Wonder Weeks

The next Wonder Week leap starts at 37 weeks. This leap is learning about categories (like "animal" or "food").

That means that she's scheduled to enter her fussy period about now; she's currently 33 weeks. It says that the babies "may seem cranky, whiny, fidgety, grumpy, bad-tempered, discontented, unmanagable, restless, or impatient." One of the mother quoted in the book calls her baby at this stage "my little leech." This sounds pretty much like TS at this point.

15-19 Wonder Week

We're finally out of this (bigtime) developmental leap. During this one, she learned to perceive events in sequences. That means she can do things that require more than one action. She can also understand the different actions or events involved in activities.

BODY CONTROL

• Starts moving virtually every part of her body as soon as she is put on the floor. (she's always been an excellent wiggler)
• Rolls over from his back onto her tummy.
• Rolls over from his tummy onto her back. (I think she can do this, but she doesn't do it nearly as often as from back to tummy)
• Is able to fully stretch his arms when lying on her tummy.
• Lifts her bottom and attempts to push off; does not succeed.
• Raises himself onto her hands and feet when lying on her tummy, then tries to move forward; does not succeed.
• Attempts to crawl; manages to slide forward and backward. (often turns herself in a circle)
• Supports herself with forearms, and raises upper half of her body.
• Sits up straight (all by herself) when leaning against you.
• Attempts to sit up straight when she's by herself and briefly succeeds by leaning on her forearms and bringing her head forward.
• Remains upright in high chair with cushions for support.
• Enjoys moving her mouth - puckers her lips in a variety of ways, sticks her tongue out.

GRABBING, TOUCHING, AND FEELING

• Succeeds in grabbing objects.
• Grabs things with either hand.
• Is able to grab an object with either hand if it comes into contact with the object, even if she is not looking at it. (I think she can do this)
•  Is able to pass objects between hands.
• Sticks your hand in her mouth.
• Touches or sticks her hands in your mouth as you talk.
• Sticks objects in his mouth to feel and bite them. (EVERYTHING)
• Is able to pull a cloth from his face by himself, slowly at first.
• Recognizes a toy or other familiar object, even if it is partially covered by something; will soon give up unsuccessful attempts to retrieve the toy.
• Tries shaking a plaything.
• Tries banging a plaything on a tabletop. (on her highchair tray)
• Deliberately throws a plaything on the floor.
• Tries grabbing things just out of reach.
• Tries to play with an activity center.
• Understands the purpose of a particular toy; for example, he will dial his toy telephone.
• Studies objects closely; he is especially interested in minute details of toys, hands, and mouths.

WATCHING

• Stares in fascination at repetitive activities, such as jumping up and down, slicing bread, or brushing hair.
• Stares in fascination at the movements of your lips and tongue when you are talking.
• Searches for you and is able to turn around to do this.
• Looks for a plaything that is partially hidden.
• Reacts to his own reflection in mirror; he is either scared or laughs.
• Holds a book in her hands and stares at pictures.

LISTENING

• Listens intently to sounds coming from your lips.
• Responds to her own name.
• Is now able to distinguish one particular sound in a medley of different sounds, so responds to his own name even if there are background noises.
• Genuinely understands one or more words; for example, he looks at his teddy bear if asked "Where's your teddy bear?" (won't respond correctly if the toy is not in its usual place)
• Will respond appropriately to an approving or scolding voice.
• Recognizes the opening bars of a song.

TALKING

• Makes new sounds, using her lips and tongue: ffft-ffft-ffft, vvvvv, zzzzz, sssss, brrrr, arrr, rrr, grrrr, prrrr. This rrr is known as the "lip r." Your baby may particularly like to do this with food in her mouth!
• Uses consonants: d, b, l, m
• Babbles. Utters first "words": mommom, dada, abba, hadahada, baba, tata
• Makes noises when yawning and is aware of these noises.

BODY LANGUAGE

• Stetches her arms out to be picked up.
• Smacks her lips when hungry; waves arms and legs.
• Opens his mouth and moves his face towards food and drink.
• "Spits" when she's had enough to eat.
• Pushes the bottle or breast away when she has had enough.
• Turns away from the feeding of her own accord when full.

OTHER SKILLS

• May exaggerate his actions; for example, when you respond to his coughing, he will cough again, then laugh.
• Gets grumpy when becoming impatient.
• Screams if he fails to do what she seems to be trying to do.
• Has one special cuddly toy, such as a blanket.

Wonder Weeks (12 weeks)

I'm pretty sure that we're through our 12 week developmental leap. Like the last one, I think she was about a week late. She's 14 weeks old and I think that she just finished it a couple of days ago. Here's what was supposed to happen (with the things that I've observed bolded).

