Leap 3: smoother movements and getting chatty

Leap 3 followed the same pattern for Luke as leap 1 and leap 2 did, arriving about a week later than WW predicts. I’m glad my little guy is consistent! We are learning that our little one is a relatively easygoing baby. He generally only fusses when he needs to go to sleep or when he’s hungry. Otherwise, he is a happy, giggly, chatty little boy. We call him “smiley” because he is so generous with his gummy grin.

Noticing Changes

Because his temperament is pretty easy, the Three C’s are quite noticeable with Luke. So, when he started crying more often, and taking much longer to settle at naptime, we checked the dates. Sure enough, Leap 3 had arrived right on cue.

The chatty little boy who emerged from Leap 2 seemed to fade away almost overnight. He became much quieter and less vocal, and all the fun sounds and chit-chat had stopped. Instead of wanting to face us and talk, he wanted to snuggle up and put his head on our shoulders or chest. He was also much more difficult to get down to sleep at naps and bedtime, taking much longer than usual to settle and fall asleep.

Smooth Transitions

Around 9 days later, the fussiness had settled and we noticed some changes in Luke’s behaviour. The main thing that we saw was how much more confident he seemed to be when moving his hands. While his movements before were clearly deliberate, they were still quite jerky. Now they seem smoother, and he’s able to get his hands to his mouth much faster. He also grabs toys with both of his hands, as long as they are within easy reach. His favourite is one with sticks connected by elastics with bells. There are places to grab, make noise and chew on!

He definitely seems to have better control over his body – his head turns smoothly when he hears an interesting sound, usually made by his big brother. His eyes and head follow Issac around, and when big brother goes behind him, he strains his head backward to keep watch.

Did you know that we have another 400 leap skills in addition to these for you to discover in our app? 

More Babbling

Our biggest cue that we were coming out of the stormy period was that our chatty little boy was back. He seems to have learned to make more sounds and he is even more talkative. He can go from one sound to another, and he apparently really likes to hear himself talk. 

He’s become especially chatty after finishing eating. He lays there and “talks” to me, occasionally inserting the bubbles he’s figured out how to blow. He also began doing that while we were driving, entertaining himself in his car seat.

After The Leap

This leap was a more difficult one to notice the changes, we had to be extra observant to note the differences in Luke’s movements. His vocalizations were obvious, but the physical changes might not have been immediately noticeable if we hadn’t known what to look for and understood what was going on. The big changes for Luke definitely focused on the sounds he makes and his body control. Some of the other changes that some babies show, such as grabbing and examining different objects, aren’t tendencies that he’s exhibiting yet. His interest and skills so far seem to be focusing on the physical – grabbing, pushing to stand, and making noise – rather than the observational.

He definitely seems more like a little person now, especially with his ability to “talk” to us. We’re fortunate that his temperament makes it easy to notice when changes are occurring, but even more fortunate to know what to look for. We know from our experience with Issac that the next one is a big one, so we’re looking forward to more changes that we’ll see in our little guy and dreading the challenges that come with it.