Our little Chiara is now five weeks old. She is a wonderful, sweet and tender presence in our lives. It still doesn’t get old or repetitive to hold her and gaze at her sleeping face for hours on end. I always look for that transitional time, when she makes these involuntary facial expressions and her eyes open and close repeatedly. Sometimes she’ll look devilish, with the corners of her mouth lifting into a smile, while her eyes open and roll to the right or left. Sometimes she’ll look sweet, eyes closed, but mouth lifted in smile. Those are fleeting, though, and as much as I’d love to think she’s really smiling, I know that it’s unconscious. Although, Dr. Sears in a sort of forced and awkward way, has argued that rather than being what most people call a “gassy smile,” Chiara is really giving us “a smile of inner rightness.”

Whatever you want to think it is. It is fleeting and it’s impossible to predict when you’ll see one. So today, when I was taking pictures of Chiara lying on Luke’s lap, I was delighted to find that I caught one on film! The photo is totally out of focus, but there is an unmistakable smile on little Chiara’s lips!