Was that a smile?

Katelyn is getting so big! I weighed myself and then weighed myself holding her, and she is over 11 pounds! As I was watching her bat at the toy book hanging from her bouncy chair, I started thinking about all the things she has learned to do since she was born. Considering that it's only been seven weeks, she's got quite a list:

Eat. The first few days, she seemed to think that eating was a major nuisance. After all, before she was born she had been receiving all the nourishment she needed without having to work for it at all. Even after she realized it was necessary, it still took her awhile to get good at it. Now she's very efficient.

Control her eyes. Instead of just blankly staring around, she can now focus on objects and people. I don't know how good she is at tracking or how far she can see, but she definitely seems to enjoy looking at the world around her. Everything seems interesting to her, even ordinary things that most people wouldn't bother looking at.

Move her head. She can definitely turn her head towards interesting objects and people. Her neck is stronger every day, and she can even hold her head steady for a few seconds. She's not quite the bobble-head she was when she was born, but she's still got some work to do in order to completely control that noggin, which gets bigger all the time.

Flop! For a couple of weeks, starting when she was only about three weeks old, she loved playing "Flop" so much that it was dangerous to put her on anyone's chest, because she would immediately start turning herself over. Now that she's put on some weight and her tummy is rounder, "Flop" has gotten harder and she doesn't do it as much. Her new game seems to be "Plug - Unplug."  We call her pacifier her "plug," and at times she thinks it's fun to spit it out, wait for someone to put it back in, and then spit it out again. 

Put her hand in her mouth. She has now discovered that she has fingers, and that they are convenient to suck on when nothing else is available. Most of her arm and leg movements are still totally random, but now she frequently has a damp right hand, because it's been in her mouth.

Suck her tongue. She also found her tongue, and not only sticks it out but sucks on it occasionally. It doesn't seem to provide quite the same enjoyment as her fingers, however.

Coo. Crying is no longer her only form of verbal communication. She makes all kinds of interesting noises when she's playing or hungry. She's always made fun noises in her sleep and when she's eating, but it's fun to see her start to "talk" to toys or people. She is very good at vocalizing when she wants something with a very powerful "EH!"  The trick then for us is to figure out what she actually wants.  Fun stuff.

Smile? In the last week, we have seen a few happy little grins that we hope will be all-out smiles soon. Most of the time she's a fairly content baby, but she will flash a happy little face when she sees her favorite people or toys, or if she's got a full belly and she's playing happily in her crib or playpen.

There are also a few things that I don't think she had to learn, they just come naturally. She's showing signs of becoming a champion belcher, she is very talented at snuggling, and she has a tendency to make people go totally gaga over her. She's a sweet little thing, and we're enjoying her very much!