3V0126.01 Nursing: socialization and vocalizations; “owl cup” fascination 05/28/78

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This morning Peggy had her hand caught in her sleeve so that the thumb was hooked under the edge. She was happily sucking both thumb and material. When I freed her hand, she put her thumb and index finger back in her mouth. She did not try to reestablish her thumb and index finger back in her mouth, but she seemed not quite so satisfied with the new arrangement. However, she was going to be fed for the first time in the morning, so she had other things on her mind also. (Sometime, particularly in the morning, she gives soft little cries of delight and anticipation as I prepare to feed her. And more often, she cries with frustration when I am slow unhooking the bra and she has to wait.)

Since she was about 2 months, Peggy has tended to socialize while feeding. She will nurse from one breast, then be sociable, with smiles and even games, before returning to the other breast. She actively resists attemots to have her nurse both sides before playing. When she is ready to resume nursing, she turns her head towards me and begins to stare at the breat, sometimes even leaning towards it. This morning I Was wearing a short nightgown without a front opening, so to feed Peggy I had to ppull it up. Peggy likes to hold the folds while nursing and tries to put the material in her mouth afterwards. This time, she had nursed for a while then stopped to socialize. The nightgown was allowed to slide back down to my lap. A few minutes later, Peggy turned to me and pulled at the neck of the nightgown. Before I could respond, she reached down a bit to some of the folds of the nightgown and began to pull up. I helped her by hiking p the gown, and she resumed nursing. When nursing, she massages with her upper hand, going round and round in small circles or making plucking motions. Sometimes she clings to the bra-strap that goes across the top of the breast, and even snaps it by means of that plucking motion (reminding me of that adolescent pasttime of snapping the back bra strap).

Rereading the entry for 3/17 to check on something, I ran across the notation of PEggy’s rolling over 9front to b ack). I am convinced that that was an accident, or artifact, not at all under control. She rollled over because she was doing a kind of pushup with her hands unevenly placed and she overbalanced. She lacked the skill (experience) or strength to prevent falling. I h ave not seen her try to roll over like this deliberately, but I have seen her apparently try to roll from back to front, or at least practice the preliminary motions. That is, she turns her head to one side, tipping it back and arcing her body, while she reaches baack with her feet to push off.

I have an “owl cup,” a white mug with a handsome brown and white owl or each side. Peggy seems to be fascinated bby it, staring to such an extentn that Bob has remarked more than once that I had better use a different cup. Last night I sat on the couch with the cup on the speaker at my left. When I came to nurse Peggy n the left side, she kept breaking off and arcing her neck aroundn looking in the direction of the cup. I finally moved it out of her sight, but she persisted in looking around – either for the cup or something else unguessed. eventually I finished feeding her in another chair. (I may have been feeding her too early, so that her initial interest quickly ended.)
G.