The Smile
I’ve been having "conversations" lately with a month-old baby who lives nearby. I at first tried singing lullabies to him, but he’s too feisty to lie still and listen–he flails his arms, he kicks his legs, he burps, he poots, he poops.
I’ve found that this new baby likes to listen to me talk to him. I look right into his eyes and smile as I verbalize, and sometimes he coos back to me a little, trying in his own small way to join in the conversation.
He’s just starting to smile a little. Smiling is one of the very first social skills we learn and we learn how special it is when someone smiles back at us.
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