The Little Things

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Darlynn stopped by to see Jackson and to bring dinner for us harried new parents. She brought her 22 month old son. It was so fun to see how her son has grown in the 10 months since we first met him. And it was fun to see what is to come for our little one.

I had to snicker to myself a few times that night though. Apparently, Darlynn's son is learning how to jump. Most of the time, it looked like the physical action of a jump, with no actual progress. But once in a while, he would actually leave the ground a bit. On those events, Darlynn would proudly encourage him, "Great job! You got some air that time!" I thought it was funny because Darlynn, for as long as I've known her, has always been a no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is person. I had a couple of middle school aged orthodontic patients who had her as a teacher when she was teaching social studies. She was well-liked (as she deserves) and had a reputation among the students for her biting wit. So it was fun to see that she has melted into a tender-hearted mom.

Now a couple of weeks later, I'm rather surprised to hear what comes out of my mouth, as well as Ian's. Both of us have always prided ourselves on being logical and unemotional, but these are the little things that make us excited now:

"Ooo! Excellent burp! Give me another just like that"
"Hey, did he just smile? I don't think it was just gas. Do it again. Come on, smile, smile, smile!"
"That's it! Turn your head! Lift it up! Now rotate!"
"Hey, I think he just discovered his hand!"
And the classic..."My, that was a productive poop! You're such a good eater!"

All of our happy observations seem so appropriate now - for us as well as for our son at his developmental stage. I just hope nobody catches us saying these same things in 18 years.

Clarice

Before the baby came I used to joke that when the baby came I could regress my maturity to the baby's level and then mature with the baby as he grew. Therefore I could have a second chance to grow up. My wife put an end to my joke after hearing it for the third time. (Three is the magic number for her to start connecting my jokes to my bahavior and wondering if I have core value issues.) I mean, how ludicrous to think that I would really dream of regressing to infancy and start spitting up on myself and pooping in public and then spend 18 plus years growing up to the level of maturity I had when I was that age. Now that the baby has come, we celebrate our baby's infantile behavior but my wife hopes we don't get caught celebrating these things in 18 years! Let's hope we both mature again faster than our baby. :)

Ian