I’ve started to wonder, though, about what a baby may be thinking about after they wake up from that nap? More specifically, when they wake up to find themselves in a completely different place from where they were before!
Yesterday, Kaili fell asleep for a short nap after eating a few ounces of formula. I then packed her up gently and securely into her car seat and off we went for some grocery shopping. On the way to the first store, she woke up and cried some but then had the above expression. What was going through Kaili’s mind? Was it just shock from having woken up, or is it more confusion on how she got to where she is now? It must be startling to have fallen asleep in someone’s arms and be put down somewhere comfy and then to suddenly wake up in a moving vehicle strapped into a car seat!
Babies, frankly, are pretty helpless for a while after birth. They must be constantly tended to with feedings, diaper changes, interactions, and moving from one place to the next. They do have their own little ways of giving back to the parents and caretakers though. Whether it’s by holding their feet during diaper changes, by starting to crawl or roll over, or by starting to babble and make raspberries. Or, more simply, it could be just those little hands roaming across your skin playfully, or by flashing you a tiny post-feeding smile as if to say “Oh yeah – that food was soooo good. I’m happy and I want to say thanks with my cute smile!”
Love,
Daddy