Well now I have two babies to compare what "infant alertness" means to me. �My dd, to me, is kind of floppy. �I was thinking it was because she's so long, over 21". �But she's not really floppy. �Everyone seems surprised that at two weeks she's lifting her head to look around. �(she always could). �I keep getting comments on how strong she is. �I have to support her head in the in-between times. �I never had to hold ds' head. �I put her on her belly at a few days old. �It was hard for her to lift her head from there. �She couldn't push up on her arms, only her bottom. �Ds pushed up on all fours and easily lifted his head. �I would've known that was unusual if I thought about it, but I was to busy enjoying my baby to think about it. �My MIL pointed out how strange it was, is the only reason I thought to take a picture of him.
She does cross her eyes sometimes. She looks surprised if her hand crosses her line of sight. �She pulls her hair and cries about it, pulling harder, not knowing it's her own hand pulling her own hair. �Ds just already knew his own body better than that from the day he was born.
The first few days ds was more fascinated and interacting with the environment and the people around him. �He would turn and look directly at whoever was talking to him, curious, since just minutes after he was born. �She's more cat-like. �She'll hold eye contact for a little while whenever it suits her. �She's more fascinated in exploring her own body. �In the first few days she did a lot of rapid blinking and isolating and wriggling various body parts. �I guess it's what everybody's describing as sensory seeking. �She's aware of us. �She communicates. �She was two days old when she looked me in the eye and started clenching/unclenching her fist and wriggling her tongue as either sign language or charades for "I'm hungry". �But she's more on her own little trip and ds wanted to be where the action is and engage the people around him as a newborn. �And ds would scootch across the bed, up to a foot and a half away, as a newborn to nurse. �The girl makes sucking sounds, if that doesn't work she cries. �("if at first you don't succeed cry and cry again"). �
To me my pretty princess is just a little more delicate. �That's all the new stuff I had to add.
