Anyway, you are very laid back. You eat well, sleep well and hardly ever cry. You eat lots- about 5-6 oz a feeding and you feed every 4-5 hours or so. When you are awake, you love looking at things- just looking. You have a favorite toy on your bouncy seat that you can stare at for an hour. A few times you have reached out for it. This is very advanced of you. ;) This toy was the very first thing I ever noticed you smiling at. From there, you smiled at sun-lit windows and once you grinned like the mad hatter at a checkered flag. Finally, one bright morning, right before you turned 6 weeks old, you smiled at me. I was very flattered to be considered as interesting as a bright window or a monochromatic flag.
You are a great communicator despite your lack of mastery in the English language. When you are hungry, you don't cry right away. First you open and close your mouth and make smacking sounds with your lips. You also suck on your arms or hands. This is a pretty clear clue that you want your "baa" (what I call your bottle). If I'm asleep, and miss these signals, you begin to fuss and grunt. Since I am a pretty good communicator myself and can pick up on your signals, you hardly ever get to the crying stage before you are fed. You have maybe cried 5 times for a bottle in your whole life. Mostly you make this little eh-ehe-ehe-ehehehe sound to complain about things.
Sometimes you make sad little quiet cries when you are lonely and as soon as somebody comes and picks you up, you are happy. You love to be with your family. Me, Daddy, Grammie and Grandpa, Nana and Papa. (Especially me right now. You love to be where you can see and hear me). Lucky for you, everybody loves to hold you as much as you love to be held. Some family members have speculated that this may mean we are spoiling you. But nobody actually does anything about it; we don't really care because we are all so happy with you getting your way.
The only other thing that makes you cry right now is spitting up. You hate it. Sometimes it comes out your nose. That would make me cry too. But if you are laying down and you spit up, as soon as I come to get you and clean you up, you stop crying and snuggle into my chest. See what a good baby you are??
You sleep at a cradle at the foot of our bed. We like to have you close to us. You would prefer to sleep on a person, but you think the cradle is nice especially if I am in your sight, rocking it for you. During the day, you come into the office with me when I go to work. You are such a well-mannered baby that I have never had any trouble. As long as I am prepared to take a break around time for your baa, I can have a normal day in the office. You even came to a staff meeting with me once. Only one time did you have a comment. You grunted rather loudly. Everybody stopped and said "ahhhh!"
Lots of people think you are cute. I never really liked attention. But for some reason, I don't mind when perfect strangers stop me because they see you and want to get a closer look. In fact, when you out-grow this stage, I might actually miss it. I am starting to like showing you off. I especially like showing you off to people who don't know you were born with spina bifida. They just think you are an extraordinarily cute baby girl. It makes me smile extra inside when I see you waive your arms and kick your legs cutely. They have no idea they've just witnessed the closest thing to magic this world has to offer. It feels like a beautiful secret between me, you and God.
You know, you are big for a 6 week old. You are already wearing 0-3 month clothes and starting to out grow some of the smaller ones in this size.
You have lots of doctors appointments. Everybody wants to check you out and see how you are doing since your surgery. Of course, you are doing fine. But adults worry and must check and re-check. You are a regular little wiggle worm which surprises some people who think they know about spina bifida. They didn't know that a baby who was born with open spina bifida would be able move so well. But you show them. And you make me smile every day when I change your diaper and you wiggle around so much. Speaking of diapers, you make all kinds of loud, odd noises when you poo. Your daddy likes to cheer you on when you are doing this. He says things like "That's right! You go baby! You show that poo whose boss!" All he needs is pom-poms. I think he will cheer you on in anything you do in your whole life.
You love getting a bath and having lotion put on your plump little legs. Some babies cry during a bath. Not you. You make happy faces and get really relaxed. I wonder if this means you will like water when you grow up? You also don't mind getting dressed in the mornings. You don't fuss or fight me. The only thing you don't like is if I take too long getting the outfit over your head. Then you grunt loudly at me. But the rest of the time, you act like you enjoy it. And that makes our time in the morning extra special. I take my time getting us ready for work just so we can be together a while longer. Then after you're all dressed and looking like a porcelain baby doll, I just sit there admiring you, holding your little hand in mine, talking to you about nothing till I have to gather up the diaper bag and dash us both out the door.
Even as a baby you show personality, intelligence, emotion and spunk. Your whole family feels blessed that God sent you to us. I love you very much and can't wait to continue to get to know who you are.... my little Evangeline!!!!!
She sounds so very, very special. What a little blessing!! I say spoil away ;).
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