Samson: Month Four

Hooray for month four! Our blinky, yawny little newborn has become a real live infant. One that smiles and laughs and naps on a fairly predictable schedule...and, dare I say, loves his mother. This was the month where we stopped answering the question of his age with weeks and began to say proudly, "He's three months old." That's right, 15 weeks and counting and we haven't badly damaged him or lost him or sold him for drug money. Parents of the Year award committee, you can reach me on my cell phone.

It's been a pretty terrific month, the weather's been great so there has been lots of going outside and plenty of bare baby legs and feet (shhh, don't tell my mom). February saw Samson perfect the baby trifecta: grab it, bring it towards your face, and cram it in your mouth. He's still a little wobbly with the smaller, more refined items such as dog hair, but he's got it down pat on larger, more readily available items like toys and mommy fingers. If Put It In Your Mouth were an Olympic event, this kid would bring home the gold.



Samson met both of his uncles this month, Israel Uncle and Brooklyn Uncle. (Due to a, er, camera malfunction--photographer malfunction is more like it--I don't have any pictures yet of Israel Uncle's visit yet. Boo.) He also met a couple of cousins from Long Island, who came bearing all kinds of wacky Jewish baby toys (like a plush mezuzah that plays Frere Jaques--who knew?). Ira came to visit, and we got to spend some quality time this month with most of our local friends, all of whom are very understanding and patient when our adorable grinning baby turns into a shrieking red-faced monster.

Thankfully, both the cradle swing and the jumperoo are no longer considered tortuous chambers of evil. Rather, they are now Places Sent by God Where Samson Can Quietly Chill Out For a Few Minutes While Mom Checks Her Email Or Makes Coffee Or What Have You. Most nights, Samson quietly and contentedly hangs in the Bjorn while we cook dinner, and is just barely starting to be able to stay sitting up for a few moments when he's propped up. Then, of course, he face plants into the sofa, and everyone has a hearty laugh.



We had our first go-to-the-park-and-sit-on-the-grass outing, which lasted a whole 7 1/2 minutes before I freaked out about there being too much sun and we had to pack it up and move along. There was also the first thing-with-Samson's-face-on-it made at Shutterfly (the first of many, I'm sure). It was a mug for Max's Valentine's Day gift. There was no shortage of cheese this month.

Then there was Samson's first trip to the eye doctor, a sure sign of things to come.

I think my favorite new thing from month four is how he's starting to associate cause and effect, specifically during his nightly bedtime massage. When I put the lotion in my hands and rub them vigorously together in order to warm it up, his eyes get all huge and he starts kicking his legs frantically. It's freaking adorable.



It's been a lot of fun having a three month old, and a lot of work. Not the chasing a crawler kind of work, or the getting up every 2 hours to feed the baby kind of work, but the kind of work that involves NOT relying on the TV to entertain the baby, no matter how much you may want to and how easy it is (well, not often anyway.). And making a habit of reading to the baby everyday, even if he hardly has the patience to make it through the first half of Nutbrown Hare, because all the experts tell you how important it is to raise a baby who is familiar with books and how it will make him a better person in the long run, and that's all you really want for your son is for him to grow up to be a good person. It's a lot of work to talk to the baby all day, to describe what you're doing and tell him about the cooking and the cleaning and the everything else, because the experts tell you how important it is that a baby hears as many words as possible in these early months and how it will make him a better person in the long run, and have I mentioned how much you want your son to grow up to be a good person?



And it's the kind of fun that means nine nights out of ten, you get to see this before it's time for bed.

Thanks a million, month four. You can come back any time.