June 27, 2000 - Tuesday
A few weeks ago we decided that Harry was getting too big for the bouncy seat and started putting him in a swing seat - a hand-me-down from the same friends who gave us the bouncy seat - for meals and other occasions when we just need to park him temporarily. The seat has an electric motor that swings the chair at three different speeds. It also has a computer chip that plays "music" like the kind you'll hear from a novelty birthday card. We never use the "music" button.

I think Harry likes the swinging all right, but a few days ago he started stopping the swing in mid motion. Regardless of the speed setting, he'll reach out and grab one of the support poles - interestingly, perhaps, he always grabs the one to his left front, sparking intrigue about his future dominant hand - and hold on to stop the swinging. It's hard to know what Harry's thinking when he does this, though I tend to assume it's just that baby grab reflex and he's discovered that the pole is within his reach. It seems a little unlikely, but it's more interesting to think that Harry is learning to control his environment and he's now deciding that he'll swing only when he wants to swing.


Comments, opinions?