So much to write about… or, “How to Teach Infants to Make Faces”

kate ♦ March 27, 2012 ♦ 1 Comment

There is so much to write about and I have so little focus for writing right now.  In the next week or so I want to blog about Oliver’s birth, recovery from birth, our time at home, and visits from family.

In the mean time, here’s a quick little story that involves Liz (my sister of the ¡Sopresa Proyecto! fame).  Excuse the poor writing, my brain is still in sleep-deprived mode.

My sister Liz came to visit last week.  She was here Monday evening through Saturday afternoon and we miss her already.  Oliver loved Liz and apparently she has left her mark on him – and no, he doesn’t have a tattoo like his aunt yet! Liz had mentioned some research she learned about on the Discovery channel (or TLC… or one of those educational stations) that showed you can teach infants to make a particular facial expression by repeating it in front of them.  In the study she had seen, the researcher in question was able to teach the newborn to stick out his tongue in a relatively short period of time.  Liz arrived on Monday night.  On Thursday I was changing Oliver and noticed he had his lips pursed in a perfect little “O” shape, as though he were whistling.  Later in the day he did it again. It wasn’t until the 3rd incident on Friday morning when I thought to ask Liz about it… “Liz, did you teach Oliver to purse his lips?”  Liz: “Is he doing it?!? I’ve been trying to teach him all week!”  So indeed, you can teach infants to make faces.  If you have a newborn and want to play a game, this is one they can play.  The best part (from my point of view, anyway) is that Oliver won’t do it for Liz, just other people.  So if you meet Oliver and he purses his lips for you, thank Liz.

Here’s the “O” just a moment after it happened… I still haven’t been fast enough to catch it in the moment.