Hand Eye Coordination

When I was growing up we had the original Nintendo. I was the QUEEN of the game Dr. Mario. It's kind of like Tetris. There are little colored viruses on the screen and you line up the right color pill to make them disappear. You could play against someone and my dad and I would always play. We played for a dime a game and kept a tally for a few months until I finally made him pay up. It was rare that he had more than a couple of hash marks on HIS side of the paper! In fact, he probably hasn't yet retired because of all the money he gave away in those days. Ha! :)

Because of that game I feel like I had pretty good hand eye coordination back in those days. I think Kaelyn is taking after me. Maybe someday she'll beat ME in Dr. Mario! If anyone has an old fashioned Nintendo these days!

Here's what leads me to believe Kaelyn has such good hand eye coordination at the age of 6 1/2 months. For the last month or so she has been fascinated with sticking her finger in things. Small things that her finger JUST fits in. I first noticed this when she began concentrating on my hospital mug. It's a big insulated mug with a straw and lid that they kept full of water when I was in the hospital for her birth. Since then I have continued to keep it full of ice and water and pretty much take it with me wherever I go. Kaelyn has always liked the mug since she became aware of things like that, but lately the interest has intensified. She'll grab the straw and I think 'oo, she's going to try and suck on it like she always sees me doing' but no, that's not her intention. She gets this look of serious concentration on her face. Sometimes she'll even stick her lip out and furrow her brow. One hand steadies the straw, the other hand sticks out the index finger and goes for it! Once she has her finger firmly placed in the straw she pops it back out and looks at me like, look what I did! Then the look of concentration returns and the process repeats. Occasionally she'll bore of one hand and let the OTHER hand have a go at the straw. This can last for quite sometime.

Whenever we run out of games to play I think, huh, we haven't gotten out my hospital mug in awhile... Whenever I'm thirsty and TRY to take a drink I often get the straw yanked out of my mouth so she can stick her finger in it. I've created a monster! Since this seems so entertaining to her I've watched for other things with holes that she can stick her finger in! I got a small My Little Pony in a Happy meal the other day (yes I eat happy meals, what do you do!) and it has the perfect sized holes in the bottom of its feet. She could care less about the pony. You're supposed to comb its hair. All she wants to do is stick her finger in the hole of the feet.

And I've also discovered that most toys with batteries have screws in them and that means a screw sized hold. Once I showed her that, oh boy, who cares that the toy makes noise and lights up, let me put my finger in that screw hole!!

At church on Sunday my husband had to count the offering money after so Kaelyn and I had some extra time to kill. She didn't seem to be into playing with the few toys I brought so I sat her on the floor by her carseat...and then I saw it! The side of the carseat has a hole that shows either green or red depending on whether the handle is up or down. But the hole was JUST the right size! Once I put MY finger in it, Kaelyn was happily entertained for the next 20 minutes. Cheap and easy entertainment, I might add.

The most amusing hole she has found happens to have been at 4:45 in the morning. She was having a good night and it was her FIRST time up. She was starving so she ate like gangbusters and that must have given her a second wind because she got that cute look on her face and would NOT close her eyes again. When she's awake and happy and nursing she'll often reach up and play with my face. Touch my hair, grab my cheek, that sort of thing. However, at 4:45 that morning after she was done eating, she had other intentions. Oo, a hole! She thought as she looked up at me. And yes, you guessed it, inserted her finger into my nostril. What am I to do about that? It's 4:45am, I'm rocking the chair, trying not to interact when her too much because I desperately want her to go back to sleep so I can go back to bed myself and she sticks her finger in my nose! Intentionally! And repeatedly! I just kept turning my head away but I could see her out of the corner of my eye...that look of concentration, the lip out, the furrowed brow. She wasn't done. She had a goal in sight and the goal was my nose and her finger, joined as one. Ugh.

She did eventually go back to sleep an hour later. She hasn't paid any attention to my nose since. I guess I've been trying to keep other perfect sized holes in her view so she won't!

I think it's a good sign that she has such good hand eye coordination and can be so easily entertained at times. I just hope she doesn't soon discover her OWN nose and REALLY enjoy herself!