Figuring Things Out!
I’ve gotten to the point where, even though I’m expecting it, I’m constantly amazed by Elliott and her progress. Seeing this little person grow and develop - from day to day! - is an amazing thing. The latest is her discovery of her hands and how she can use them. I’m not really sure when this is supposed to be happening, but over the past week or so she’s really been working her hands, specifically putting them into her mouth, extending her fingers and moving them independently of each other - things like that. So I started forcing the issue and have been trying to get her to grab at her toys. Our good friends Chris and Brea gave Elliott “Sophie the Giraffe” - it’s a latex squeaky toy that has this great long neck - perfect for little hands to grab. Starting Friday, I would hold Sophie in front of Elle’s face and then take her fist and physically put her fingers around Sophie’s neck. She would sort of flop it around a few seconds and usually drop it.
Throughout the weekend, any time Elle was in her car seat or bouncy chair, we’d put Sophie in with her and do the same drill of putting it in front of her face and trying to get her to grab it. She wouldn’t really grab it on her own, but she would use her hands and push it up her chest and would work some part of poor Sophie into her mouth.
Fast forward to Saturday afternoon. Elliott was laying on her back on her activity mat with the usual kicks, punches, yells and general good times she usually has on her mat. All of a sudden she stopped making noise and moving. I looked over to check on her and I noticed she was completely still with her closed fist about three inches from her face and she was staring. Hard. She held that pose for about a minute and I could just she her little thought forming, “Whoa - this thing I’ve been swinging around and putting in my mouth is attached to me and I control it.” It was amazing. She eventually tiwtched and lost her concentration but since that point, it was like something clicked.
This weekend I also noticed that she’ll now look at and follow things you put in front of her, as opposed to the scattershot randomness of the first 10 weeks. Wherever her bobbling head took her line of vision, that’s what would get her attention. Now she’ll actually look at things and follow them with some semblance of thought or control. A cool example was a book I was reading to her. The book is a standard book until you get to the last page where it is a pop-up with three huge, colorful butterflies. When I got to the last page, her little face little up with wonder, awe and a bit of fear when those butterflies were hovering in 3-dimensional glory. She was actually able to react to something that was put in front of her. That was a very big moment for me to witness.
So now we’re on to Sunday morning. Elle woke up around 6:00 (after sleeping around eight hours!) and after Kari fed her, she brought Elle to visit Daddy in bed. We generally sit up and smile at each other and she tries to ignore her Dad’s morning breath and I try to catch any milk she spits up before it hits our sheets. So I grabbed Sophie and held her in front of Elliott to see what kind of progress we might be making.
I put Sophie in front of her and instantly I see concentration in her little blue eyes. Both hands start sort of twitching and she starts to get a bit excited. It was like she knew what to do, but her hands just wouldn’t quite cooperate. I was totally mesmerized. I’m convinced she’ll figure it out within the next week, but it could be another month for all I truly know. What I do know is that it is completely thrilling to watch the development happen right before my eyes. I imagine synapses lighting up and neurons firing across her young, wrinkled little brain. The leaps and bounds in progress is just awe inspiring to witness first hand in something that I helped create!
Whoever knew that grabbing at a rubber giraffe could be so much fun?