Simon has hit a few interesting milestones in the past several weeks. And after a lot of same ole’ same ole’ around here, they seem to have all happened at once. He’s a busy, busy baby.
- “Mama!” Yup, Simon knows I’m his mama and he now calls for me. At first he said “mama” indiscriminately, but now it’s reserved for me. This is my favorite milestone yet. By a long way. (Props to Matt for working on this one with Simon.)
- Object Permanence. We noticed a couple of weeks ago that Simon was starting to get object permanence. He’d watch a car come up our street from the window across from the bed, and once it went out of his field of vision, he’d turn to look out the window next to our bed to watch it continue up the street. He also looks for me if he hears my steps coming up the stairs or when we play peekaboo. But the new development is that if you wave an object behind him, he’ll begin looking at it from one side. When it disappears, he looks over his other shoulder, and if it doesn’t re-emerge he grabs behind his back to get it. Cool stuff!
- Face recognition. Certainly some faces have been familiar and favorites for a long time. These mostly belong to primary care givers. But last week Simon recognized someone from Highland Coffee Company at the same time I did. And it wasn’t Erin, the day manager he’s totally in love with and has seen the most often. Cuter still, two days ago he picked up his copy of “Who Loves Baby?” (a book with photos of family members inside) and giggled and smiled the minute he opened it up to a page with pictures. (props to Evie on this one for setting up the book. For the longest time it had but one photo in it, of Aunt Barb. In fact, Matt and I had a little running joke in the house. “Who loves baby?” one of us would ask. “Poor baby,” the other would respond. “Your Aunt Barb is the only one who loves you.”)
- Hand-eye coordination. Simon still has problems with his release, but his hand-eye coordination is getting better all the time. He’s better with a cup. He can self-feed crackers and cheerios. And last night he managed to put a ball into a pretty small opening of a toy. He’s also got pretty good hand-foot coordination, as I watch him pick things up and hold them with his feet, too. I’m part monkey myself, so this trait seems perfectly natural to me.
- Teeth! His lateral incisors are in far enough that Simon is now sporting a vampire smile. However, thankfully, the central incisors have broken through at last. So the vampire smile will be short lived at least. I’m still thinking he should go as baby Dracula for Halloween.
- Finally, not all milestones are good. Simon used to love his diaper changing table, but now he positively RAGES against it. I was warned about this by What to Expect the First Year, which described babies developing “turtle on its back frustration” at the procedure. That sums it up well. I can live with this, but I sure hope he continues to like baths.