Growing Daniel Week By Week: October 2005

Daniel's Seventh Week

Daniel is about a month and a half old now and he's been making a lot of developmental strides. He's been able to lift his head and roll over pretty much since birth, but he's been able to control these movements more and lift his head for longer periods of time to study things like our blue tapestry. His hands and arms are more relaxed and no longer held tightly and close to his body. He's liked to grab his hands for a while now, both to comfort himself and (I think) to keep them from getting in the way while I'm feeding him. He's also been reaching out for things with purpose and grabs onto things like Daddy's collar, mama's hair, his toys and the diaper changing station's bars. Daniel's vocalizations seem more specialized - more vowel sounds, variated cries, cooes and chuckles and seemingly contented sighs. And, though he's been making smiles due to inward contentment (and of course gas), just yesterday he made his first smiles because of something on the outside pleasing him. Daniel was in his crib crying and when Matt went to comfort him, he tried turning his Ocean Wonders Aquarium back on. As soon as he did, Daniel gave a huge smile! And later, when Matt brought him downstairs and handed him to me, Daniel gave more big smiles at me, and at the tapestry behind me. I feel like he's finally started to be more aware of himself and outside world and share how his interactions make him feel. He's losing a lot of his newborn reflexes and is more interested in play and reading. We've been growing as parent's as he grows as well, and all in all we're enjoying being a family.