Hot Head

Baby J can cry. She can say, "da da da da da." She can grunt and she can squeal. None of these noises are easily interpreted so finding out what she wants/needs at any given moment involves a lot of guessing and intuition. Often times, I have to rely on her nonverbal cues to figure out what's going on. Yawning is an easy cue for nap time but it can go unnoticed if she's shoving something into her mouth which she usually is. A more reliable sign that nap time is near is a hot head.

When Baby J is tired, her head becomes very hot to the touch and she gets so sweaty her hair curls up. To anyone else, it would look like my daughter is just warm but, to me, a sweaty head is a sure sign that sleep is in the near future. I'm pretty sure she'll outgrow this someday. After all, you don't see very many adults sweating profusely when they are tired. But for the time being, I'm glad the hot head lets me know what I should be doing.

Idiosyncratic qualities of a baby, once properly interpreted, can be just as clear as if she were talking to you directly.

Listening To: One Day I'll Be On Time by The Album Leaf