old man face

since he was just a few months old, my nephew has been able to twist his little face into this quizzical, un-approving scrunch. it makes me think of the 80's tv-line "what you talkin' 'bout willis?"
this face, which was used frequently throughout his first year, has been dubbed "old man face." that's exactly what nephew looks like when he does it - an old man. it certainly portrays his unhappiness.
old man face hasn't been out too much in the past few months, but i sure noticed its return over the weekend.

being the only immediate relative that lives within an hour of nephew, i get to see him the most. nana and papa (my parents) spend their winters in florida and haven't seen nephew since early february. nephew took some time warming back up to their presence, but not too long, since papa is nephew's favorite person. uncle matt lives in chicago and hasn't seen nephew since christmas, took a little longer for nephew to warm up to uncle matt. over the weekend nephew met nana, papa and uncle matt mostly with smiles and high-fives. he met auntie angie with angst, whines, and temper tantrums. i saw nephew 4 times over the weekend, and several times during each of those visits he either squirmed out of my arms, whined, fell on the floor crying, or screamed at me. i know it had been a little over 2 weeks since the last time i had seen him, but that was much more recent than the rest of the family. i don't know if he was angry with me for having been gone for two weeks, angry that i was trying to take up some of the valuable time he could be spending with nana, papa, and uncle matt, or if it was something else entirely. (i do think some crabbiness contributed to his unstable mood) but, my presence certainly brought out the old man face this weekend. for the most part, nephew was NOT happy to see me.

it's ok, we shared some good smiles and laughs in there too. i'll see him again on sunday, and i'm sure he'll be my buddy again. it does make me wonder what happens in his young little head. he certainly knows a great range of emotions, but not exactly how to express all those emotions yet (screaming does not qualify as a proper display of emotion).