A Few of My Favorite Things
I have a new favorite thing about Henry every day.
Some days, it’s his smile, which is a really amazing thing. (It’s mostly amazing because while he would smirk and curl up the edges of his mouth when he was only a couple of weeks old, you could never be sure if he was doing it because he was happy or because he was just testing out all the different ways his mouth worked. Now we know for sure that his smiles are because he’s happy.)
Other days, it’s his arms and legs, which wave about like he’s some whirling dervish. (How much do they wave about? Well, he’s been bonking himself in the head quite a bit lately.)
Lately, it’s not so much a thing, like smiling or waving, but something completely within his brain. He’s learning now, a lot. It’s not the same type of learning he did in the first couple of months, which was mostly about seeing things for the first time and focusing and realizing that sleep was a really wonderful thing.
Now, he’s learning about what his hands can do, like reaching and grabbing and holding on. He’s learning that if he wants to move toward an appealing looking object, he can put his feet against something and push off, edging closer. He’s learning that he can mimic what Kristen or I do and then do it again when not looking.
An example. This weekend, we “la-la-la-la-la”ed a lot. That meant having my face around a foot away from Henry, sticking my tongue out as far as I could, and say “la” over and over and over. Henry would then stick his own tongue out and make a grunting noise. Not a “la”, sure, but close enough.
Here’s the great part. Later on, when he wasn’t looking at me (and instead staring into the beautiful bladeseyes of the ceiling fan), I started to “la” again. And what did Henry do? He stuck his tongue out and grunted.
I don’t know what the technical term is for what he did, but I do know that he’s able to translate one sense (hearing) into another (touch), and it’s pretty fantastic.
It’s all made better, of course, by the fact that he loves to look at people’s faces. He’ll stare and then smile and then turn away, a coy gesture that just kills everyone who meets him. He likes it when you make silly faces and silly noises (the more high-pitched the better), and if you can combine the two (such as singing the falsetto parts of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” while exaggerating your facial expression as much as possible), well, he’s like putty in your hands.
Tomorrow, of course, I’ll likely find something else new that is my favorite. I think I know what it will be, too. The other day Kristen heard him giggle in his sleep. When I hear that, it may sit at the top of the charts for quite a while.
