Development

Last night, Juliet and I were hanging out on the couch after her bath.  She was laughing and being her usual post-bath self.  I remembered something my Granny Squeaky used to do with me, and I decided to try it with Juliet.  It's fairly difficult to explain (instead of showing), but I'll do my best.  You take your index finger and move it around like you're following a bee's flight path.  And while you're doing that, you say, "There was an old bee... And he flew and he flew... And he landed on YOU!"  And right when you say, "landed on you," you tickle the other person with that bee index finger.  So when I did this to Juliet, she burst out laughing.  It was so awesome to see her really respond with a laugh to being tickled.  So I did it again.  Like 12 more times.  It got to the point that I could tell she knew what was about to happen next and would squinch herself up in preparation for the tickle.  So, so cool.

Tonight, we were having our post-bath play time, and Juliet was making hilarious noises.  I don't even know how to describe them.  I decided I'd try to video her, and she actually cooperated.  I couldn't use the light on the camera, so the video is pretty dim.  But you can see her, and you can definitely hear her.  After I got the video, she continued to make her crazy noises.  I decided to see what she'd do if she saw herself.  I turned my phone so that she could see the screen, and I played the video I'd just taken of her.  Watching her face was fascinating.  She saw herself on the phone and smiled.  And then she began trying to talk to herself.  She waited until there was a pause in the video's talking and then she would talk.  When the video Juliet made a high-pitched noise, Juliet grinned. 

This is such a small thing in the grand scheme of her development, but it's a major change from where she was last week.  She's never really been this engaged with stimuli before, so it's so great to see and understand her brain development.  She has been responsive to things, of course, but this is a definite shift.  There is a sense of her understanding things she didn't understand before. 

As another example of her understanding cause and effect, she demanded that Ray pay attention to her this evening.  When I got home from work, Juliet and I were sitting on the couch, and Ray was at the dining room table working on his computer.  Juliet was standing up in my lap, and she looked over and saw Ray.  She began to essentially yell (but a happy yell) while continuing to look at him.  When he turned to see what she was doing, she grinned this huge grin.  He grinned back at her, told her she was funny, and went back to work.  As soon as he looked away from her, she started "yelling" at him again.  And when he looked up at her, she stopped yelling and started smiling. 

She's been here with us for more than four months now, but I am constantly struck by just how miraculous babies are.  It feels like every day, she's reminding me what a precious gift she is and how phenomenal the human brain is.  Each day, I think to myself it's not possible to love her any more than I do right then.  And then the next day arrives, and I realize I love her even more.  I love that as I'm watching her learn about the world around her, I'm learning from her about a parent's capacity to love. 

For your entertainment... Juliet's crazy noises.