smiles and snow

Tuesday was Sonia's first snow day. It snowed during the night. But, they didn't close school. So, we walked Isaac to school anyway, then came back and enjoyed some sleepy time. 

 Then, when Sonia was awake, she spat up a little bit. I dabbed her mouth with our little spit up rag, and she smiled at me! I tried it again, and she smiled again! It was so cute, I of course kept doing it so she could keep smiling with her little toothless grin (for the record, the picture below is not actually one of the first smile, but is is a few hours before and it almost looks like she is practicing for the first real one). 

Then I realized maybe she was just trying to eat the washcloth - her eyes are kind of smily anyway. But, she smiled again later when we were just looking at each other - and smiled multiple times. So, I concluded that it was an emerging skill and that those really were smiles, even if they didn't happen every single time I smiled at her. 

Papa still doesn't believe me that she is trying to smile. I guess I will have to get a picture of it. I think he will see it soon. He just has to catch her in the right mood. If she is asleep (80% of the time), or upset when she is awake, then she won't smile. 

It's so fun! It feels like the very first milestone, even though I know she has already met a bunch of milestones. This one is just the most gratifying one of the early ones. Maybe the most gratifying of all of them. It is so nice to have your baby smile at you. Another funny thing she is doing lately is yelling. All of a sudden she will make a really loud vowel sound: "AAH!" It is also cute.