Southpaw

Southpaw. Up until this week, Kiersten had not heard that particular, alternate term for those of the left-handed persuasion. She was not the only one either and I was beginning doubt my random store of trivial facts until I consulted Wikipedia.

Anyway, you may have guessed where this is going. Among our many observations of Gavin's habits, moods, and likes, we have noticed that his "handedness", or chirality (for chemisty buffs, although not quite accurate), or asymmetric preference (almost sounds P.C.), has continued to develop and mature.

After Gavin was born, we noticed that he had a tendency to turn his head to the left. If I were motivated, I would go check the sonogram picture of him sucking his thumb to figure out his womb-preference, but I will leave that for a rainy day. In the present, he is finally getting the thumb-sucking skill down. And which thumb is the favored target? Exclusively, the left-hand thumb, as far as we have observed to date. So we have concluded at this point that Gavin is indeed a lefty, whether or not it is supported by any specific child development research.

I have been amazed by the learning process of things which are simple in nature to me, but are obviously first encounters for Gavin. Learing this new skill, thumb-sucking, appears to be very important to Gavin as he spends hours each day practicing. He even seems to be very methodical in his approach to mastering thumb-sucking. Watching him closely reveals a very logical approach to the problem:

1. Extend the hand.
2. Extend fingers and point thumb toward face.
3. Keep eye on the thumb.
4. Slowly move hand, thumb, and fingers toward face.
   

Unfortunately, at step 4 things begin to break down. The hand goes off course or the thumb is flexed and his knuckle arrives at his mouth, which does provide a sucking target, if less than ideal. He is successful some of the time -- notably during a nap. We have just begun to let him nap and sleep without the "baby straight-jacket", so with availability of free-moving arms, the self-soothing thumb-sucking may increase and help him continue sleeping through the night.