Happy Birthday, Little Man!

Monday was Jackson's 2 month birthday. I don't usually celebrate such landmarks. In fact, I sometimes forget the yearly birthdays of family members, let alone friends. But Monday was one remarkable day.

It started with a visit to the pediatrician. Jackson's gone from his birth weight of 6 lb, 4 oz to 10 lb, 8 oz. That takes him from the 10th percentile to the 25th. We have a good eater. His "height" (if you still call it that while they're still vertical) went from 18.5" to 22". He's stayed in the 10th percentile, but the pediatrician said she's not worried about his height considering his parental height. And she was impressed with his developmental landmarks. He can hold his head up quite well and has turned over from belly to back 5 times. We swear the little sounds that come out when he smiles are signs of laughter. Ian and I are convinced that he is (in the words of the proud mama of Zane and Audrey) quite "advanced."

After the pediatrician, Jackson and I went to visit our friend McCall, who is expecting one of Jackson's future girlfriends any day now. It was fun to compare pregnancy notes and to hear that baby Harper does a lot of the same things Jackson did when he was in my womb. I'll have to blog about that some other time.

Then that evening, Jackson slept from midnight to 7:00 AM. That means Ian got 7 hours of sleep. Me, I woke up at 5:00 AM expecting to feed him. Instead I was elated that he didn't need to be fed, and bummed that I had wasted a possible 7 hour stretch of sleep by getting up. FYI, I think he was teasing us that night. He's since gone back to waking up at 4:00 AM and resisting going back to sleep.

Overall, I'm absolutely amazed at how fast babies develop. Just over 2 months ago, he existed in a waterly world, with an umbilical lifeline to feed him 24/7. Now he knows when he's hungry and knows how to alert us of the fact. He can interact with us after living almost 5 times as long quite happily in isolation. Since he's no longer the eating, sleeping, pooping creature that he was when he was first born, I am amazed at how he's becoming a little person. And I am amazed at the signs he demonstrates of what kind of person he will be. It's utterly fascinating to me that this little person came from one cell that I contributed and one cell that Ian contributed. All testifying to the amazing abilities of the Creator!

Clarice