Magrilless

Maggie is a science experiment!

Last week I took Maggie in to be a participant in a research study at Children’s Hospital. We volunteered somewhere along the line to be contacted if there were ever a study about children Maggie’s age. And here we are!

This particular one involved measuring brain activity when the baby looks at an actor’s face making a certain expression. The actor looks either completely neutral, happy, or scared. Maggie sits on my lap in front of a computer screen, the whole room is dark, and she’s just supposed to stare at the images and let her brain do the work. I was a bit skeptical that she would stand for this. Or sit for this, more to the point. For a baby who doesn’t want to be still ever, she was incredibly willing to do as they asked of her on this day. She just sat there for the entire 10 minutes of the study (10 minutes!) with her jaw slightly slack and her cute little cap on to measure her electrical impulses.

We went back a couple days later for a follow-up session which involved faces on the computer screen again, but this time with a geometric figure popping up to the left or right of the face. The computer tracked and measured her eye movement as she looked at this or that or the other. And again she just sat for the entire thing without any breaks and stared at that screen.

The researchers (who were super nice and friendly) said Maggie was an incredible subject. They said they got lots of great data from her and were very impressed with her ability to do the whole test in one sitting without breaks or crying fits or fidgeting or distraction. What a rock star! Even the professionals think so!

It was really fun. For me, at least. And Maggie obviously didn’t seem to mind. Not only that, I got transportation reimbursed (plus probably a little extra, once it’s all said and calculated), and Maggie got a book of our choosing, a toy of our choosing, and a onesie that proudly states “Neuroscientist in Training.”

Next up, a Harvard study later this week. Her services are in demand already!

A first for the Fourth: Maggie’s first parade, the Braintree Independence Day parade. For some reason, they hold it about a week early, but no matter. We had a super time anyway! It didn’t start out promisingly; Maggie was sleeping soundly and the first things to come by are all the fire trucks and police cars and ambulances, sirens blaring. But she did remarkably well with them and was interested in the goings on.

I helped her at some points by covering her ears a little. For the sirens, and the marching bands, and the calliope van, and each of the bagpipe bands, and the shriners in their miniature semis. But she got a sticker from a political hopeful (what fun to stick and unstick and stick and unstick!) and shook hands with a clown and smelled the Clydesdales. A successful outing!

Who are the Quiddlers? It’s our team of trivia whizzes (aka, the residents of the house and anyone who might be visiting on a Sunday night) who take to the local bar to compete in a gameshow-type contest. Questions run the gamut from current pop trivia to sports history to marine biology to the corporate business world. It’s very informal and low-key and just a different way to go out to eat.

So far, we are solid runner-ups. Once, long ago, we came in first and I’m afraid it gave us a taste for victory. We keep going back to recapture our victory, but have been second-placers at least 3 times now.

But we’re learning; our strategy is being honed. We know now to go with our first instinct more often than not — don’t talk yourself out of an answer in fear that it’s a trick question. Don’t bet points if you’re not sure of the answer — it’s better to not get any points than to have points subtracted. Psych-outs and talking loudly about wrong answers boosts morale — it might not actually distract or mislead other teams, but it makes you feel proactive.

So beware the day when our $15 gift certificate becomes $25. There’ll be no stopping us then!

I guess sometimes you just feel like a party, alone or in your car or in a strange neighborhood or whatever.

A week of videos for you:

Maggie’s started to babble a bit. She’s really good at the “b” sound nowadays. (I don’t know what happened at the end of the video with another baby’s voice on the recording. One of those “oooo, spooky” things.)

She pulled herself up to standing in her crib for the first time! Time to move that mattress down.

Even though she sounds upset, this is her squealy “it tickles!” laugh. If you could see a close-up of her face, you’d see the wicked smile.