We figured out that that Daniel likes his play gym last week when Grandma was visiting. I'd been a little confused by the play gym before that because I thought you were supposed to just put the baby under it and then he would take it from there. But not so! Grandma put him under it, and then began gently wiggling the arcs over the baby, so that the toys suspended from the arcs began to bounce around, and the rattles on the gym made rattling noises. Daniel was enthralled, and stared, smiled, and cooed for stretches of about ten minutes at a time.

So, yesterday, I learned how to step it up a little, and the wonderful world of playing with babies is open to me now! I've been reading this really cool book called Baby Minds: Brain-Building Games Your Baby Will Love by Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn,  and on Tuesday night I discovered games that the Daniel can actually play along with, at the ripe old age of TWO MONTHS! I put Daniel under his play gym, and then waited. I didn't wiggle the arcs. Then, when he kicked his feet, I wiggled the arcs. When his foot stopped moving, I stopped wiggling. I wondered if he'd figure it out. (The book said he would, and that it would be great fun for him.) The baby in Baby Minds took about five minutes to figure out the game the mom had set up for her, but little Daniel only needed about 40 seconds. He wrinkled his brow, looked ponderously at the arcs, and then began to kick his feet. First he tried one foot, then the other, then both together, and soon he was having a merry ole' time. He looked with perfect concentration at the toys bouncing over him, occasionally paused to see them stop moving, and when they did, began his kicking again. It was marvelous! We continued the game for about 15 minutes, till his eyes started to droop. Then, last night I thought I'd see if this had been real (a two month old doing problem solving). I put him back under the play gym, but this time, I thought I'd change the rules. This time, I only wiggled the arcs when he kicked his right foot. Sure enough, he tested each foot individually, then together, and only when the right foot was moving did I wiggle the arcs. When the arcs didn't move for his left foot, he stuck out his tongue and looked perplexed, and even a little annoyed, then we were off to the races. He tried his right foot once (wiggle), then again (wiggle), and you could seek the expression in his eyes, "Eureka! I've figured it out!" And so he played. He did the right foot slow, then fast, then both feet together, all getting wiggles. I wiggled it fast when he kicked fast, and slow when he kicked slow. He was having a ball! Then I goofed a little. I thought I might try changing the rules again when he had figured out the game. I thought he would enjoy solving the new puzzle. So, I stopped wiggling the arcs for his right foot, and waited for him to try his left. I thought he would, but he didn't! Instead, he kept trying his right foot over and over, and after about 20 seconds of trying his right foot and it not working, he got mad! His little lip stuck out and his eyes looked tragic, and he let out this pitiful wail he makes when he's mad. He has hungry cries, wet cries, sleepy cries, and gassy cries: all distinguishable from each other. Then, there's the "no fair!" cry. We don't hear that one a lot, but he definitely wanted those little toys to dance when he kicked that right foot. There he'd been under his play gym, master of all he surveyed, literally! Then I'd stripped him of his power. No wonder he was mad. Mean Mommy! So I picked him up and comforted him, then put him back under the play gym, resolved to wiggle the arcs for any kick of any kind because he clearly wasn't happy. No dice. Then, Aunt Katie, who is visiting for the week (while Rhett and I train for our new jobs) picked up the Daniel's left foot and wiggled the arcs. He stopped crying. His eyes widened and he looked at the arcs, and Kick! went his left foot. Kick! Again, the left foot. He'd figured it out! Off to the races again. It was splendid. Baby can play!