What's your baby's "thing"?

[newmamalizzy]

We talk a lot on this forum about things all babies do - eating, sleeping, pooping, etc.  I'm curious about how all of these eat-sleep-poop machines of ours are unique.  What would you say at this point about his/her developing character?  What is your baby's "thing?" 

For us, DD is almost a year old now, and I think that she is particularly good at figuring things out in a kind of mechanical way.  An early example:  When she was 5 months old and just sitting up on her own, I would often sit her outside on a blanket with some toys.  I tried to encourage her to lunge forward by putting her toys on the edge of the blanket beyond her reach.  What did she do?  She grabbed the blanket and used it to drag the toys to herself.  It's been a recurring trend with her.  She never EVER directly imitates or copies sounds, motions, anything.  But she is SO savvy about figuring out how things work on her own and learning how to get her little hands and legs to accomplish what she wants to accomplish. 

What about your baby??

[Earthy Mama]

My dd is 4 months old. She figured out how to bounce herself in her bouncy seat. She sticks one leg up in the air and kicks. It's the cutest thing to watch!

[MamitaM]

he rocks! he can rock his little chair all the way across the room if he wants to.

[LittleBirdy]

He FLIRTS!  It's hilarious.  Every morning I walk him into daycare and we have to stop so he can bat his eyelashes at each and every staff member and get told how handsome he is.  Restaurants, shopping malls?  Same thing.

Somebody needs a younger sibling lest he get a big head.  But somebody better start sleeping more than 2 hours at stretch if that's going to happen...

Wait... maybe that's all part of his plan?!

[whozeyermamma]

He's a ham!

He's always doing raspberries and making silly faces. Like he'll wake up from a nap and when I pick him up he takes a long serious look at me and then goes "pbbbbbbbbb!" and then laughs his head off. Or he'll play peek-a-boo with himself, putting something over his head, pulling it off and then cracking himself up. He's also super expressive - this is him at just a few weeks....

I love these responses! Newmammalizzy - I wouldn't be surprised if your LO winds up with a scientific bent. My DD was very similar - at a very early age she liked to line things up, order things by color or shape. In prek her teacher said she would be good at math b/c she was good at puzzles and today - in 2nd grade - she's GREAT at math.

[Buzzer Beater]

GG's favorite thing to do is throw a towel or rag over her own head to initiate peek a boo. She will stay under there for the longest time, cracking up and literally shaking her arms and legs... then she pulls the towel off and shrieks. It's hilarious.

[Kuba'sMama]

Mine's all about the shy smile. Tucks her face into my shoulder and peeks out just a bit... and a big grin. Wins over strangers everywhere.

[MaerynPearl]

Mae is just... really REALLY observant. And picks up anything fast. She's only 5 months old and can already scoot across the livingroom and turn off the XBox when I put in the DVD she doesn't like. (she's got a thing against animals I think)

When we go for walks she will just lounge and watch everything going by... and if I wear her when we go shopping so she can see what all is going on, she is the happiest baby ever. Won't fuss or wiggle or anything just watch everyone with "those huge bright eyes" (as strangers say)

basically this look at everything and everyone:

[ProtoLawyer]

Mine, 8 months today, is the quietest baby I've ever seen...in public.

In private, it's another matter altogether. And I know it may not last, but for now, we can go to restaurants, even fairly quiet ones, and have people come up to us and say, "wow, I didn't know there was a baby in here!"

[OvenSeeksBun]

She has a huge crush on these decorative tiles that are hanging on our living room wall. When she spots them, she gives them a huuuge smile, and then starts chatting with them. I wish I knew what she sees when she looks at them - they look like this: http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y293/WendyNikole/IMG_1901.jpg

The quickest and most effective way of calming her, especially when she's gassy, is by sitting on the yoga ball and bouncing up and down with her. The higher the better. She's going to love the Jolly Jumper one day!!

She's only 12 weeks old, so I'm sure there are many more to come

[asraidevin]

Curtains.  Since birth loved to look st the light coming through. He loves lamps also. I guess its a light thing. He is nearly a year and loves to stand on the sofa and pull the curtains back to look out.

[Monarchgrrl]

DD is 4.5 months old.

She likes to growl. She will wrinkle her eyebrows and growl like a dog (we don't have a dog, don't know where she got it) for minutes on end. And then smiles and laughs about it.

