.



I've watched that no less than eight times today. It's tough being a proud papa.

Christmas FTW!

Christmas isn't quite here yet, but we're already having a great holiday season. I managed to get most of the house lights up the weekend after Thanksgiving, despite regular breaks to defrost and play with my daughter. Hollie got just about all of the interior decorations up at the same time. We tracked down (with some help from my dad) a Bedford Falls Christmas village and set up a nice little tableau.

With all that in mind, we decided that after Hollie got off work on Saturday, we'd risk taking 12-week old Little G to see the Wanamaker Christmas Light Show. There's no way for us to know for sure, but she seems to have a pretty long gaze for an infant, and, no surprise here, she likes flashing lights. As long as we could keep her calm and fed, we assumed she'd be fine at the light show.

And lo and behold, she was!
The show started at 5pm, which is just about when she wakes up from her afternoon nap these days. She woke up a few minutes before it started, and stared at all the people around us for a while. Once the show got going, she shared her attention between the gathered viewers and an area of space in the general direction of the lights, which as far as Hollie and I are concerned is a rousing success.

But the real test was yet to come. On Sunday, we were going to get pictures with Santa.

Things that didn't quite work out:
1. Naptime: We tried to do schedule the visit to Santa right after she had eaten, which is usually happy time. Unfortunately, we neglected to consider the soothing nature of a full belly and a short car ride. She passed out and we had to wake her up to get her on Santa's lap.

Things that worked out in our favor:
1. Line Timing: We walked right up to Santa with no one in front of us. About a minute after we chose our portrait package, there were three or four families behind us.
2. Great outfit: Hollie's sister bought us the little elf costume, which looked fantastic against the red suit.
3. Nice Santa: We didn't actually take that long to get the picture taken, but Jolly Old Saint Nick was a good sport during the three attempts to calm Little G down enough to get a non-crying picture.

All in all, we were really thrilled.

Oh right. I suppose you'd like to see the picture.
And now the bragging... Man my kid is cute!

Smile, Like You've Got Nothing to Prove

There are a bunch of important milestones that you think about as a parent. And there are just as many reasons for monitoring those milestones. For health, for development, for bragging rights; all of these come into play at one time or another.

But for me, for a while at least, the biggest milestone I was looking forward to was this: the smile. It's selfish, I know. For the first couple of weeks, infants aren't much more than living luggage. Feed 'em, clothe 'em, change 'em, rock 'em to sleep. The whole cycle is very one-sided. But a smile, that's a two-way exchange. She does that, and she's giving something back to mom and dad.

So when she first started smiling a few weeks ago, I was thrilled. Babies are often cute, and they don't come much cuter than Little G, but when that smile comes, it just amps the cuteness up to 11.

Trouble is, now I want to share that cuteness. And smiles, wonderful though they may be, are fleeting. By the time you get a camera switched on and ready to go, boom, no more smiles. And so began the quest to capture the elusive smile. It was a very long quest.

Here's an early attempt.
Yeah, nothing. I swear, she was smiling a second before I took this shot.

Then there are the times she's smiling, but then gets immediately distracted, sometimes by the camera itself.
Hey! What's that? Not a smile.
The cute factor is upped by the cowlick, but still no smile. Then we got a little closer. This is more of a smirk.
Finally, this Saturday, I noticed that the smiles weren't so fleeting. Each one lasted a little bit longer. Voilà! Just before we left the house to go to the Wanamaker (Macy's) light show.
And no, the search for a smile doesn't account for my 3-week silence here on the blog. But I hope a bunch of pictures absolve me a little bit.