A little stranger anxiety? Or just an introvert?

On Friday, I took Greta to a social event with some work colleagues. She's a pretty spectacularly cute baby (objectively, of course) and so she was getting passed about quite a bit.

I was surprised at how she reacted to all the people. Usually I think of her as being such a social baby -- always smiling at people, reaching out to touch their faces, "talking" to them, etc. But yesterday she hardly smiled and seemed to focus mostly on sucking on her hand. Each time she was held by a new person, it was the same -- she would be pretty chill and nonchalant about it and then suddenly she'd make this adorable pout, we'd all say, "Awww! You made her pout!" to whomever was holding her (which turned into "Uh oh, you made her pout," by the third or fourth person), and then she'd start wailing. Greta doesn't cry very much, so it was particularly surprising to see this from her. Every time it happened, she'd get passed back to me and I'd calm her down and then she'd seem fine. Eventually, I'd notice someone eyeing the baby again, ask them if they wanted to hold her, and the cycle would continue.

One of my colleagues who works in early childhood development commented that she's a bit young for face discrimination/stranger anxiety. I figured it was probably something other than strange faces -- that she wasn't used to the way that the stranger held her, or something. Still, it was funny to me. I had only seen that adorable pout once before, although that was also when a new person was holding her.

Then yesterday, I was chatting with my sister via FaceTime. I held my phone up so that Greta could see Michelle and Michelle could see Greta. Greta met Michelle when she was just one month old -- so quite awhile ago at this point -- and then saw her again when she was about three months old. She's now almost five months old and I think this may have been her first FaceTime with Michelle since our last visit. Greta initially looked at Michelle, stared at her quizzically, "talked" to her, and seemed content and fine. All of a sudden, she started making the funny pout again! And crying! It was so bizarre! Even the image of a (relatively) strange person made her pout!

I've gotten so used to her being around the same people so often. When I think about it, she's really only around me, Ben, Ben's parents, Casey and Asher. She's usually so social with those people that I assume she's an extroverted sort of baby who hasn't reached the point of stranger anxiety yet.  But maybe these are the first signs? I will have to be on the lookout for the adorable stranger-danger pout in the future.