Today, I want to celebrate some of the things that make my youngest so much fun. They’re somewhat universal baby things. But I think the behaviors are cute, or surprising, or at least things I want to remember before she grows up too.
First of all, there is this insatiable need to conquer the next thing – whether that’s the stair case, or climbing on the piano to reach the keys, or climbing into her stroller. Whenever she accomplished on of these things, she turns and looks at me with this biggest smile on her face. A smile that seems to say, “Look at what I just did! I’m so proud of me.” I love this look. I love the confidence it shows and the excitement of being “in charge” and doing what she wanted to do.
Then there is this very surprising habit of nibbling my toes to get my attention. At night, once the others are in bed there’s about an hour before she’s ready for bed. Sometimes I’ll put my feet up and work on something. She’ll be playing quietly, then realize that she hasn’t interacted with me for a few minutes. So, she’ll pull herself up and bite my toe. It’s quite a surprising moment, and she captures my attention. I usually say “Ouch!” which makes her giggle and try it again. I end up having to tuck my feet in under my bottom to save the toes.
When she can’t reach my feet, my baby likes to blow raspberries on any exposed skin she can find. Every time she does this, it always tickles – which makes me laugh. My laughter reinforces the behavior, which makes her do it more. The only problem comes when she tries it while I’m nursing her. My baby girl has discovered that laughter and blowing raspberries are detrimental to a good latch for nursing.
Another thing she does is crawl without using her knees. Whenever she’s on grass – or other surface she doesn’t enjoy – or in a dress, she crawls with her bottom high in the air, with no knees on the ground. It’s really funny to watch, but she solved her problem. No itchy grass on her legs, and no dress skirts to slow her down this way.
Also, this baby likes to talk while she nurses. She looks at me and makes sounds like “umm, yumm, mum” and waits for me to make those sounds back to her. She’s nursing the whole time. When I make the sounds back, she giggles while maintaining her latch. Again, her nursing ability is hampered a bit, but it’s quite entertaining. We both end up giggling together. She’s the only one I’ve had who’s done this. It’s quite funny. I’d show a video, but I like to nurse in private. J
This list is just some of the things she does. I could list more, and might later. But I just wanted to write about some of these so that I’ll remember them, and so she’ll know how she was when she was a baby.
Do any of you have any funny things your babies did? I’d love to hear about them.
