The Graduation of Baby Dinosaur- Thursday February 2nd

Hazel is a very communicative baby, but not in the way I expected.  Of course, she’s excellent at crying when bored, hungry, tired, wanting of mommy, and overstimulated.  But her non-crying noises up to this point have been the little roars of a baby dinosaur.

While I found this utterly adorable, I did wonder if she would ever make the sounds typically associated with a baby.  I didn’t care if she spent her whole life growling and barking, if that’s how she wanted to talk.  Without a lot of previous baby experience, I didn’t know if babies were born sounding like babies or if this was something they had to learn.  So I waited and delighted in her little dinosaur noises.

Then Tuesday, on the 7 week anniversary of her birth, Hazel looked at me while I changed her and said “coo”.

I had to grab the side of the changing table to myself from fainting.  I knew that little developments would happens as Hazel got older, but I didn’t expect them to flood my heart with love and pride.  I mean, babies are supposed to make baby noises.  I shouldn’t seem like an accomplishment that you want to call your friends about.  I decided not to be one of those moms who makes a huge deal out of every little thing.  I was going to exhibit some self control.

Later that day, Hazel stuck her tongue out for the first time.  I had no choice I had to start calling people.

Luckily people rarely answer their cell phones anymore, so I was spared from having to catch myself trying to wrangle up excitement from non-relatives about this incredible advancement.  The problem with having a few ounces of self awareness if that you know most people are bored by your enthusiastic recounts of what your baby does, but you can’t necessarily stop yourself.  It’s especially hard when your whole day consists of feeding your baby and trying to steal a few minutes of sleep while she’s sleeping.  It’s not like I’m going to fine restaurants and the opera.  Even when I watch TV I’m just looking at the screen, I’m not really absorbing what’s happening.  Well that’s not entirely true, I do really want a Total Gym, the Wen Hair Care System, and the Gojo hands free.  So I guess some of it’s penetrating my brain.

It’s exciting to see Hazel learn more and get older, but it’s bittersweet.  I wish I could freeze these days in my memory- unencumbered by work, socializing, or any big life decisions.  I know that the older she gets, the less time we’ll have to fawn over her every coo and poop.  For the time being though, watching her stick her tongue out is more incredible that anything I’ve ever seen or done.  And this is just the beginning.