Glossary of Terms

Since December, we've come up with quite a few terms we use to describe things happening in the Ambrocente household. So that all of you can understand our new terminology, we've decided to post a glossary.


bobblehead - quickly rolling or nodding the head, before the neck muscles have developed sufficiently to hold the massive noggin with any measure of control


Curly shuffle - circular "running in place" while lying on one's side in a crib. Often accompanied by the sound "boop-boop-boop-boop-boop!" See the Three Stooges.


doin' the monkey - being burped in a sitting position, with the palm of the burper's hand across the upper chest and thumb and fingers wrapping around the sides, so that arms and legs hang out, giving the appearance of a gangly monkey


monkey surgery - sitting for up to an hour in a bumbo seat, closely examining and sometimes chewing on a stuffed monkey lying on (and occasionally falling off) the tray in order to determine what ails him


paranoid face - looking side to side, wide-eyed, with a quivering lip and a very paranoid look (often with no apparent reason)


pleco - latching on, in the act of hunger, to any human surface, such as a nose, cheek, or arm, as a plecostomus fish does to the glass of a fish tank


poopy face - the adorably un-self-conscious scrunched baby face that signals a diaper deposit of the #2 variety. Often accompanied by an "uunnnhhhhhhh" sound


popcorn - a burst of quick, loud farts, sounding roughly like popcorn popping


Popeye - sleeping with one eye partially open. Freaky, but apparently normal in babies


splurt - otherwise known as "razz" or "raspberry." Making a farting noise with one's lips, usually against the skin of another person (especially fun on the stomach)


Stevie - swaying of the head broadly back and forth, apparently in an impression of Stevie Wonder


Stretchie McGee - usually immediately after eating or waking up, the stretching of the face, neck, and shoulder muscles, accompanied by raised head, pursed lips, a wrinkled forehead, and a fully extended neck. Unfortunately quite difficult to capture on film


Woody Woodpecker - the notification of hunger, by repeatedly bashing nose and mouth into the body of anyone with breasts, like a woodpecker, until provided with a nipple

Surely there will be more additions to the list in the future..........stay tuned.