Big on delight

I don't remember when Isaac first laughed. I wasn't blogging then, I guess. I do remember he always seemed to have a big grin, but even so, I don't think he laughed as early as Laurel. Her real laughs began right after she turned three months old, although she had been making chuckles and chortles for a while before that.

At first she only laughed when she was tickled, but a week or two after that she began laughing in response to funny noises we made. Speaking of funny noises, around the same time she also began to make a lot of them herself. She cooed, squealed, gurgled, and blew raspberries complete with spit bubbles. Most of these noises signified pleasure, and often expressed actual delight. However, she also began to make an obvious noise of discontent, kind of a Marge Simpson grunt, which I found to be a great relief -- I was afraid she was never going to tell me when she needed something.

But that was more than a month ago, a long time in baby development. In another two weeks Laurel will be five months old! What has she done lately?

Well, just last night Laurel started making a shriek of delight. It isn't piercingly loud, because nothing she does is very loud, including the polite little noises that pass for crying, but it is distinctly a shriek. She sounds like a little rock and roll singer. Yow! Woo! Yeah!

We think this noise is adorable, and we are excited by her developing ability to communicate, but she is absolutely and positively thrilled by it. You can see it on her face: "Did I make that noise? I did!" Then she is so delighted that she shrieks again.

She also gives a shiver of delight when she sees someone she likes. It's a full-body wiggle, starting at the toes, accompanied by a huge smile. If she were a dog, she'd be one of those dogs that wag their tails so forcefully that their rear legs lift off the ground.

And she always wakes up cheerful, even though she must be hungry because she has gone all night without nursing. She often tosses and turns fretfully right before waking, but she is happy once she's actually awake. And when she notices me smiling down at her, she gives me a delighted grin.

She's big on delight, I guess.