Funny Faces

Having a baby is fantastic source of entertainment. Granted, it is a lot of hard work, but you can't help but smile at some of the things they do. Lydia sits (and occassionally sleeps) on a sort of bean-bag designed for babies in our living room, and it's great to just sit near her and watch as she pulls a variety of faces while she sleeps. I guess this must be her way of practising the various facial expressions that she will use as she gets older and starts to discover more about the world.

Happy baby or gassy baby?

From grimaces to smiles, and looks of surprise to looks of pain, it is often more entertaining to watch her than to watch the TV. Even though Lydia is asleep, her little arms and legs move around like they have minds of their own, giving the impression that she is dreaming about starring in a kung fu movie.

Lydia also makes a lot of noise while she dreams, emitting little squeeks and heaving tiny little sighs. She even seems to occassionally laugh in her sleep, a short giggling noise that surprised us as we hadn't heard it before. I know that at 3 weeks old any smiles or laughs are probably just gas, but it is still very cute to see.

The other day I sat next to her bean bag and asked her a question (probably something along the lines of "have you done a poo-poo for mummy?"), and she looked straight into my eyes, frowned, and then brought her clenched fist up slowly in my direction. Less than a month old and she's already threatening her father. Looks like her teenage years might be fun!

We're getting to know her more and more with each passing day. We have started to recognise the difference between some of the noises she makes, such as when she is crying because she is hungry or when she just wants to be cuddled. Some cries that stand out from the others include her motorbike cry, where she lets out a big cry that rumbles slowly to a finish, and her "I've-run-out-of-air-to-scream-but-I-still-want-to-scream" scream, which is a silent, opened mouthed scream accompanied by a big frown and a face that's redder than a strawberry.

The screaming is the less fun part of parenting, but it's understandable when you think about it from Lydia's point of view: just a few weeks ago she was warm and comfortable in the womb with a constant supply of food and no digestion problems, whereas now she is out in the big, cold world trying to teach her intestines to accept milk. It'll get better as she gets older, but in the meantime we will just have to do what we can to make her comfortable.

It should only be another couple of weeks until Lydia really starts to smile at us, and that's when a whole new chapter of funny faces will begin.