Imitation and Other Flatteries

This Thanksgiving brought two new advances in communication for Clara Grace. One of which her parents are quite thankful for, about the other, they are still deciding. The latter really should have been expected though. Every time Clara Grace’s Mommy or Daddy bragged to another parent how calm and benign their new baby was, the other parent would wag their head knowingly and predict, “Just give it a few weeks, then you’ll start hearing more from her.” Of course, Clara Grace’s Mommy chalked this all up to bitter parents who’d probably had colicky babies and were hoping for some company for their misery. Thanksgiving night brought the first enormous outburst from sweet little Clara Grace. Her Mommy made the very unwise mistake of changing her diaper before feeding her, and after watching the entire family gorge themselves on turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, and sweet potatoes, this was simply too much for Clara Grace to bear. Her parents responded to the tirade by feeding her immediately, and promising to purchase a wet wipe warmer the very next day, all the while assuring themselves that they do plan to implement a bit more discipline in the coming years. The other advance in communication took place that night after Clara Grace had regained her composure. She sat on her Grandma’s lap and watched while Grandma stuck in and out her tongue. After a moment, she responded by sticking out her own. They played this game for several minutes. Now, this had happened once before when Clara Grace’s Daddy was playing with her early one morning of her third week of life. She stuck out her tongue, so her Daddy stuck out his. They kept this up for several minutes until Clara Grace let loose an eruption in the diaper area. Her Daddy’s excitement faded immediately and he attributed the whole episode to gas. After everyone had left Thanksgiving night, Clara Grace’s skeptical Mommy asked Daddy to try the tongue game with her one more time to determine whether Clara Graces proud Grandma hadn’t been a little too hasty to attribute this new spark of intelligence to her five and a half week old grandbaby. Clara Grace played the game with Daddy for the second time, so that night, after her two o’clock snack, Clara Grace’s Mommy tried it out. Clara Grace smiled immediately and when her Mommy touched her lips, her tongue was sticking out just as everyone had said it would be. Clara Grace even advanced to making kissy mouths and went back and forth between the two. After a few rounds of the game, Clara Grace even grabbed hold of her Mommy’s finger and brought it to her own mouth. While feeding, changing and rocking the little baby have been wonderful, Clara Grace’s Mommy is extremely thankful and excited about this tiny window into her daughter’s growing mind.