Two Month Progress Report

Happy 2 months baby!!! I swear she's a different, more aware person every day. Sometimes I look her in the eyes and fully expect her to start talking..."Mommy, I'd like a pony..."
By the end of this month she has been doing the following:

• Using her hands deliberately. She was using the back of her wrist (instead of her claws) to rub her nose and eyes. And while she's eating, her fingers and hands dance around as if she were bored. She gets her hands into her mouth consistently..also hits Daddy in the face a lot while they are both sleeping. I don't know why I don't get hit more...
• Holding her head level. She is getting a lot more neck control.
• Focusing on Faces. It used to be that we really didn't think she saw faces at all. Beginning quite recently she has been looking at people who are holding her, but also people around the person holding her. Very new. One of Angela's friends was really surprised and elated that she smiled at him and stared intently at his face when she was being held by Angela. She also follows people with her eyes and can see a lot farther that before.
• Eyes and head darting around to see new things. In her active moments, she really does dart her head around. She may not know what anything is yet, but boy does she want to see them!
• Using fingers (and hands) to grab things in front of her. She isn't grabbing at objects like toys yet, but she is grabbing at fingers that are not placed in her hand and she often grabs my shirt (and unfortunately, my skin as well) with her fingers. Her fingers are getting more dexterity every day. She grabs her ear too.
• Emotional control. Okay, you can call me on this one...but today she was oddly calm when she stabbed herself in the eye with her own fingernail. Okay, so she was waiving her arms and her fingernail brushed into her eye. It began to tear up and her face got all red and she shut her eyes really really tight...but no crying at all. I was surprised because she was tired and a little fussy at the time. That's usually when babies start screaming at the smallest stuff. She went right on with her day like nothing had ever happened.
• Tummy time. I hate doing it because she hates it...and sometimes just lays there. But we must and sometimes she gets a lot done with her feet...and still not much with her neck and arms. Ah well, she'll get there.
• Cooing. This is the big one at the end of this month. When I leave her with my mom, they have long conversations...so when I get her back she'll talk to me too. At first it took some coaxing and the right mood, but now she's willing to talk to just about anyone who will listen. I swear they sound like real words, but of course they do. She's trying to mimic what we say. The crazy positions she gets those little lips into just make me laugh so hard. She is learning volume control and how to talk and breath at the same time and how to string as many vowels together as possible! Things she often says are:
• ah-ggggggggg (it's cute 'cause it sounds like growling and she flares her nostrils while she does it)
• oowwwaaooww
• squeals (this is fairly new)
• mmmm-ba
• mmmm-da
• mmm-ga