Wonder at the Firstborn

John will finally tolerate my Moby Wrap (thanks Amy!)! While in Sacramento at my home parish, I received an impromptu lesson in the Moby Wrap from a woman who sells them and a mother who needed to "borrow a baby" in order to test drive the wrap. John was her willing subject! Below is John in the Joey hold:


I love the parental wonder we feel at the firstborn child. I am not entirely familiar with what motor development to expect next, so John's new accomplishments come as delightful surprises. I swear, he seems to have exploded in hand agility just in the two days since leaving California. He is achieving success with reaching and grabbing much more often now and is attempting frequently to put things in his mouth (which made me realize that, soon enough, we'll have our first choking incident!):

Reunited with his play mat, John tackled those dangly toys with ferocity. Note how he's halfway to rolling over back to front! Now, this feat may take months to complete for all I know, but I am very impressed at how he rolls all the way onto his side in an effort to smack his rascally opponent.

John has also begun kicking with energy. He has always seemed mildly pleased with his bath time, but now he kicks energetically and soaks his mama. All this movement means that John is now a wriggly baby. I've always been careful about where I set him down because I'm a Nervous Nellie, but now I have to be careful because John can actually move! Whether I put him on his back or his tummy, he wriggles his whole body with force and begins inching along, such that I'll come back to find that he's migrated one foot!

A postscript to yesterday's account of coming home from California: For all the fans of husbands out there, let me brag: In the week Chris was home without me, he completed almost a dozen household fix-it projects just for me! He stocked the refrigerator with food, neatened the house, and had a wonderful bouquet of pink tulips waiting for me.