Week 13: Give me a Hand! 9-1-07

The Experts, “Your baby is becoming very handy. Although he's already aware of his hands, he's now inspecting them like Sherlock Holmes. He turns them around, the better to look at his fingers from all sides. He opens and shuts his fist, watching each finger as it moves up and down. To help your baby develop his blossoming hand-eye coordination, try dangling a toy just out of reach so he has to grab for it. Your baby can notice objects up to 15 feet away. He may kick excitedly or grab at your hair, clothes, or jewelry. He can sit up to play when supported partly at the hips. If he's over stimulated, he may have a hard time settling down to sleep.”

Max enjoys sticking his hand in my mouth. I gently close my lips around his fist and he smiles and pulls it away. Then he repeats the movement. Eli enjoys touching my nose and grabbing my lips. He’ll even tug on my hair, OUCH! Both babies now keep their hands open more. They place their hands on their knees or tug on their bibs or reach out and grab my hand. They also enjoy sitting up and having conversations with us more than “belly time”. If they hear voices from away, they’ll turn their heads in search of where the sound is coming from. We also think it’s cute when they try and suck their thumb, we just don’t want them to make it a habit when they are older. So although we allow them to suck, we don’t encourage it. We usually feed them or talk to them so they can focus their attention on something else. As far as sleep patterns go, they are sleeping more during the night. I don’t rock them to sleep and I try and play the same music to sooth them, so later when they hear those songs, they’ll know it’s nap time. Ed and I are huge movie fans and TV junkies, but we try not to watch TV with our babies. We don’t want them to watch a lot of TV when they get older. We want them to be outdoor active kids. The swingers and bouncer are huge hits for both babies, but they don’t like to bounce or swing with out attention. I usually have them face each other.