Three(-Plus) Months

A week or so ago The Boy reached the three month mark.  He's growing so fast!  *sniff*  The Wife already did a great job of chronicling his life at the moment, but I wanted to document it a bit here too.

Bobo/Boo Boo/Boy/Little Toot

This boy is getting so big and chubby and alert and happy, it's hard to remember when he was so little and relatively unresponsive (luckily we have plenty of pictures and videos so we can look back and be amazed at how much he's already grown).  He's had a very busy and exciting summer, meeting many cousins and aunts and uncles, including aunts Emily and Elise visiting from out of town.  He's kind of come to this stranger-danger, freaking-out-due-to-overstimulation-of-new-places-and-sounds phase, but he's getting used to the world around him, and we're trying to take him out of our cool and quiet and calm house every now and then, so he realizes there's a bigger and noisier world out there and won't be distressed when he encounters it.  Hearing him cry (mostly in public, at home is fine) just really stresses me out for some reason.  People always say a crying baby is better/easier to deal with when it's your own kid, but I'm just not sure.  Sometimes it seems like it's worse when he seems inconsolable, because then it's MY responsibility to calm him down and satisfy his needs, and if I can't, who can?!? (Answer:  The Wife.  She really has a magic touch with him, and it such a patient mum, and doesn't expect him to be rational, like his daddy sometimes does.)  He usually is really quite good, but it's kind of like, when he's good, he's very very good (and he usually is), and when he's not, he's REALLY not.  He basically an on setting and an off-setting when it comes to the crying, there's no in-between.  Luckily, when the crying IS set to on, it doesn't take much or very long to calm him down.

(And yes, I know people understand that he's a baby and babies cry sometimes, but I just don't want to be like, oh, he's such a good baby! and then when we take him somewhere he cries, and people are like, oh, he cries all the time.  I just want people to know him as he usually is, which is sweet and funny and happy.  That's all, just an observation from this first-time daddy.  ANYway...)

He has really taken to the water -- more his warm bath at home than the pool or water park, but he's starting to realize the similarities and even splashed at the Seven Peaks wave pool more or less like he does in his beloved tub at home.  (Those Passes of All Passes have really paid off this year, especially since a one-day pass costs 30+ at full price, which is INSANE.  Why would anyone ever pay full price??  I have no idea.  Maybe they just don't know.)

His little hospital hat doesn't really fit like it did when he was a newborn.

He's sitting up pretty well on his own, and he even puts one foot in front of the other when we hold him up by his arms and walk him around.  Great instincts, little one!  He does his best waddling those chubby legs around, and really seems to enjoy kicking in general.  And not little kicks, like Elaine, BIG kicks.

He loves his mobile.  So many colors!

I cannot get over this picture.  Oh, that face!

He loves his reflection, as is evident from this glorious photo.  Whenever we hold him in front of a mirror, after he realizes what he's looking at he'll laugh and laugh, which is terribly contagious.  He's smiling and laughing more and more, and whenever we find a new trick that he likes, we usually just keep doing as long as he thinks it's funny because that sounds is just SO delightful.  He also recently started doing this thing where he makes a happy face but a crying noise so we're not sure if he's actually laughing or crying, and we don't think he's quite sure either.  He's starting to really recognize our voices and our faces, and whenever I come down from working or collect him from his nap I am often greeted by a big open-mouthed toothless smile, with those smiley eyes just like his mommy's, and then I'm basically a papa-puddle on the floor.

He likes reading with me, and he's already developing pretty good literary taste.

It's never too early to start learning to play the piano, right?  He has at least been taught where middle C is (whether or not he remembers... probably not).

Besides all that, in general he sleeps pretty well still (and in his crib now!), and he seems to be growing at just the right rate, and he's in general such a delight to be around.  What a boy this child of ours is!  We love him so, and look forward to the milestones that he'll continue to reach as time goes by.