July 31, 2000 - Monday
This is what babies do: they play with random objects. Plastic is good because he can bang on it as much as he wants and probably not hurt anything. Harry did something else yesterday that babies of his age commonly do during diaper changes.

Because of busyness lately, I haven't been changing Harry's diaper very much lately. His mother has mentioned his aggressive squirming during the procedure and how difficult it has become at times. Sure enough, at first Harry wasn't particularly interested in staying still. He threw in some of his tortured-sounding whining for effect, suggesting that, like his need to participate with his own eating, perhaps he is no longer content just to be "dealt with" on the changing table. We've read that sometimes letting the baby hold the fresh diaper gives them an active role in the process and makes things go a little smoother.

Yet, on this occasion Harry did not hold the fresh diaper. I boast at doing a fine job holding him steady whilst I performed the ritual, but that simply left Harry's reach limited to things closer to or, indeed, on his person. The inevitable occurred as Harry's wandering hands found something new to grab during the time that the old diaper was gone and before the new one had carefully enclosed his lower torso once more. And, like anything new in his hands, Harry squeezed a little and then yanked a little in what surely would have become the full arm wave where it not for the resistance of attachment. His arm didn't move far, and then, with the usual infant processing delay of what was likely much more surprise than pain, a somewhat studious look came over his face, as well as a secession of squirming. This was clearly a new puzzle for Harry to work through and one, if all goes according to standard baby development recipes, will require more investigation on his part. There's a whole new world out there of things to discover and this is certainly part of it.


Comments, opinions?