- Conversations. Yup, of the most elementary kind imaginable, but it's there. Each of the conversations is super rewarding, and leaves us so amazed at this wonderful and exciting time of development. This afternoon, Marésa and I independently experienced Duvan calling to us. I was sitting working on my thesis, and so was not really paying a lot of attention to him next to me in the bouncy seat. I was aware though that he was looking at me. Then he started "talking" Duvan-talk like crazy, and when I looked at him, he had this look of anticipation on his face as he stared into my eyes, waiting for my response. He knows.
- Response to music. Duvan is starting to show excitement when he hears music. On Sunday evening, Marésa had him in her arms trying to calm him down from evening blues (see below). I had the guitar out and we just sat together and sang praise to God. He almost immediately became very peaceful and just sat and stared at us as we sang. Today, Marésa was busy in his room putting laundry away, with him in the (ol' faithful) bouncy seat with her on the floor. She was just chatting to him, while working away. Then she decided to turn on some Vivaldi for him, and he became very excited, and kicked his feet and laughed and smiled away. He definitely responded to the music, and kept "dancing" to it for some time. It was amazing!
- Evening meltdown. :( By 6 or 7pm Duvan is starting to feel that the day is now getting really long, and he starts battling with the opposing forces of wanting to get rest and hanging out with Mom & Dad. Along with this comes times when he seems to realize that he's really tired. Before it appeared that he did not really care so much if he missed a nap, but now he expresses the weariness a lot more. The only thing that seems to really satisfy him during the evening blues is to turn him facing out and giving him the apartment tour. We do not mind this an awful lot, as it has led to some other new developments:
- Mirror talk. Some of Duvan's favorite places while walking around are mirrors in bright lit places. At most mirrors he'll interact with us, or stare at the room through the mirror, or at the light above it. But at the framed mirror by the front door, he will look at all the other things until he notices a handsome baby staring back at him, and immediately becomes very interested in this dude returning his wide-eyed interest. He almost always starts talking. Here is where he's learnt his first word, "Ah-boo". It is incredibly cute, as there is hardly any voice behind it, and is followed by a series of soft, voiceless explosives with his lips.
- Attention span. It's hard to measure, but it appears that he's able to stay focused a lot longer. It's a lot easier to sit with him and just talk with him for long periods of time.
- Hair. You might have noticed this (Great-grandma sure did), but Duvan's hair is a lot different from when he was just born. He's now lost almost all of the initial silky reddish-blonde hair (except for a patch in his neckline), and is working hard on growing a respectable covering for the head.
- His loving arms of grace which envelopes and protects Duvan in every situation, even when we're not around.
We've talked about this a lot now, but now you get to experience a little of it yourself. We've not been able to capture Duvan at his best talking time, but here is a little sample of how the conversations go.
Hi to Grandparents (17 seconds, MP3, 50kB)
(For those who don't follow the Afrikaans, Marésa is basically asking him to say hi to Grandma, Grandpa and finally Great-grandma.) This activity fills a large part of our days with him, because it is so much fun!
His Grandma Martie made him the most adorable little outfit, and he handsomely wore it on Sunday to church:
Sneezing is another of Duvan's regular activities, which automatically puts it way up there for things that make you love him. It's quite natural for babies to sneeze a lot, since they only breath through their noses. So to keep those airways clear, they do a lot of sneezing! Here's an action shot, mid-sneeze.
Here Duvan is hanging out on Dad's legs on Sunday afternoon. He's always very interested whenever his Mommy is close by, and will push himself way up to watch her every move.
Hanging out in his crib is a lot of fun!
Duvan's playgym is also starting to become more interesting. He has not quite realized that the bright, noisy objects hanging above him are actually his toys, but he enjoys watching them swing by his face anyway.
And now, the weekly sleeping shot. Pure bliss...
Click on the link below for more shots and a comical story about Duvan's rude awakening on Friday evening... Oh yes, and HEY, please leave a comment letting us know you were here!
Here's another shot of Duvan on Dad's legs. He was all smiles, but always dropped the smile when Mommy's face was replaced by the camera. This is a good thing, it shows that although he sees the camera almost as much as he sees us, he's not grown as attached to it. Phew!
This is a classic look on Duvan's face, and this picture really captures the moment we had so well. It lost to smiles though, so didn't make it to the front page.
Now, we'd like to record a comical story for posterity. On Friday evening, we visited with the Awokuse's, dear friends of ours. The Awokuse family consists of Titus, Tina and the 2 boys Daniel(7) and Joshua(4). Joshua is a compassionate, loving young fellow who has the most adorable manner about him. (He's off the charts cute, in fact, he's caused the cuteness charts to be recalibrated many a time in his life). Joshua was extremely interested in Duvan, and dearly wanted to hold him and touch him etc. But under strict orders from his parents, he was only allowed to touch Duvan's feet. He made a number of pleas to "hold the baaaayyyybbeeee", but no one budged. When it was time for Duvan to eat, he accompanied Marésa to his parents' bedroom, and had a puzzled look on his face as he asked Marésa "But where is the baby's food?". Marésa thought for a second, but could not come up with a reasonable translation for "Err, well, Duvan breastfeeds, so I carry his food around all the time..." in 4th-year lingo. She resorted to "Tina!!!!", but Joshua was one step ahead of her. His face suddenly lit up and he proudly announced, "I know, it's in your bag! I'll go get it!!" (Having seen us carry Duvan's diaper bag when we entered). Marésa was quite relieved and thanked him for his thoughtfulness.
Later the evening, when Duvan was sound asleep on Titus & Tina's bed, Joshua saw the opportunity to love on Duvan that had so long evaded him. He slipped out of conversation, and minutes later I hear Duvan crying! As I'm approaching the bedroom, Joshua comes out of the door, and announces in his most innocent voice (hardly audible over Duvan's cries) "The baaayyybbeee is crying...". Not putting 2 and 2 together, I hastily thank him for his insightful synopsis of the state of affairs and rush on to calm Duvan. As I'm holding Duvan, I notice Joshua still standing in the door, and a more complete picture of what occured slowly dawned on me. Joshua must've read my mind, because he came to me and slowly said
"I wanted to hug the baby...".
It immediately occured to me how little parent I have inside of me, how little I understand young children and how little I knew of how to handle this situation. Joshua had obviously done wrong, and I should have admonished him and explain to him that it is never wise to visit with a sleeping baby, especially when baby's Mommy and Daddy are not nearby. But you know what they say about hindsight. At the moment, all I saw was Joshua's big eyes in realizing that it was probably not a good idea to give Duvan a hug in his sleep, and all I cared for was that Duvan's sobs were dying away and he was calm in my hands.
And such we are as new parents, constantly swinging from potentially harmful ignorance to over-exaggerated anxiety, hanging on this rabbit trail of parenthood by the grace of God.
Aai, aai. Hoe 'n ouma en oupa se tranekliertjies darem kan werk by die aanhoor van daardie stemmetjie! Pragtig, Mamma!
Posted by: Martie Jacobs | November 19, 2003 01:55 AM
I love looking at your pictures, they are great!! It's good to have those memories to show him when he is older. :-) God has truely blessed you guys.
Posted by: Marci | December 6, 2003 09:52 PM
