it’s not a race

can't you just stay like this forever?

According to our pediatrician’s checklist, at two months a baby should be starting to lift and hold his head for extended periods of time, smile in response to people, and go longer stretches at night without waking up. Some friends’ babies have already exceeded these mile markers. Facebook is full of the proud exploits of six-week-olds rolling over, smiling for the camera, and sleeping through the night.

In comparison, Clay is a bit of an underachiever. For the most part he’s far too comfortable in “tummy time” to work at anything like lifting his head. His smiles are more prompted by his own inside jokes than his parents’ desperate attempts to make him laugh. And the longest he’s ever slept was four and a half hours – a time we still speak wistfully of as “that one night.” 

There is a competitive part of me that wants my kid to roll over like cell phone minutes, smile in every picture, and out sleep every one of those babies at night. But for once, I’m content to come in last; I don’t know that I want this baby to ever grow up. And he is the cutest. 

-Eleanor

Note From Scott: Oh my gosh, Clay just benched pressed 185!