Endearing moments

What makes babies prefer one person over another? Strange. The first person Ellie ever had stranger anxiety towards was Sammy. Unfortunate, because she saw him all the time and he always showered her with affection. She got over it pretty quickly, but still. Matthew still doesn't really care if strangers hold him, but he clearly knows when it's a stranger versus someone he knows. The first person he showed stranger anxiety towards was Daniel, who works in Peter's office. He is the sweetest, happiest, smiliest person I've ever known. Seriously. He broke his ankle and was in severe pain, but he smiled through it all, even when describing the horrific sound his bone made when it broke. Anyway, Matthew stared at him suspiciously for a long time. Random.

Ellie is being really affectionate lately. She'll come up to me randomly and give me a kiss or tell me she loves me. Peter said she doesn't do that to him yet, but she'll go and give him hugs randomly. The other day in the car, out of the blue, Ellie looks at Matthew in his carseat and cries frantically, "Matthew! I love you so much! You know I love you? I really really love you!" So sweet! She loves giving him hugs, too. She hugs him and kisses him and tells him she loves him several times a day.

Anyway, my mom is always ordering Ellie to show affection to her. "Who gave you yummy food? Grandma did. Kiss Grandma." "Say, 'I love you Grandma'." "Tell Grandma I love you so much." Most of this is to no avail. My stubborn and snobby daughter will more often than not completely ignore Grandma, or give in with marginal affection ("I just give you a hug."). HOWEVER, get her with Grandpa and she's all over him. Hugs, kisses, "I love you so much"-es, even when he reminds her of his conditional love for him.

Strangely, and rather conveniently, Matthew has a clear preference for Grandma over Grandpa. He'll stare at Grandpa, albeit calmly, but won't really play with him. Grandma, on the other hand, is fun and exciting to Matthew. He cries when she leaves the room. He laughs when she picks him up. He smiles when he sees her, even if only in passing. Again, random. But convenient, as afore mentioned. One for each.

Raising newborns can be fairly unrewarding. Most of the time, they just sleep, poop, eat, and require cleaning. No smiles, no affection. Yet most parents are enamored with their non-funcitonal newborn and can't stop talking about them. What's definitely rewarding is when the baby starts reacting more and responding to you.

Matthew's in this super cute stage where he is starting to respond to cues and requests. For instance, in the bathtub I'll tell him to kick kick kick. He responds with an excited smile and splashy kicking. More endearing than that is if I ask where Mommy is, he'll look for me. So far, he'll only look for Mommy, Daddy, Ellie, and Grandma. They're probably the only people he knows for sure. Anyway, I was holding him on my lap, but he was standing with his back towards me. Every time I'd ask where Mommy was, he'd crane his neck and twist his whole body to find me. Then when he saw me, he'd smile like crazy. So cute!

Another thing he does that's particularly endearing is grin from ear to ear everytime he sees a reflection of the two of us in the mirror. Now the words "Matty and Mommy!" trigger a smile. Fun stuff. I'm liking having a baby. If only he'd stop biting me with his four crazy teeth...