Nobody's Nothings Life, the Universe and Everything

because i’ve only had one child completely through infancy, i don’t quite know yet what is just something that babies do, what is learned behaviors, and what is family traits.

so far, in my exploration in raising another baby through infancy i have discovered that all that grunting my son used to do wasn’t my fault. E just started it, and i SWEAR i don’t grunt back to her. i used to do it all the time to K because it made him laugh, and there’s nothing sweeter than a baby laugh. but when he started talking in grunts, they blamed it on me. K didn’t utter a single word other than grunting until he was nearly 3 years old and everybody thought it was my fault because i was his primary caregiver, and i grunted to him all the time to make him laugh. well, IN YOUR FACE! my daughter has just started grunting like a freakin’ gorilla and i don’t encourage it AT ALL. so THERE! it wasn’t my fault afterall. either it’s a phase all babies go through, or it’s a family trait.

today, as i was drinking my coffee and doing my morning thing on the computer, i looked over at my daughter. she was bouncing happily in her jumperoo, and when she noticed me looking at her, she crinkled her little nose up, smiled, squinted her eyes, and tilted her chin up so we got the maximum view of her pokey little ears…it was something i remember very well from my son’s infancy. we affectionately called it the “monkey face”. i think it is a tool to get attention…and it works. it is so cute. what we have here is a slightly imperfect monkey face. she was bouncing at the time, and she tends to break out in a smile whenever a camera is aimed at her. Any facial expression i catch is usually just before or just after a smile. one of these days i’ll scan the toddler-hood pics of my son, and show you HIS monkey face- geez my kids are cute.

i know it looks like she’s fussing or crying, but i swear she’s actually 1 giggle away from laughing… family trait, or just something all babies do?