It was a long, steady look. I felt as if my face were being scanned into a computer, probably not a bad analogy for what her brain was doing. Anyone who has ever really looked at a baby knows that they are hungry for learning very early on. Having once figured out the relationship between crying and being fed or held, they quickly move on to figure out what a smile is, and how to produce it. Their eyes follow their own waving hands, and they watch and concentrate until they discover how to control and manipulate them.
Every new discovery feeds the next one.
Their pride, when they achieve a landmark, is palpable. I remember how my own children, at about 6 months old, first sat up by themselves, rocking gently on their bottoms, beaming with delight over the new skill that allowed them to view the world vertically without outside help. First words, first steps, first drawings the fervor with which our young set out to learn grabs us around the heartstrings. We remember how it was to be young and full of the joy of learning, and it seems to us as we watch each infant that there has never been such beauty and brightness. Well, as I said, I m a fool for babies, any babies, although I confess to being particularly partial to the ones who call me Grandma.