twenty-eight weeks new

You were such an incredibly happy baby.

You smiled at everyone

with your big beaming grin that lit up your face.

And now that you had worked out

that smiling at people

got you more smiles back in return,

you were constantly seeking out people

and trying to make eye contact with them,

just so you could smile at them

and so they would smile in return.

You were fantastic at sitting up now

and could sit really balanced for far longer expanses of time.

You would reach for toys without toppling over

and follow us with your eyes as we moved around.

You were also developing into a bit of a square eyes

and enjoyed looking at the television

and watching the moving pictures,

especially anything with songs and music in.

Probably your best new skill so far

was that you had really started to lean in for cuddles now.

When we lifted you up and held you near

you would push your whole body up really close

and lean your head into our necks.

It was so lovely to think that you wanted our affection

as much as we wanted to give it.

And you would even shout loudly sometimes

just so we would pick you up for a cuddle,

and then you would smile happily,

before contentedly going back to playing on your play mat.

Your transformation into a true cheeky monkey had happened

because you could now stick your tongue out.

And that was a skill you seemed to like practising all the time.

You did it when you were smiling

which made you look decidedly cheeky,

but you also did it when you were playing

and it made you look like you were really concentrating

which we found that super cute . . .

. . . just like we found just about every other thing that you did!