Baby Weird

I know that as part of Baby L's development, there are some strange antics that she will be performing.  A few recent ones that totally made me smile have been:

- taking her chubby open hand and "petting" (sometimes smacking) my breast
- grabbing my hand (when I'm bottle feeding her) and directing her bottle to go in and out, in and out over and over again
- biting her lower lip and clucking her tongue so that she makes these funny smacking noises
- leaning into the mirror to try to head-butt her reflection
- wriggling her butt from one side to another while lying down with her hands above her head; I swear it looks like she's dancing
- covering her face with her meaty arms while she's nursing, and falling asleep in this position

Baby Loquacious has also become more adept at rolling from her back to her tummy, although she hasn't yet figured out how to roll back the other way.  Sometimes, if we look away, we'll turn back to find her lying prone on her activity mat, doing some commando crawl action and grunting in frustration at her inability to actually move forward.

She's also becoming more sturdy, and can sit for a very short (read: seconds) amount of time before tipping forward (head-heavy kid) or sideways.  She has taken to wanting to stand, though; if she's held upright under her arms, she will plank straight and apply weight to her feet in a standing motion.  Actually, it's more like a jumping motion, because then she bends her knees and straightens them again.  I'm thinking we will need to set up her exersaucer soon.

Baby L has also discovered laughing.  The laughing is sometimes sincere and from her belly (like when I nuzzle into her neck and blow air on her ticklish skin), and at other times I'm pretty sure it's a fake laugh that she's over-exaggerating because she sees me laughing (e.g. when we're standing in front of the mirror and I watch her and start to laugh, and suddenly she emits this hysterical squeal-laugh that ends as abruptly as it begins). I actually find the latter way more entertaining than even her real laugh, though both are music to my momma ears. :)

These are just some of the weird and wonderful little things she has been doing, but the best thing she's recently begun to do is nurse lying down with me in bed.  She turns her whole body from a supine position to on her side, and with a big open mouth she chomps down on my nipple and goes to town.  Her body scoots closer and closer to mine as she sucks, and pretty soon we're sharing body heat and she is practically glued to me, belly-to-belly.  I think this is her new favourite position, and I'm not complaining since it affords me the opportunity to stay lying down while getting my baby fed.  Win-win.

I am so excited to see how her 3-month self will continue to grow and develop.  It's exciting to watch my baby transition from "fourth trimester" newborn to a full-fledged, alert and active baby girl, and I love learning about who she already is and is developing into.  Some adjectives that describe her well so far seem to be:

*content  *alert  *curious  *sociable  *ambitious  *cuddly  *aware  *pretty  *loud  *determined

..and hopefully, one day we can add to the list "Jesus-loving," compassionate, and grateful. :)