Child portrait

Hi everyone,

Hope you are enjoying the holidays. Here is the portrait of a child I have done in these holidays. What's more relieving for an artist than capturing the innocence and inquisitiveness of a 5 month old?

It's the most challenging (at least technically) subject I've ever drawn. I've already spent over 30 cumulative hours on this and it still needs some adjustments. I need your comments and critiques.

At the moment I don't have access to Photoshop to combine the scans to make it complete (scanner size is 9" x 15" only). The background in the scan is darker than it is in my drawing. Do I need to make it the darkest (because it's not very evenly blended now)?

Regards,
Seenu