Laurel has started to do this thing when she’s sitting in my lap, facing the same way I’m facing, where she just … lifts her head forward and holds it upright. She started doing it Wednesday while we were at our new-parents group, and she did it again today — specifically, to lunge at my hand, which she wanted to explore with her mouth.
She’s still pretty bobble-headed, but this is the first week she’s shown an interest in seriously taking command of where her head is going in the to-and-fro direction. She’s been moving it from side to side for a few weeks now, I suppose because she can do that even when she’s lying down, but this forward/back thing is new.
Of course, when she grasped my hand with both of hers and lunged at it with her mouth wide open, I started cracking up laughing, which startled her.
Unfortunately, her curiosity has preceded her head control — when we’re out and about, she’d like to look at everything, but it requires one of us holding her head at all times because she hasn’t got the strength yet to do it all on her own.
We’ve also begun practicing tummy time in earnest to make up for all those weeks we didn’t do it because she’d spend the whole time rooting around on the floor, looking for non-existent breasts to nurse on, and then wailing because she couldn’t find them. After a few days of us starting her propped up on her arms in a little “baby pushup,” she’s been able to manage a few pushups on her own. She also occasionally tries to roll over, but the whole effort frustrates and exhausts her. She’s also pretty content to lay on her tummy and suck on her hand for minutes on end. But then, who wouldn’t be?
– Beth
