The Little Things

I need to start blogging more often. I know that sounds crazy because right now between Evie, work and keeping my household afloat, I have zero "free time." But I keep screwing myself by waiting until an entire month passes to write the "Baby's First Month" or "Two Months Old" all-inclusive post, which ends up being crazy-long and takes forever to write, so much so that I put off even writing it. Besides, I find myself having to jot down little notes of what to remember about each month, so I can include those things in the end-of-the-month Whopper. So from now on, I'm going to try to start writing shorter blogs about all of the special little things as soon as they happen. That way, I won't forget them, and I'll probably enjoy my blogging more because it won't seem like such a project.

So one of my favorite "Little Things" that is fresh on my mind tonight is what I call "Hands!" Evie has been SO CUTE learning to use her hands in the past several weeks. I love reading some of my parenting books that tell you what to look for each month. I'd been waiting for her to "find her hands," and boy did she find them! Now she won't let me forget about those hands!

You other mommies know that newborns keep their hands in fists for a long time, and one of the highlights of Month 2 is that they begin to open their hands more. Well, I'd noticed that Evie's hands were open a lot more around the beginning of her second month of life. Then, about two weeks ago (week 10), she FOUND THEM. Ya'll, it reminded me of the scene from Frankenstein where the monster's hands are trembling and shaking as he struggles to lift them off the operating table and the mad scientist is screaming, "IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIIVE!"

Evie's eyes were wide as silver dollars as she raised those little open hands... trembling, trembling... ever so slowly ... until FINALLY! There they were, right in front of her little face.

She was BEAMING. She'd found her hands!

From that point on, she was at it constantly. Her hands became the new babysitter, because she would literally sit there and stare at them for an hour at a time. Finally, one night I laid her in her crib to watch her mobile, so she would get drowsy and go to sleep, and I decided to linger for a moment (don't we all do this, even though we know we should be high-tailing it out of the room to accomplish some chore or task while they are preoccupied?)

Anyway, I lingered a minute, and boy am I glad I did. I am not sure I have laughed this hard in a long time at what I was about to see! I peered over Evie's crib (unbeknownst to her) and watched as she raised those little hands in front of her face, and then in full concentration, she tried to clasp them together!

I sat there for about ten minutes watching that sweet child struggle to push her hands together, as if they were two magnets with opposing poles. There was an imaginary force field between them, keeping them apart, but she would not give up so soon!

The look of sheer concentration on her little furrowed brow, her tiny pursed lips, and those trembling little hands literally put me in stitches, and I had to tip-toe-run out of the room three times, to keep from laughing out loud in front of her! Sweet child!

I called Conan in to watch, and he too had to run out of the room a few times to avoid revealing himself laughing!

We both went back in at just the right time, when all of a sudden... FINALLY, she clasped those little hands together, and when she did, she OUTRIGHT GIGGLED, and so did we, spoiling our cover and causing her to turn her head and give us a real stare-down.

It was one of the funniest moments of my life, and I never want to forget it.

Since then, Evie has been obsessed with the game that we call "Hands!" She will lift her hands in front of her and then clasp them together, and wait for us to yell, "YAAAAAAY, Evie! Hands!"

Sometimes, she will look at my hands and blink and blink at me like, "Ahem. Aren't you supposed to be doing something?"

I'll put my hands out in front of me, spread my fingers and shake them at her -- "Hands! Now YOU do it!"

She'll then put her little hands out in front of her (no lie).

And then me: "Together!" (as I clap my hands together for her)

And that smart itsy girl of mine will clasp her hands together too, and kick and kick and kick those legs as we cheer, "YAAAAAAAAY, Evie! Hands!"

Some nights, in the middle of the night at 4 or 5 a.m. when I'm changing her after her bottle, she looks up at me with those blinky doll eyes, and I know exactly what's coming. She'll lift those little hands, and clasp them together, and wait for me to say it: "Hands! That's RIGHT! YAAAAAAAY, Evie!"

And then I say, "OK, we're not supposed to be playing, we're supposed to be night-night," and I tuck her back into her swaddle as she beams back at me. "Stop that smiling and go night-night," I say. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't love every single minute of it.

I plan to capture the "Hands!" game for you one day on video -- it's just hard to stop playing along to grab the camera, and she almost always notices the camera and stops whatever cute thing she's doing.

So in lieu of "Hands!" pictures, here are some from another one of those sweet "little things" that happened this week... her first time in a Bumbo seat! I think the pictures speak for themselves...