Word to the Daddy.

On Friday, April 27, around 8:30 in the evening I had just come home from a long day of work and Taylor was, according to Christia, finishing an epic opera of baby babble. I proceeded to make a series of 'town idiot' faces and sounds to make Taylor laugh, which she did....then she paused for a dramatic and deliberate moment and said clear as a bell "da da". No, I don't think she knows what it means, but I would like to think that she's imitating Christia on that one - we've been saying 'ma ma' and 'da da' while pointing to one another. We both had a good laugh about it. It was a *great* way to top off the day.

Gnah.

People comment on it frequently. It's one of the first things people notice: that adorable little nose. Most noses on babies are disproportionately large, but not yours. I find it adorable like everyone else, but something else about it really gets me - it's where your laughter originates. You smile quickly at people and a with great frequency, but your laughter is something rarer. You save it for those things that you find truly funny. When you laugh it is with a wide open mouth - from your tiny perfect little nose comes a 'gnah'.

Clay, can you go get my iPhone...?

Just before your November birthday, on a cold October 14th, 2011, to be precise, I waited outside an AT&T store to buy Christia and myself a pair of the new Apple iPhone 4S smart phones. 'Cloud computing,' a jazzed marketing term for server data storage, is an integral part of the phone's architecture. The latest of Apple's smart phone line was Steven Jobs' last creation before his death on October 5, the notification of which was the first thing to come up on the cover page of Christia's new Apple computer Safari web browser. As I write this, we are contemplating the purchase of an Apple iPad 3. Viewing your birth across the technology available at the time is like planting a flag in a set of historical experiences. Right now children are becoming confused by print magazines vs. the iPad. (Why don't these pictures move?) I often wonder what your experiences with technology will be; radically different from mine, I'm certain. I am constantly reminded that it's feeding time whenever Christia requests that I get her phone; she uses a simple iPhone application to track daily how much you are breastfed.

Getting to the Fun Part

I won't sugarcoat it: The first few months of new stay-at-home mommyhood offered infrequent moments of great reward. It's a challenge to entertain a baby who can't yet crawl or communicate, and I was reminded by one of my trusty baby books that those who ask moms of newborns, "Isn't being a mom just the best?" and "Aren't you loving it?" aren't, in fact, in it. Yes, I love my baby (and her father), but days expand and contract in curious ways, and slotting in weekly chores between changing the baby, feeding the baby, washing the baby and walking the baby does not necessarily make for a glorious sense of fulfillment. (Isolation is another issue, and in that experience, I know I am not alone.)

At four and a half months, however, things changed. We experienced a return on investment in the form of greater interaction, new vocalizations, stronger eye contact, willfulness and enhanced fine motor skills. The shift was notable for me in the day-to-day caretaking, and of that time, I said, "This is when the fun begins."

It's a full month later and Taylor is ever more interactive. On Easter Sunday, April 8th, 2012, she held herself up on all fours for the first time. Over the few days that followed, she began launching herself forward from this position, engaging in a somewhat laborious form of locomotion that has ushered in a new era of care and vigilance for us, her parents. Taylor is possessed of a positive disposition, preferring more stimulation to less, and displaying a strong sense of determination. She seeks out objects she wants and will advance on them as her skills allow, reaching out and drawing them to her mouth (my phone) or raking and grasping with a tight-fisted grip (the dog); dear John Henry has been highly tolerant of Taylor's new skills.

The six-month benchmark is nearly upon us and this little baby who, through the wonders of nature, has subsisted on breastmilk alone, will soon be sampling sweet potato and her first bites of banana. We expect she'll be walking before the year is out, and we're likely to hear her first words, too. The ROI just increases from here, and being in it is becoming a very rewarding place to be.