For the first time ever, Myron is no longer a mostly-unresponsive blob. He has come upon some important milestones the past few weeks.

First off, he has been smiling. I didn’t learn until becoming a parent that babies don’t really smile until about 6 weeks of age. The earlier things that looked like smiles are considered “reflex smiles” – mostly in response to gas. For the past couple of weeks, Myron has definitely been “social smiling” – he’ll make eye contact with Em or me or a friend or family member and then grin. These smiles are usually fleeting. He actually smiles quite a bit on the changing table now when we’re not actively changing his diaper.

Also, he is starting to find and suck his thumb – this is a project he’s been working on for about a week now, and he’s still figuring it out. His movements are still all jerky and puppet-on-a-string-like, but occasionally he’ll get a thumb in his mouth. Often it also involves face-palming since he doesn’t know what to do with the other fingers yet.

When Cioci Jeanne gave a toast at our wedding, she started by saying that she has known Em since before she could form memories. It made me wonder – when will Myron remember anything? And what are pre-verbal memories like?