August 10, 2006: Smiling and Growing
Ivan's demeanor has been largely characterized by two qualities thus far. The first is his generosity in smiling. Ivan is one smiley baby. He hasn't started laughing in earnest yet but he can flash a smile that you could catch a tan off of. It's one of those baby smiles that starts at his eyes and ears and melts over his whole body, completely overcoming him and his audience in the process. It's especially nice when you're looking in another direction and you feel his expectant eyes on you. The moment you turn towards him and your eyes meet, his face lights up like the Fourth of July.
The second is his eagerness to (physically) grow up. Compared to Veronika—who was content to sit or stand around, not crawling, rolling or walking, for as long as possible—Ivan wants to go, go, go. One of his favorite activities since he was a month old has been standing up and he can do it for long stretches. When he's in the bathtub, he churns the water with his legs like he's training for the Tour de France. He rolled over a couple of weeks ago, he's getting pretty good at grabbing objects and trying to cram them as-is down his throat, and now he's working on sitting up. It's like he's willing himself to greater physical ability. We could be in for a whole heap of trouble here.
Unfortunately, the growing part seems to be getting in the way of the smiling lately. The more physical his attempts, the more frustration that results. Is that what they call growing pains?
Posted by papa at 11:34 PM