In just a few short weeks, Emma has graduated from newborn to
baby. Now I’m beginning to understand what parents meant when they
told me to cherish these early days.
In just a few short weeks, Emma has graduated from newborn to baby. Now I’m beginning to understand what parents meant when they told me to cherish these early days.
And we are, soaking up every moment as Emma learns new tricks and makes new discoveries.
She already has learned to stand up on cue. My husband, Chris, or I will hold her in our lap and say, “Stand up!”
Hearing those words, Emma stands up and locks her knees. Then she gets this look on her face, like “Hey, look what I can do!” Her eyes twinkle, her mouth opens wide in an “O” shape and she comes out swinging like a prizefighter after hearing the ding, ding of the bell.
Like most 6-week-olds, she doesn’t stay awake for long. But she has mastered the art of unwinding. We’ve renamed our spare bathroom “Emma’s Spa.” There she lounges and gurgles as we work to undo a few days worth of baby messes.
She also loves her mobile that hangs over her crib. We’ve nicknamed it the “Mesmerizer.” It’s this crazy colorful contraption that won big raves from a lot of moms on the Internet. When you push a button, little animals swoop down and smile at Emma while it gently plays Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.
Emma could be screaming her head off, but as soon as she sees that parrot or frog smiling at her, she falls completely silent and drifts off into this meditative, zen-like state that most adults haven’t figured out how to achieve without a little help from prescription drugs.
For my part, I’m learning the art of laying her down without disturbing her. It’s meant bending over her bassinet for long stretches of time while I try to convince her that I’m still holding her. But the smartie that she is, she doesn’t buy it.
When she does finally does surrender to sleep, her mouth turns up at the corners like she just remembered a funny joke she heard earlier that day.
The big test came last week when we took Emma on her first big road trip. We drove down to Palm Desert for Chris’ Aunt’s 50th birthday blow-out celebration. We had taken Emma to Napa and Monterey and she thrived, so we tried it. She did beautifully. But, like her Mom, she wasn’t fond of sitting in a car for seven straight hours.
If my left arm appears longer than my right, it’s for good reason. For the better part of an hour, it was wrapped around her carseat in the backseat trying to comfort her while Chris drove.
Together, we’ve discovered that taking a successful road trip with a baby is an artform as well.
Her newest accessory has become her trusty pacifier. I have mixed feelings about it. I’m glad that it soothes her, but I feel a certain amount of guilt whenever I pop it in her little mouth.
We received the pacifiers as a gift. I was one of those moms who says, “We’ll never use one of those.” I told Chris to hide them, thinking that we would only resort to using them in an emergency. Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be, Chris didn’t look very hard for a hiding spot for the “binkies.” He hid them in his sock drawer. Well, who does he think puts his socks away?
It’s just as well though, because the emergency hit at 3 a.m. one recent morning when Mom desperately needed some shut-eye. I tore open Chris’ sock drawer and opened the package of pacifiers. It worked for a little while. But every 10 minutes, it would drop out of Emma’s mouth and she would cry again.
But in the car, her mouth had a steely grip on it. She sucked on it faster whenever we hit a bump in the road or braked too hard.
We also discovered she’s partial to U2. She ceases crying immediately upon hearing Bono’s voice.
And things are peaceful on the homefront as well. I’m happy to report that Emma and our miniature dachsie, Lucy, have called a truce. You might remember me reporting a couple weeks ago that Lucy decided to relieve herself all over me as I was feeding Emma.
Well, not only has she stopped that crazy behavior, I found her one early morning snuggled up to our little munchkin. Lucy had fallen asleep with her head laying softly on Emma’s tummy. Aaaw!
Chris immediately fetched our digital camera to capture the moment. We have to while we can. There will never be enough of them or enough RAM to preserve each and every one.
