Humour Development

Last week I returned back home after being away from the family for two and a half weeks. I'm not new to being away from home, since I spent half of the first four years with Flo on one drilling rig or another, stuck out in the middle of some sea or ocean. I found this pretty tough, but leaving our two week old daughter behind was particularly stressful, especially since I'm aware of how quick babies grow and develop in these first few weeks... I was leaving knowing that I'd miss observing many of our daughter's first experiences.

So, it was a strange experience being re-united with Beatrice last week. Of course, many things were familiar, but so much had changed. She was bigger and chubbier most notably, which is a good sign. In fact, she's growing exceptionally well putting on 250 grams per week and she's grown 3 cm since her birth five weeks ago. In many ways she was the same little girl I left two weeks ago, but there was also many unfamiliar things about her that it took me a bit of time to re-bond with her... after about an hour I was completely in love with her again.


Although Beatrice had started smiling before I left, it was more of an impulse, practice smile and not really triggered from her environment. This has certainly changed now though... once she's fed and feeling content, it's possible to sit her in your lap and spend about half an hour talking to her and making faces and being rewarded by not only big smiles, but full on laughs and giggles; you can see in the picture above that sometimes she laughs so hard it's tricky to get a photo of her! And sometimes you can leave her in her cot or basket and she'll lie there amusing herself, making pleasant little gurgles and giggles and laughing sounds... it's so sweet! In the photo below she's content staring at her mobile hanging above her cot.


It's not all rosy though, since it's almost alarming how quickly laughs and giggles can turn into cries! Beatrice is currently demanding a lot of attention, choosing to fight off sleep until she's exhausted herself (and her parents in the process) and she certainly prefers to sleep in her parent's arms than in her cot or basket. But the laughs and giggles and the increasing interaction more than compensates and I have to admit that her flatulence keeps me entertained... it certainly fills me with pride when she releases a real ripper of a fart, made even more amusing by the rolling of Flo's eyes.