Uniquely You

For old time's sake, I went back to read the posts I wrote during my pregnancy. It was a time when we speculated the kind of person you'd be based on how I felt and how my belly looked. Great fun! Then I thought it'd be even more fun to see if and how some of our speculations have turned out. Interestingly, there are actually quite a few things that are very "Kai". Just read the last post in June "Rinse and Repeat", I'll show you several "consistencies" between you as a fetus and you as an infant:

1. the hiccups
I thought it was the funniest feeling when you were having hiccups in my tummy, and we read in the baby books that you'd likely to get hiccups as a baby. Well, you get the hiccups almost once every day. It didn't seem to bother you as much when you were a newborn (you didn't know better then), but now you seem to get annoyed by them.

2. sleep position preference
Everyone commented on how big my belly was as I approached the last trimester of my pregnancy, and my not-so-little bump was visibly lopsided. You liked sleeping on your side as a fetus; guess how you prefer to sleep as a baby?!

3. covering the face
When you do sleep on your back, you like covering your face with one arm (usually the arm covers your eyes, but sometimes it slips down to cover your nose and mouth). This is probably why no technicians could get a good view of your face during all those ultrasound sessions.


4. the foot
Just like what we saw with Dr. Sun in the ultrasound on June 30th, you like putting one foot on something (whatever that's the closest or accessible) when you're on your back. When you get your diaper changed, you like putting one foot on mommy/daddy's wrist.

As I mentioned in that post about how impressed I was that daddy figured out how to move his crib to open the door when he was 2, nothing has prepared us for how inquisitive and focus you have been pretty much since you were born. Your eyes are always searching for thing to look at, and once something catches your eye, you focus and study it with such concentration that we didn't know infants possessed. There are a few things in the house that you have been interested in since the day we brought you home. As you mature, the way you "interact" with them also evolves.

The first thing we noticed that grabbed your attention was Mr. Clock! You've been fascinated by Mr. Clock since your first day home. It's understandable since Mr. Clock is black and white and babies like contrast. What amazes me is how you "interact" with it. In the first month when everything was blurry, you simply stared at it with great intensity, as if you were studying it. As you learned to do more, you started smiling at it, chuckling at it, and laughing at it. Now that you can hold your head up most of the time, the first thing you do when we come into the living room in the morning is to look up and start talking to Mr. Clock. You get so excited that you'd start batting your arms and kicking your legs. I wonder what Mr. Clock says to you. Whatever it is, he must really know how to talk to babies.

Aside from Mr. Clock, you've developed a new fascination with patterns. You love Miss. Lamp and her pretty patterns. You loving looking at her, and you talk to her with such a soft loving voice. While Mr. Clock excites you, Miss Lamp seems to calm you down. Other patterns are also interesting to you. The colors of these pillow cases have you "ooo"ing over them. Apparently, it's not only the red that catch your eye. You also noticed the patterns of a blue and white pillow case at uncle Dorion's house, and you actually extended your left arm trying to touch it when we visited them.

Then there's "The Doggie that sings the ABCs". You love it when it sings. Before you could intentionally move your arms, mommy and daddy had to pull The Doggie's string to make it sing for you. However, you did not just sit there and wait for us to do that for you. As you sat in your chair, you'd be looking at it with such intensity, working it out in your head how you could make The Doggie sing on your own. One afternoon about two weeks ago, I was doing the dishes in the kitchen, and I heard The Doggie sing. I ran to the living room and saw you looking at it with that triumphant look on your face. Before mommy went back to the kitchen, you did it again and for the next few days, you did it every so often just to show off.

Along with The Doggie are the felt mobile of different vehicles we wrapped on the bar on your chair. A couple of weeks ago, you only wacked at them aimlessly. Now you can grab the one you want and bring it to your mouth. What's really funny (for mommy and daddy) is how you not only talk to your toys but you sometimes yell at them. Although I do wonder, since we do loop the strings and occasionally cause some of the vehicles to be strapped on the bar, if you're in fact yelling at your parents for messing up the "line-up".

Last but not least, THE CYCLE ELEPHANTS (you have to shout when you say it 'cause that's what daddy always does when he sees them). Uncle Ben brought them back for you from his home town in Australia. I have to admit, when I first saw them, I thought it was just a mobile (like any other) that we could hang over your bed. We never expected these silly paper elephants to trigger such powerful emotional reactions. If you're fussing and we put you in your bed, you quiet down and start giggling and talking the instant you see your cycle elephants.

I don't have a lot of experience with babies, so I don't know what other babies do at your age. However, I'm marveled by so many things you do and, like all parents with their own children, I'm convinced that you're the most special and gifted baby the world has ever seen. I want to write this down while I witness these amazing discoveries so that, one day, you can tell your own children what you were like when you were a baby.