New Skills

In this image, Silas is demonstrating two new abilities.

Grasping: Silas is able to grab on and hold a small rattle for an extended period of time. Whether he knows he's actually holding something, or connects the movement of his arm to the noise that results, well, that's anyone's guess.

Hand sucking: He's actually been sucking on the side of his hand since he was in the womb (we saw it on the ultrasound at 19 weeks), so what you see here I'll call "advanced hand sucking." He now makes a fist and attempts to insert the entire hand in his mouth (sometimes both hands, if the second one is available). What's changed in just the past week is that rather than doing so only because he's hungry, he now sucks his fist just to suck his fist. No other reason is needed, but I suspect that since we haven't introduced an artificial pacifier, the hand is a readily available alternative. Thumb sucking may be just around the corner.