She also likes to sound like an alien. She inhales long and deep while shrieking. I can't explain it but it sounds like an alien language. Then she smiles and giggles afterward.

Since birth she wakes up from naps or sleep super happy, we usually only know she's awake is because she starts growling and then smiling.

She will smile and make those noises for half an hour but the second I get out my camera she will stop smiling and making noises. I guess they are only for her mommies.

We have a vintage Mickey Mouse art piece hanging in her room. It's the only object she will smile at and "talk" and coo at. She's done it since she started smiling at 3 weeks old.

[MeganWoods]

My little one has been staring at chakra designs since I can remember. We have a few chakra banners in our place, and she loves to stare and smile at them. It always helps to calm her down when she's upset. I realized recently that she was born almost directly in front of one of our chakra banners (unintentionally) and I'm wondering if she might have been looking over my shoulder when she was first on my chest....

We theorize that she'll be an intuitive or a healer.... 

[aphel]

Water is her thing. In a cup, in the tub, in a pan, the shower . . . . She loves to touch it, lick it, drink it, splash in it . . . .

There is literally water dripping from the ceiling when she's done with bath time. Good gosh, the cuteness.

[SilverFish]

wow, this is hands down the cutest thread ever.

my dd seems to change her "thing" weekly. this week, "talking". it is too funny. about a week ago, i made a sound in front of her, like a "blah blah blah" sound, with my tongue flicking in and out. she was completely fascinated, and immediately copied it, even though she doesn't usually copy much. well, within a few days, she had taken this new sound and created a whole language out of it, and now ALL she does ALL day is "blah blah blah" to herself, and everyone around... she sounds like the adults in charlie brown.

what makes it cuter is that she is usually a very quiet and reserved kid. she is very shy around anyone but her dad and i, and only smiles at people occasionally when i'm wearing her... i guess she figures it's safe? but this week, it is just non-stop chatter to everyone around. i really love it, as i'm a very outgoing person myself.

[Laurski]

I agree, a super cute thread!

My absolute favorite, which she just started to do about a week ago, but I didn't fully realize what she was doing until a day or two ago: give kisses.  She'll open her mouth and move it back and forth across my nose.  At first I just thought it was because she was hungry, but it's now the first thing she does when I pick her up from daycare, and when I ask her to give me a kiss, she does it.  It is too wonderful for words. 

Other things Ellie loves:

- Her jumper.  She smiles and laughs like crazy when she's in there.  And jumps like a tiny fiend.

- Our dog.  She loves to look at him, loves to pet him, loves to be sniffed by him.  Makes her laugh like crazy.

- A picture of a pelican DH & I took on our honeymoon.  When she was a newborn, it was one of the few things she would look at that would make her stop crying; it still makes her smile.

Oh, and when our Royal Miss is not pleased with her circumstances?  She blows raspberries. 

[MaerynPearl]

lol Mae is all about raspberries too... and she loves our kitty... she screams and tries to get her. She hates animal videos but loves real animals. go figure.

she also picks on daddy, when we are in our Skype calls she will give me kiss after kiss... grabbing my face and giving me long kisses... just because daddy responds with "aww I want kisses from you and mommy!"

[kythryne]

My 11 wwek old son is fascinated by ceilings. We think he may be the only person in the world who actually appreciates popcorn ceilings! And when he's lying in bed in the morning, he chatters and flirts with the ceiling and then gets mad after a few minutes and starts yelling at it. We think he's mad because it won't come down and play with him.

He also gets a huge kick out of being naked. I've tried explaining that nudism isn't a practical lifestyle in New England, but he's not buying it. I dread the day when he figures out how to unsnap his diapers.

[newmamalizzy]

These are giggle-out-loud awesome.  Thank you so much for all of your responses!!!  Reading them made me remember one more thing:  How I used to be able to get DD to laugh if I said "Piggledy wiggledy" even if she was in the worst mood ever.  She found "-uke" words funny, too, but nothing compared to the hilarity of piggledy wiggledy.

[OvenSeeksBun]

Originally Posted by kythryne 

He also gets a huge kick out of being naked. I've tried explaining that nudism isn't a practical lifestyle in New England, but he's not buying it. I dread the day when he figures out how to unsnap his diapers.