Here are some of the milestones my genius offspring has hit up to and in her 6th week of life:

- Batting at objects :  she is way ahead of the game for this milestone.  She actively looks at, interacts with (smiles at, flirts with) and occasionally bats at the dangly toys on her jungle gym play mat.

- Focusing and tracking movement of people / objects with eyes.

- Cooing : this one is amazing.  She coos a lot first thing in the morning along with smiling and pulling flirty faces, and when she is playing on her jungle mat.  I try to spur her on by mimicking her coos. Over the last couple of days I have encouraged her coos by saying “Oh” repeatedly and a few times I have gotten a perfectly pronounced, unmistakable “Oh” back from her!  I was astonished the first time I heard it, but she repeated again on numerous occasions and there was no mistaking it!  Verbal mimicry is an early sign that an infant may be a gifted child.

-Smiling.

-Hands are open most of the time : Again, this milestone is, on average, a couple weeks down the line but Maddie has already hit it.  “Hands open” describes her hands have relaxed from the typical closed fist most of the time during her waking hours.  She is able to grasp at will, and has moderate control over the instinctual reflex of grabbing onto anything touching her palm.  Also in the same respect, she is able to let go of objects grasped, again a sign of overcoming the reflex.

-Grasps objects placed in hands. Can release at will.

-Lifts head up when on tummy and can hold in place for several seconds.  Can also freely turn head side to side when prone.

-Shows greater control over head when held to the shoulder and, when sat upright, can maintain control over neck and head for extended periods of time.

- Turns toward light and noise sources.

- Exceptionally alert and attentive during waking hours.

And most of all, she is just an adorable, loving, happy baby!  She is still operating on a wonderful sleep schedule: in bed at 11pm, feed at 5am, feed at 9am… and never breaks it.  Oddly enough, she set the schedule herself.  In her first two weeks she also had a 2am feed but quickly dropped it from the schedule that still persists today.

I’m slowly building up her very own book collection.  I plan on stimulating and encouraging her intellectual growth as much as possible.  With Mark as a maths major and myself going for a science degree, I hope we will inspire a love for learning in this little one!