Just smile, smile, smile

One-month-old Joe-Joe hasn't worked out how to smile yet.

If you'd witnessed the scene in our home this morning you'd have thought my wife and I had gone mad!

We've convinced ourselves that one-month-old Joe-Joe is a few weeks ahead on his development and is on the verge of pulling his first smile. And now the battle is on to be the parent that captures that first smile. 

At 7.30 this morning our son definitely stretched his facial muscles to produce an 'almost smile', but my wife says it wasn't a legitimate one as he was filling his nappy at the time. Seconds later she gave me a painful dig to the ribs and shoved me out of Joe-Joe's eye-line in a bid to coax a winning smile out of him. It failed. Teeth were clenched and punches almost thrown and order was only restored when an agreement was reached whereby we gave each other an uninterrupted five minute window of opportunity. When my slot came I pulled every smiley face imaginable and had my camera ready to capture the moment. Alas, Joe-Joe just looked on bemused and pulled the usual gormless expression.   

Apparently, babies make facial expressions when they're in the womb and according to the experts at babycentre.co.uk "he will have been practicing frowns, grimaces and smiles months before birth." The experts say, "if you want to encourage your baby to smile, look for times when he is calm, yet bright-eyed and alert. Hold your baby opposite you, with your faces about 30cm apart, and talk to him... you'll probably be able to find a few minutes at certain times when your baby looks at you intently and examines your face. This is a time he may start to smile. He may stare at you for a long time first, so keep talking to him quietly and you may be rewarded with that first gummy grin!"


I'm taking the advice and will be spending the afternoon doing my best to beat my wife in the smile challenge. I hope to have captured a beaming one on film by the end of the week - so watch this space!

To get Joe-Joe in the mood I'm playing Charlie Chaplin's 'Smile', sung by Nat King Cole.  Watch and play 'Smile' here!

Latest dirty nappy score: Daddy 27 Mummy 30