Giggles and Coos

From the time Abigail was two days old, we knew what her smile looked like.
At around two weeks, we knew the sound of her giggle. Of course, both of these only occured while she was sleeping. It was quite fun imagining what was making our sleeping baby girl giggle. Popular guesses include:

1. She was a comedian in a past life and is re-telling her jokes to herself now (of course they are so good they span through past lives to current lives)

2. She is remembering peeing on her grandmother in the doctors office waiting room and ensuring all liquid soaked her grandma's crotch area in order that others would wonder "who actually peed their pants?"

3. She remembers ensuring that her mother could not brush her teeth for more than 8 strokes for over 6 months. Even better, if her mother tried to brush her tongue, breakfast would come right back up.

4. She is picturing what she is going to do to us when she wakes up.

I read in that Dr.Sears, we know everything about babies b/c we had 89 of our own, book that when babies smile in their sleep they have a feeling of "inner wellness". How on earth do they know that? Did a psychic tell them? And even if a psychic were to try and connect - could they? If an infant doesn't know a language, then language do they think in?

Anyhow, this is all leading up to something - a MILESTONE day for Abigail yesterday. Our little burping, farting, eating, pooping, peeing machine had a couple of breakthroughs yesterday.

First, and biggest, she giggled SOCIALLY. And she did it with style. After a burping session ended in a manly "I just chugged a glass of beer" biker burp, I exclaimed "What a good burp!". Abigail replied with a smile and a giggle! The high lasted about 2 hours and I can still picture that little smile and giggle! (it was a really good burp..)

Second, and not biggest, she cooed responsively for the first time. Abby has always provided us with occasional "mm that was good" coos or "are you really my parents?" coos but never responsively. Yesterday, after a deep conversation, Abigail appeared as though she had a tummy ache. She was writhing her little body, kicking her legs and punching her arms out everywhere. Her head was moving side to side and her mouth was frozen in a "o" position. Then it was apparent what all this physical exercise was for. Abby exclaimed "ohhhhouuuuuu".

Being the wonderful mother I am...haha...I had read that when they coo to you to imitate their noises and given them time to respond. Well, what an afternoon we had. Though it took her about 5 min to get out the coo everytime, she did it! Grandma even came for a quick visit and Abby gave her a thrill with great big "ohhhouuuu!". That was when Grandma giggled in a way similar to Abigail's proud burp giggle.