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Milestone: Social Smile

Sven started smiling at me about 2 weeks ago.  The first time was in the morning, after his feeding.  I had just finished nursing him and he looked right at me and gave a huge goofy grin.

Now, at less than 2 weeks, I was inclined to chalk it up to gas.  Although it looked different from the sweet little smile I had seen in his sleep, I figured that it was probably caused by the same unconscious mechanisms.  But then he spent the next 10 minutes cooing and grinning at me.  Although it felt a little optimistically foolish, I decided that it must indeed be an intentional gesture of warmth and affection meant just for me.  I felt a little sheepish telling Scott about it later, pretty sure that he wouldn't believe me.

But a few days later, he smiled at Scott, too.

I've been trying to get a picture ever since.  He will reliably smile at me when he finishes nursing, especially in the earlier feedings of the day (when he is also well-rested).  However, as soon as I whip out the camera phone, the smiles disappear.  He just stares, slack-jawed, at the shiny device, frustrating all my efforts to record his adorableness.  Oh well.

Comments

Karen said…
Carolyn, I have never bought into the theory that gas causes babies to smile. I think that they have things to smile about. I don't smile when I have gas. I don't think that babies do either. A smile is a sign of a happy baby.
Carolyn said…
Well, I am pretty sure that it's not "on purpose" when they are sleeping. But Sven certainly seems to have lots to smile about while he's awake.

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