My Brigid, my Bridie, my Brie, my Bess

The above is a chant I say to Brigid when I'm bouncing her up and down, telling her her names. The first is self-explanatory, the second is a traditional nickname for Brigid (St. Brigid is sometimes called St. Bride), the third pretty easy, and the fourth a nod to her second name and her initials. Other current nicknames are Turtle, Birdie, Turtle-Bird, and, from her dad, Girlie-Girl.

Tomorrow Brie will be four weeks old. In four weeks she's learned to smile, to hold her head up for long periods of time, to eat prodigiously, to roll over on slightly slanted surfaces, to recognize people (at least Adam and I, and, I suspect, her grandparents who live out here - and possibly her Aunt Laurel), and, just generally, to interact socially.

Yep, this is a very relational child. Food, sleep, and burping being taken care of, Brie's favorite position is up and alert, looking at the world and people around her. Her favorite game is mimicry: you stick out your tongue and she sticks out her tongue, you talk and she watches and moves her mouth, she makes a noise, you echo it, and she makes it again. She's very social, and interested in what she can see and hear. Laurel recently spend some time holding Brigid and singing to her, only to discover that it was a command performance, because Brie started crying whenever Laurel stopped singing.

The thing that rejoices my heart most, though, is her smiles. They aren't just gassy smiles, for you doubters out there, she has those too and we know the difference. Nope, these are, "oh my, my people!" smiles or, "you just did something I liked!" smiles. They're lurching, newbie, uncontrolled, irregular grins - like most of her movements, you sense that she's not in complete control of them yet, but by golly, she's going to get there. She makes effort after effort, and sometimes it comes out the way she wants it too.

And sometimes she can repeat it. I can tell she's learning about her world, and though most of it is still uncomprehensible, she's beginning to recognize patterns. For instance, when she was hungry, she used to cry and cry and cry until she was fed. Now her hungry cry stops when I pick her up, and she waits patiently (for a newborn) while I find a seat and a pillow to support her. She knows what my actions mean and is able to delay gratification - at least if I'm quick about it.

So, yeah, Adam and I are convinced we have a very bright little girl on our hands.

We also have a competent girl. Her main task at the moment is growing, and upon weighing her this morning (using the dad and baby on the scale, then just dad on the scale and subtract method), we found that she weighs nine and a half pounds. Two pounds since birth! She's even getting close to outgrowing the shirt we brought her home from the hospital in.

So all around, a good report this week.

Karate camp went well, although Adam and I found out that it's a lot harder to get enough sleep as new parents when you have to follow someone else's schedule. With scheduled meals and events, we weren't able to just sleep when Brie slept. Our sincere thanks to the Grandparents Barber and to Laurel for holding Brigid while we took naps. Really, truly sincere thanks.