Dax is eight weeks old. It’s hard to believe that it was only a short while ago when we were strapping him into the car seat for the initial ride home.
I never really grew up around any infants, so my experience with Dax is my first experience with any newborn. What I’m slowly finding out are the little things that Dax is capable of doing when he shouldn’t be at that stage yet. Granted, I am aware that babies develop at different rates and that the estimated timelines of development are only an average.
Example One: At the hospital on only Dax’s second day in the world, as I was holding Dax upright in my arms, he was already holding up his head. It was maybe for five seconds at a time, but I didn’t know that his head should have been flopping more than it was. I did support his head from falling back , but it was on a limited basis. Dax’s interpretation of head flopping was him peeking over my shoulders, shifting his eyes around to survey the scene, and then all of a sudden dropping his head forward onto my shoulder. The doctors later said that Dax has a really strong neck. What does that means for the future? I don’t know…maybe it means he’ll be headstrong? Bullheaded? But looking back now to when he was almost three weeks old, it amazes me that he was holding up his head during tummy time.
Example Two: Alertness. On the day we took Dax home from the hospital, I wanted to take pictures of him in his going home outfit. So I wiggled and snapped my fingers in front of the camera lens and he stared at the camera…and tracked my fingers as I moved them in front of him. A couple of weeks later, I was able to walk in front of him, as he sat in his baby chair, and he followed my every move as I walked around the room. He not only moved his eyes, he moved his head also as I started to get out of his range of vision. What does this mean for the future? I don’t know…maybe it means he’ll be able to judge the angle and the sound of the baseball coming off of the bat and will know exactly where to be when he catches the ball out in left field.
Example Three: Dexterity. I threw a baseball at Dax and he caught it with his right hand. I’m kidding, I didn’t perform this test on him.
So anyways, Dax seems to be a really good kid. He’s teaching me a lot and making this the most worthwhile adventure of all time.
Dax is an amazing child because he has amazing parents!
Love, Nana
Posted by: Nana Diana at October 30, 2004 07:23 PMI never grew up with babies either, so I definitely know what you're talking about!!! It's really hard for me to remember that the amazing things they do now, ahead of every other baby I know, don't really count for anything. It's not really going to matter when Gwen is 20 how early she was sitting or walking. Ah, well, we can bask in the joy now! :)
Posted by: Mary at October 31, 2004 11:14 AM