The book What to Expect the First Year, begins each chapter with a disclaimer, “All babies reach milestones on their own developmental time line. If your baby seems not to have reached one or more of these milestones, rest assured, she probably will very soon.” Then they give a list of what is typical for a two-month old. Like any self respecting woman I base my job skill on Afton’s accomplishments. She’s no typical baby; I’m sure all the singing, diaper changing and middle of the night feeding have made her a super baby able to leap other two-month-olds in a single bound.
Lets see:
- Smile in response to your smile–check
- Vocalize in ways other than crying–check
- Hold head steady when upright–check
- Follow object held about 6 inches above face and moved from side to side–check
- Laugh out loud–What?
Laugh out loud? What does a two month old think is funny? To stay developmentally advanced my daughter must must must develop a sense of humor–and fast. Is peek-a-boo funny? Many babies think so but not Afton. She didn’t even smile. Next in my quest for laugh out loud funny I tried tickling–no response, in fact she looked away like, “Maybe if I ignore Mom she’ll stop.” Eric has tried Boinga Boinga (bouncing on the edge of the bed while saying “boinga boinga”–I’m sure he’ll demonstrate if you ask) with each of the children. Gerrit still likes to play Boinga Boinga but Afton doesn’t realize this is supposed to be fun yet. Ethan and Gerrit currently think potty humor reigns supreme, but Afton fails to see the humor in scatology. Mostly I agree with her on that point, although the night Eric changed her diaper and then had to change everything he was wearing was pretty funny. We have video of an infant Ethan giggling when Eric would pretend to drop him for a second. Afton just cries when he tries.
I was at a loss. She was practically three months old, with a new set of milestones to obsess over. Super baby/mother status was in question, and I was still no closer to discovering what our little sphinx thought was funny. And then, she laughed. What is funny enough to make a two-month old giggle? Ethan–Ethan just being Ethan. One evening he was bounding around the front room fighting some imaginary battle, complete with explosions, sound effects, and lots of flailing around on the couch and Afton just started to giggle.
Since that evening Afton’s shown that her humor tends toward the three stooges. She is partial to gun shots and pillow fights, and a pie in the face, should she have occasion to see one, would probably be a big hit. Afton fits right into our family and has already figured out an important bit of womanly wisdom: boys are sooo funny.
Watch the Movie
ethan is an awsome kid