Milestones:
- Neck control. Duvan is able to lift his head all the way if he lies on his tummy. We discovered this when Marésa lay him on his tummy on her chest and he looked straight up into her eyes. (He's done this to some extent before, but it's a lot more refined now.) When sitting him upright, he's also able to keep his head up straigth a lot better, although it still bops around. Only a week ago his head would inevitably fall to a side, at least now he can keep it from falling like that. :)
- Duvan is slowly starting to realize he has hands. It's still very subtle, but he seems to have figured out that if something is in his hands, he can make it move by waving his arms. There's definitely some thought behind it now, though not much control. :)) We love to put a rattle in his hands (he'll hang onto it forever if you let him) and watch him swinging it around whenever he's excited. We're still waiting for him though to see his fingers and realize that they are body parts, and that he can actually manipulate them :)).
- Sucking his thumb. Every now and again his thumb will find itself in his mouth and he'll go "Ooh, I like the shape of this, let me suck a little". He's starting to bring his hands to his mouth and sucking at certain times (e.g. when he's tired, or waking up in the morning and is still by himself).
- First steps toward conversation. We're probably the only ones noticing it ;), but we're starting to converse with Duvan. Marésa has the mother's touch (or voice) to get him talking back to her. He'll coo and make the cutest baby noises at her when she chats with him. It's so special.
- First shower! Tonight Duvan and Daddy had a shower together. Dad had come back from playing racquetball and was all sweaty and needed a shower. Duvan had just had a long day of being baby and was also in need of a bath. So they decided to have a bathroom-party and showered together! (See picture below).
Praise God for:
- Last week was growth spurt week. At one point the little guy was eating every 2 hours, just like a newborn. This (and a couple of nights out with his parents) meant that his schedule went a little by the wayside. So this week is officially "Get back on track" week. Well, praise the Lord, because it's going really well! He's practically jumped right back on the boat with us.
- We continue to praise God for the wonderful child He has blessed us with. We praise God for His peace, patience and joy that is evident in Duvan's personality! We looked at some newborn pictures this week, and we were struck by how much our relationship with him has grown in the last ~7 weeks.
We're each learning more and more of each other as time goes by. Everyday holds a whole bunch of new experiences for Duvan, and new surprises for Mom and Dad. We're learning to interact with each other in subtle and unique ways.
We've learned what are the things that gets Duvan smiling without failure. Playing with his arms while singing to him (or making all kinds of silly noises) always elicit hearty laughs. He loves it when you move around his arms and legs, or rub his body up and down while talking to him. Once he's on a roll, he'll smile for anything. He'll stare into white space and get this broad smile on his face. We'd love to know what's going through his mind at those moments! Look at his dimples, we're not sure where he got those, probably Marésa, although hers are in different positions. It could also just be due to those puffed baby cheeks!
Like we mentioned in the Milestones section, Duvan is able to control his head a lot better now. Here he's pushing up to look at Dad and and the camera.
Peaceful sleep. 100% trust, no fear.
Duvan hung out with his friend Madeleine on Sunday evening. She was very interested in him and was very helpful in patting him, rocking him in his chair, squeezing his toes, touching his face. Their experiences were very opposite though. He was stunned by the newness that Maddie brought, while she quickly got bored by how little noise or movement he made, and decided that until he gets his act together and learn some tricks, she'd rather hang out with the adults. :)
The (now customary) sleepy picture.
We can write a thousand word essay for this picture, or we can let the picture speak for itself.
Marésa and Duvan had a lot of fun today playing with Mr. Inchworm. Duvan actually realized that if he pulls his arm in, the worm comes closer to his mouth and he can suck on its leg. Moving his arm away, takes the worm's leg away. Yup, we're first-time parents, we get excited over minute details.
He thought Mr. Inchworm looked very funny over his head. We thought so too.
Earlier this evening Duvan had another new experience, and he thoroughly enjoyed it. He got so excited during the shower that he almost fell asleep by the time we were done (normally he's very awake after his bath). This could have something to do with the nice warm bathroom, or with the fact that he exerted tons of energy jerking his arms around and trying to process the weird feeling of all these warm drops of water pelting him with a thousand tickles a second.
We had tons of pictures to post today, (so we went overboard and only posted about a quarter of them). Here are some of the deleted scenes that did not survive the final director's cut.
Enjoying morning crib-time with Mom and Dad around:
Jan took a lot of pictures with Duvan on his chest, we though this was a neat perspective.
It was a tough choice between this shot and the one where Duvan is all smiles under the worm. We went for the smiles, although this is technically a better shot. It's not all technique, it's also heart.
Dis so lekker om te sien hoe Duvan ontwikkel. Hy lyk so lewendig en bewus van alles wat om hom aangaan, dis so mooi. Ons is mal oor die ou dimpeltjies!
Posted by: Schalk & Jana | November 13, 2003 06:55 AM