BODY CONTROL

• Barely needs support to keep his head upright
• Smooth head movement when turning to one side
• Smooth eye movement when following a moving object
• Is generally more lively and energetic
• Playfully lifts her bottom when her diaper is being changed
• Rolls independently from back to stomach (or vice versa) while holding on to your fingers (we haven't tried this yet)
• Sticks his toes in his mouth and twists around (I'm not sure she can reach her toes)
• Sits up straight when leaning against you
• Pulls herself into a sitting position while holding onto your fingers
• Is able to move into a standing position when seated on your lap by holding on to two of your fingers
• Uses both feet to push off when seated in a bouncing chair or lying in a playpen (she'll push off our hands when laying on her stomach)

HAND CONTROL

• Grabs and clutches at objects with both hands
• Shakes a rattle once or twice
• Studies and plays with your hands
• Studies and touches your face, eyes, mouth, and hair
• Studies and plays with your clothes
• Puts everything into her mouth
• Strokes her head, from neck to eyes
• Rubs a toy along her head or cheek (especially her taggie blanket)

LISTENING AND TALKING

• Discovers shrieking and gurgling; can easily shift between loud and soft tones, low notes and high ones
• Produces new sounds that resemble the vowels of real speech: ee, ooh, ehh, oh, aah, ay
• Uses these sounds to "chat"
• Is able to blow saliva bubbles, and laughs as if she finds this very amusing

LOOKING AND SEEING

• Turns hands over, studies both sides
• Studies her own moving feet
• Studies a face, eyes, mouth, and hair
• Studies someone's clothing

OTHER SKILLS

• Expresses enjoyment by watching, looking, listening, grabbing, or by "talking", then waiting for your response
• Uses different behavior with different people
• Expresses boredom if she sees, hears, tastes, feels, or does the same things too often; variety suddenly becomes important

Wonder Weeks - 12 week jump

I think Sterling is going through her 12 week mental development jump. She's been much crankier than usual, is totally refusing to nap unless she's nursing, and also refuses to be put down. Awesome.

Wonder Weeks - Development

On the advice of one of my milk donors, I got a book called The Wonder Weeks. The premise of the book is that babies go through big periods of mental change at predictable times during their development. The first one is around 6 weeks, the second is around 8 weeks, the next is around 12 weeks.

The change around 8 weeks involves baby being able to recognize patterns in the world around him and in his body. As this change is taking place, baby gets cranky, cries a lot, and generally wants to be held ALL the time. The 8-week fussy period is apparently longer and more intense than the 6-week or the 12-week period.

I'm pretty sure we're going through one of these changes. This is probably the 8 week change, or (less likely) the 12 week change a little early. Sterling will be 10 weeks old on Friday. She's been unusually cranky, hasn't wanted to be set down very much (unless she's practicing her wiggling), and is way more high maintenance than she usually is. She also has been taking much more of an interest in what's going on around her.

Here's what she's probably doing developmentally. This is taken directly from the book, so I hope I'm not violating their copyright. Bolded items are things that I've observed her doing up until now.

BODY CONTROL - generally she seems to be very advanced in this category. She's been holding her head up fairly well for a while and she's been wiggling in a purposeful way on her mat for at least two weeks.

• holds head upright when very alert (she particularly does this when being carried in the wrap or when being burped)
• consciously turns head towards something interesting
• consciously rolls from side onto stomach
• consciously rolls from side onto back
• kicks legs and waves arms (she's an expert wiggler)
• kicks at plaything with jerking movements (her aim is getting better, too)
• allows herself to be pulled into a sitting position
• allows himself to be pulled into a standing position
• tries to lift head and body when lying facedown
• shows increased desire to sit
• is able to look left and right when lying on stomach
• makes faces

HAND CONTROL - I think this area is coming along right behind body control. When she wiggles, she's more adept at kicking at hanging toys than she is at batting them with her hands. However, she's getting much better at it with practice.

• swipes at toys
• attempts to grab objects within reach but does not succeed
• closes hand around objects within easy reach
• holds plaything and moves it jerkily up and down
• touches and feels objects while holding them

LOOKING AND SEEING - she likes to look at stuff, but I haven't observed most of these things. 

• discovers hands
• discovers feet
• discovers knees
• watches people moving or working
• is fascinated by children playing close by
• enjoys watching fast-moving images on TV
• watches pets eating or moving
• is fascinated by waving curtains
• discovers luminous object, such as a flickering candle (or lights)
• watches treetops outdoors and is particularly fascinated by movements such as rustling leaves (definitely - she was leaning way back in the wrap so she could look up at the trees when we went for a walk yesterday)
• looks at items on grocery store shelves
• looks at complex shapes and colors
• is fascinated by shiny things (she likes to look at herself in a mirror, I wonder if that's the same thing)
• enjoys watching people chewing food
• enjoys watching and listening to people talk
• watches facial gestures

LISTENING AND CHATTING - she's gotten very chatty recently. 

• enjoys listening to voices, singing, and high-pitched sounds
• makes short bursts of sound such as ah, uh, eh, mmm, and listens to self
• makes a series of sounds, mumbles, and gurgles as if telling a story
• repeats these sounds if encouraged
• sings along when you dance and sing with him
• chats to and smiles at cuddly toys
• consciously makes eh sounds to attract attention
• interrupts while others are talking

Babies apparently don't work on all of these things at once - they pick the things that are the most important to them. Based on this, I think she's working on gross motor skills, looking at people's faces, and talking to people. She hasn't discovered her hands yet, so she doesn't seem particularly interested in most of the tactile things. I started reading books to her every night and she listens intently, sometimes interjecting comments. She also looks at the pictures. She hasn't tried to reach out and grab the book at all yet. Hopefully she'll get over the fussy stage pretty soon. After the fussy stage is supposed to be a period of calm, happy baby time while she practices all her new skills.