At 5 weeks and 1 day old, Ivy is giving us purposeful social smiles! OK, not consistently, and she has to be in exactly the right mood (very alert, diaper clean and fresh, not trying to poop), and the somewhat fleeting and very unpredictable smiling that results from this is impossible to get on camera-- BUT we have seen smiles, 6 or 7 of them this morning, and they are definitely aimed at us, as we smile in return. She's impossibly cute when she finally gets both sides of her face going and both eyes crinkle up. It's like a silent laugh. Perhaps more like a silent guffaw. She's hilarious.
Newborns are really quite manipulative, you know? They are alternately demanding and boring and show us so little positive feedback; we are like starving prisoners with a crust of bread any time we are given the least reward. This smiling--it is like we have won the lottery.
In other news, Jack has had a bit of a rough weekend. It's like the poor kid is a toddler or something, always picking up the latest illness. This time we had a fun little bout with rotovirus. Nat had the distinct pleasure of helping his son learn how to throw up in the toilet, which was done many times yesterday. I got to feel like a wretched excuse for a mother, as my aversion to vomit made it hard for me to be very nurturing to my sweet sick boy. And he was a sweetie, a real trouper, happy as a lark when he was not busy vomiting. Thankfully he's on the mend today, gratefully accepting offers of toast and milk and bananas. Perhaps this was the secret to making him eat, all along-- deny him. It was the saddest thing in the universe yesterday, listening to him say, "milk??? I'm hungry..." over and over and telling him no. He actually commented last night, "I smell your cooking, mom, it smells really guk! Can I have some?" Um, really? He NEVER says that!
This morning the boy amazed me with his memory and verbal skills, once again. He was showing me his green race car and asking me to vroom it with him and I complimented him on what a nice green race car it was. He replied, "Yes, its the one I got with Becca. And Brooks (a little friend whose house Jack has been to exactly twice) has the same one! But his is yellow one like this one, not green. I wish I could go to Brooks house! Or he could come here and bring some toys from his basement!"
Another thing that Jack would like for me to tell you is: He is the proud owner of a Play-doh fun factory. If there was ever a boy who deserved a fun factory its this one, the most patient and good-spirited invalid ever. He absolutely adores this thing. He played with it, first with Nat and then with me, for over 3 hours. He is serious about his blue play-doh worms, this kid. We also made spaghetti for green race car to eat. Good times.
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