The Upgraded Model

In the past couple days Peter has developed new traits. First, he’s a much more interactive tot. You can play with him now in the sense that you play with a friend/playmate, as opposed to playing with him like a toy. The range of vocalization has expanded from the original set of choices of silence, quiet cooing, crying, or screaming, to include louder cooing, proto-giggling, squeals, and short 2-3 note songs.

In addition to liking to have his diaper changed, last night he was even jovial as I changed his ensemble due to a significant spit-up. So radically different was this behavior that I had to grill his mom to make sure she had in fact been with him all day and that he wasn’t replaced by an impostor “baby”. She assured me it was still our Peter.

He reacts to his playseat. It has something of a console that goes over it, with lights and a mirror, and it plays music/makes noise. He used to sit in it and basically ignore the additional features, but now he gets into the sound and lightshow. Interestingly, there’s maybe 5-6 different selections of classical music that play – preceded by an announcement of the composer’s name (“WOLF-gang ama-DAY-oos MOT-zart!”)- and when the songs start to repeat Peter starts getting fidgetty. It’s like he wants something new. At a month old.

He’s also getting big. He hadn’t been in the bassinnette for the past week or so, and last night I put him in it for a while. He used to fit inside it quite easily, but last night it looked like a much tighter fit (relatively speaking). His wingspan easily reaches both sides of the bassinnette, and the wiggle room he has around his feet and head has shrunk dramatically. Considering the fact that he pushes himself around of his own will now, he’ll need all the extra space he can get.

And finally: he smiles a lot more now, and it ain’t gas. He used to do it in his sleep only, but now he smiles in the middle of the day when wide awake. And he does it when we talk about him, too, like he’s listening in and likes being the topic of discussion. We always thought he was a smart baby, but sometimes he does things that make it seem like we underestimate him. I don’t know how many times we’ve said “wait a minute, when is he supposed to be able to do X? Isn’t he early?” Aside from the being born part, he seems to be early on a lot of fronts.