Friday, February 10, 2006

face to face

face to face
face to face,
originally uploaded by Temmerling.
Julia's been doing this thing where as she falls asleep she reaches her hand out and when her little fist hits a face she opens her hand up and pets the face a little bit and then rests her palm on the face until she falls asleep and the little hand slips down. Sometimes she'll start fussing without coming completely awake, and do the hand thing, and the moment she rests her hand on my face she relaxes and falls back into a peaceful sleep.

We were over at Mom and Dad's so Dad could do our taxes. Mom was witnessing this behavior and I explained that we feel this is the way Julia reassures herself that we are still here even though her eyes are closed -- we take it as a sign that she is deeply bonded to us and that she is developing object permanence. She knows us by the feel of our faces -- she doesn't let her hand linger on others' faces when she's sleeping in someone else's arms -- she wakes up and cries. I also had my hand cupping Julia's face as she was drifting to sleep -- this is one of the easiest ways for us to get her to relax and fall asleep. Even if we're not holding her, we can place our hand on the side of her face and she will quiet. we discovered this trick when thinking about how when she was in the womb the ultrasound technicians always had a difficult time getting pictures of her face because she kept it pressed into the placenta. We figured that having her face cushioned and caressed was something innately comforting to her and tried that ourselves and found it to be true.

My mom sat there quietly for a moment and then said: You two are such great parents. You're doing such a good job with her, she is obviously a very happy and secure baby.

At the end of the day, I still want my parents' approval. I'm glad that I have it.

Posted by Trista @ 8:58 AM