11 weeks!

It's getting so fun to watch Reed learn about his world and stake his place in it. The latest fun things include smiling at me through the mirror in the back seat of the car. We have a mirror situated on the headrests of the back seat cushions angled so that I can see Reed by looking through my rear view mirror. At stop lights I often turn around to fix a fallen out pacifier or give him a pat of reassurance. Yesterday I turned around only to see him wearing a huge smile on his face looking right at me through the mirror. We proceeded to have a short smile session before the light turned green.

In addition, Reed has a voice. Not just a cry or a coo, but a real live voice. He is making a ton of sounds which I think are his version of talking. Sometimes they are fussy talking and sometimes they are almost a laugh. But no matter the intention, they do not sound like a cry they sound like a baby trying to get your attention or enjoying himself.



Other exciting things at 11 weeks....Less swaddling! Until recently, Reed has needed to be tightly swaddled in order to be calm and fall asleep. There was no falling asleep in someone's arms or in the car seat with out the perfect swaddle. This meant, not only did he need to be swaddled but the swaddle needed to be tight enough that he could not free his arms because flailing arms upset him, erasing any of the soothing and calming accomplished thus far. Just this week however, I noticed that he crashed out in his car seat with just a loose blanket. I have mixed feelings about graduating from his swaddle. On the one hand it is nice to know he is beginning to be able to soothe himself and does not need to feel like he is still in the womb all of the time. On the other hand it means he is growing up which we know is inevitable but often difficult to admit. Finally, he is starting to grab at things just a bit, more on that in another post.