My name is Danielle. As leap 2 went rather well for us, we were really eager to get on with leap three, the last of the short leaps, before the bigger, more extensive leaps make their appearance. We were very curious to discover what Freya would have to offer again during this leap and whether we would experience an actual fussy phase this time.
Here comes the thumb!
Ever since the calendar informed us of the next leap coming up, I noticed that Freya wants to drink more than usual. She drinks more often and for shorter spells and insists on holding my hand while drinking. It’s time for the fussy phase: Suddenly she no longer wants her pacifier, her thumb is just so much better. During the ultrasound examinations, we already noticed that she often held her thumb close to her mouth, so this is obviously something that makes her safe and comfortable. As this same thumb still tends to shoot uncontrollably in all directions while she is sleeping, she wakes up more frequently. But she also goes back to sleep quite quickly. And then our fussy phase was over, and a few days later we began to notice her new skills.
Gotcha!
What started with guiding her thumb into her mouth quickly turned into wanting to put everything else into her mouth. Now that this switch has suddenly flipped, she increasingly tries to grab things. Whenever she succeeds, she bubbles with laughter and moves the item to her mouth – sometimes with a big detour – and drools all over it. We notice that she is getting much better at grasping things and that she also enjoys doing it. Sometimes we are the “thing” she tries to grab, so all of a sudden, you may find your lower lip or nose clamped firmly in her grip. We also notice that she is getting stronger!
Blowing bubbles and running commentary
In leap two, Freya already started chatting more and more, and now, in leap three, there seems to be no stopping her. All this chatting comes with it a lot of bubbling, and this is also something she greatly enjoys.
The sounds Freya makes were mostly the same at first, but now we notice that she is actually experimenting with different sounds and with the volume of her voice. Sometimes the sounds she makes are so loud that they startle her!
If Freya doesn’t like something, or if she doesn’t get the hang of something, she will voice her frustration by making sounds.
Belly surfing and flying
Before this leap, Freya was quite restless when she was lying on her stomach, and it often ended in tears. But at the end of leap two this seemed to change and suddenly it this phase was over and lying on her stomach is now actually very cool! It’s an entirely new perspective and she looks around with great surprise. Tears only well up when she is not yet able to roll onto her back, but we still help her with that, of course.
Because her neck is now much stronger, we can also let her “fly” and she greatly enjoys this game. She regularly rewards us with gurgles of laughter when we do it with her.
"Sometimes the sounds she makes are so loud that they startle her!"
Exploring
Because Freya’s visual skills are improving constantly, it is now also much easier for her to follow our movements and actions attentively, for example, when I am cooking. When she’s in bed with us, she studies us intently and loves to feel our hands and faces. She is also fascinated by her own hands – she looks at them from all sides and then puts them in her mouth. It’s wonderful to watch her exploring and experiencing her own world.
Short and sweet
Despite the fact that leap three came and went by very quickly, it was a significant leap in terms of development. Suddenly, your newborn baby is turning into a real human being, who is increasingly developing her own ideas about things!
We noticed that leap three is over and transitioning into leap four because Freya is suddenly very clingy and doesn’t want to lie down; she insists on sitting or lying with us. There are a still quite a few days to go until we reach the fussy phase of leap four, and we are wondering whether we will get to experience it this time around?
