It sometimes surprises me that Amelia is a little person, a little individual, a little personality--and already. It's becoming more and more apparent that she wants to know exactly what is going on. In fact, that was the very first thing I remember about her.
Right when she first came out, even before she really got out her first successful cries, she was trying to open her eyes. She cried and cried, and once her eyes were open, she shut up for a bit and looked around.
I said hello. (I think I called her a conehead.) She arched her back and craned to look up towards my voice. It was strange. There is a little tiny person deliberately looking at me... or at least trying to look at me. Who knows how much she could see with all the vernix in her still developing eyes.
Who are you? You sound like my mom. Where am I? What is going on? Also, I am hungry. Her cries were clear demands. And then after the demands, I started to hear frustration. Why can't I lift myself up, dang it? I'm trying to turn towards those voices, but I just can't seem to... Argh! Ugh, no one told me eating would be difficult, aughh!
I'm not sure what tipped off our nurses, but I remember more than one of them commenting that Amelia was particularly strong-willed and independent. She likes to be in control of her own fate, methinks.
Fast forward a few weeks.
Ah, tummy time. When we put her on her belly, she gets frustrated. Plainly, she is upset by how helpless she is tummy down. I can just see the enraged little thought bubble-clouds emerging from her ears... I... can't... lift... my... HEAD! AUGH! I... can't... SEE! I... can't... MOVE! This is accompanied by both distressed wailing and effortful grunting as she strains to move. She digs her feet into the ground and pushes... and actually, she does inch herself forward--or sideways.
We're not sure this determination is the safest quality to possess right now, though. Last night she nearly launched herself out of James' arms down onto the cold, hard floor... And then she did it again in the early a.m. hours as she resisted leaving the warm, cozy blanket on her way to a dreaded diaper change. We may need to superglue a helmet to her head to protect those precious Griffin-Dilts brains she inevitably inherited.
Another curiosity... I can tell her vision is improving. She loves to look at lights and things. She loves to look out windows and stare at light fixtures. Perhaps not coincidentally, at about the same time she began exhibiting interest in lights, she also began to get fussy after hanging about in the same spot for too long.
It's true! If we stay in the same spot and bounce or rock her, she gets furious and starts to scream. BUT as soon as we pick her up and walk around, she calms down. And, all too often, she starts screaming again once we sit back down. My theory? She likes to see the light-shadow landscape move around her as we walk. I think we may need to invest in a string of blinky Christmas lights.
Love and phascinating photons,
Jenna and Amelia the Photonophile
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