Games Evie Plays

I'll admit, the newborn phase has always been intimidating to me, and not anything I have particularly looked forward to.  My thoughts on newborns have always been that they are too confusing.  You have to guess at what they want, you have to try to anticipate what they might need because they may not even realize it themselves (I'm thinking hunger after a long nap, and dirty diapers), and there are times that they just seem to be completely inconsolable.  Not only that, I've always thought that they just don't do anything other than sleep, eat, and cry.  I've always said I'd really like the post office to just deliver a 1 year old to my door so I could skip the newborn phase.

However, since having Evie, my dread of the newborn phase has subsided, and I find myself continuously surprised at how much more than sleeping, eating, and crying Evie does.  She enjoys tummy time (mostly) and is getting very good at moving her head around and doing push ups.  I attempted to capture some of her moves from Sunday in this video, and though she was done with tummy time I wanted to upload it because you can so clearly see the gorgeous grey eye color she's developed.

She also enjoys the stars on her bassinet (which Grammy so generously purchased).

And she and Daddy have a favorite game: Flying Baby.

Yesterday I was trying to get a burp out of her and developed another new game that she seemed to enjoy. I was reclining on the couch with my knees bent and Evie resting on my legs.  I moved her from a reclined position up to my face so that her feet stayed in the same place on my tummy, so she effectively went from a 120 degree angle to a 30 degree angle (geometry at work...).  And when she got to my face, I'd give her a little kiss on the cheek.  Then I moved her back to my legs.  Well, she loved that.  I actually got a smile from her.  So I did it again, adding a sound, of course, and after 2 or 3 times, she would start straightening her legs and pressing her feet down on my tummy, like she wanted to do it again.  We played that game for about half an hour and she was all smiles.  I wish I could have recorded it, but I didn't have enough hands.

So, I take back my previous statements about the newborn phase.  I have actually begun to figure out what Evie needs based on her cries, and she's had very few incidences where she's "inconsolable".  And she actually does quite a lot and it a lot of fun.  I still look forward to the next phase, where she's a bit more mobile and her vision is a bit more developed so we can interact even more, but I'm really enjoying seeing her grow and develop new skills and abilities.