One month anniversary of Little One!

Having a baby is kind of like an arranged marriage. You suddenly get this stranger in your life who you have to live with 24-7, and even though you're going to love them forever, you don't really know a thing about them. Babies are kind of mysterious that way. I mean, sure, all babies are a lot alike. The crying, the pooping. Hey, that's humanity; we all have some things in common.
But at the same time, though she's still kind of larvae-like, Little One is, in fact, her own little person. Part of the fun of being a parent is to slowly figure out what kind of person we've ended up stuck with for the rest of our lives. It takes time, but J and I are supersleuths. We're determined to get to know Little One as quickly as possible, so we can learn all her tricks and try to formulate an antidote to them before she reaches teen years. And also because we can already tell she is pretty cool, and we totally want to make friends with her so we can sit at her table for lunch.

Little One turned a whole one month old three days ago. Happy Birthday Little One! That's a whole month of ice-breaker games and bonding activities we've now shared. We don't even have to wear name tags any more. Since you all probably want to know someone cool too, I thought I'd share what J and I have learned about our new little person.
Here is what we know so far:

Little One is a snuggle maniac. This girl looooooovees to cuddle. She loves it more than anything. She will actually use the same sad face with the trembling, pouty lower lip that she uses when she's hungry in order to fuss for a cuddle if she's feeling neglected. She doesn't mind the swing, and she actually likes the bounce-chair, but all of this drastically pales in comparison to being held.

Her fave cuddle is the tummy to tummy kind, with her head right up under your chin. She will go through all kinds of amazing contortions to get herself into this position, including squiggling up your torso like one of those naked kangaroo babies. Which brings me to...

Little One is STRONG. All those dance parties and jazzercise videos she was doing before she was born beefed this kid up. She can hold her head up by herself, and I have witnessed, several times, as she actually wriggled herself from her back onto her tummy. This is because she is also...

Determined. Little One knows what she wants and you can just see the ambition in her eyes when she tries to get it. Lie her against your bended knees when you sit down and she will literally hurl her head forward, giving her body enough momentum that she is able to fling herself at your chest, where she can squirm her way up to cuddle position. Put her in the cradle and if The Howl doesn't work, she will begin flailing about until she is pressed right up against the side of the cradle next to me. I'm pretty sure she's working on a way to bust through the slats next.

She is always figuring something out. Or seems to be. When she's awake, she is hyper alert. She looks all around with this serious, studious look on her face. She looks right at people's faces and seems to be sizing them up. She pretty much always seems to decide she likes everyone though, because she...

Smiles! Little One smiles a lot, and I've caught a few actual giggles, too. She can also play copy-cat. Meaning if I look at her and stick my tongue out a few times, she will start doing it too. Then she will make a whole litany of other silly faces in rapid succession. So she is also a ham.

She hates to be dirty. Messed diapers are instantly revolting. Spit up is completely intolerable. Baths, however, are pretty fun. Combing hair, not as fun. She likes to be sung to, also, which is too, too bad for J. Though the dogs seem to think it's interesting.

As of yesterday, she also batts at toys , and has discovered her hand. Oooohhhhhh. Hey look, all this may not sound impressive to you, but I think she's come a long way in a month. Which I'm pretty sure is what she's thinking about J and I, who are finally learning to fetch her what she wants (milk, diaper, spit cloth, snuggles) in under 30 seconds.

So far, I think the introductions are going well. We have a lot in common. I mean, I like snuggling too! True we've had our disagreements, mostly about what hours of the day should be used for sleeping, but we're working on a compromise. So far, overall, the kid seems to be funny, smart, sweet, did I mention cuddly?
I think we're going to get along. Yep, I think this will work right out. Guess we must have had a good matchmaker.