The Receding Hairline Phase; Smile

This week, Allen is a few days short of being five weeks old.

He's no longer a newborn but is quickly becoming an infant, although I still try to squeeze him into newborn clothes. However, the 1 size diapers are still a bit too large on him.

The breaking point for me was on Sunday night, a week and a half ago, when I realized that his head finally went through the growth spurt I had been watching for. The growth spurt, which occurs around that time, when the infant's forhead grows pushing the hairline back to the middle of the head, making the baby look like a bold middle aged guy. The side and sideburns however remain.
Not an attractive look at all.

I had been on the lookout for this growth spurt for the last few weeks. I vividly recall staring at Allen's head all day Sunday, without noticing anything, but then Sunday night, as by magic the head had grown and his hair line started reciding. It took me by surprise. When did it happen? How did I miss it. It literally happened under my nose.

When Ivan's head grew, I was shocked. My cute baby was suddenly a boldy. He had a strip of hair left around his forehead then this thick band of hair-less scalp, and then his actual hair. It looked like someone had shaved off or waxed a thick strip of his hair.

Allen's doesn't look so bad. He's just a boldy.

So while I actually don't know when a newborn stops being a newborn, this head growth represents a defining moment for me.

The last few days, Allen is also definitely more awake and alert, and, shall I dare to say, cries less. He has a very inquisitive, almost surprised expression. It's almost like a deer caught in the headlights look. He's had that expression since the day he was born,\. (Ivan, on the other hand, basically frowned the first year.)

Last Thursday I could've sworn he smiled at me. Not a gaseous reflexive smile, but a real one. Then on Friday, Andy said the same thing. Allen smiled. Over the weekend, he smiled at my mother. Then today, he smiled at me again. It was a fleeting spontaneous smile which he probably don't know how to purposefully reproduce yet, but nevertheless a smile.