As expected, Roxi is living up to her spunky name. She shows more of her personality every day, and it's hard to keep up with all her new tricks.
Oral fixations. Babies explore everything with their mouths. I've been told this many times and now I get it. Everything in Roxi's world is on its way to her mouth - toys, furniture, clothes, cats, whatever. She has recently discovered the joys of her vibrating teether. It's a Winnie the Pooh beehive that buzzes when she chomps on it with the proper force and placement. The expression on her face the first time she successfully made it vibrate ... too hysterical for words. Roxi has also become a drool monster. Slobber everywhere, man. All of the above are signs of teething, but Rob and I haven't felt any yet. It would be pretty early - the average age for the first tooth is 7 months - and I understand that teething symptoms can start 2-3 months before the teeth actually break through the skin.
Motor skills. Roxi can roll from her back to her stomach now ... and does so constantly. She's been accidentally rolling from her stomach to her back for a while now. She still hasn't figured out how to pull that maneuver on purpose though, so she gets stuck on her tummy from time to time. I was awakened by rhythmic grunting at 3 a.m. the other night, for example. Roxi had somehow busted out of her foam sleeping triangles, flipped herself over and gotten stuck. I found her on the opposite side of the crib from where she started. A sign of things to come, methinks!
Roxi has also developed a very targeted kung fu grip. She can grab just about anything, and let me tell ya, it's no easy feat to get her to let go. I'm going to have to get a buzz cut, and Rob's glasses have been close to disaster more than once. The cats have learned to give Roxi a 2-foot buffer zone - except for Teton, who apparently doesn't mind having his fur grabbed.
Bright eyes. The Roxster had her first eye exam a couple weeks ago. Seems early, huh? But our eye doc routinely does infant examinations to catch problems early. There weren't any. Roxi passed all the tests with flying colors and was impressively tolerant of all the various lights being beamed into her eyeballs. Her vision is good, and her eyes are working together, tracking well and sending the proper information to her brain. Barring any trouble, she won't go back for another exam until she's 3. Since both Rob and I are blind as bats, we fully expect glasses and/or contacts in Roxi's future. But my brother somehow escaped his inevitable genetics with perfect vision so I suppose there's some hope for the girl.
Data processing. Every detail, texture, sound, action, smell and taste is a vitally important piece of information. This is the impression I get when I watch Roxi. She studies everything. We took a stroll to the farm down the street yesterday; she stared and stared and stared at those animals. The chickens were especially fascinating to her.
Roxi will be 5 months old tomorrow. Perhaps we will celebrate by torturing her with her first taste of green beans.