Pirate Eye Is Watching You

I was remembering with my Mom today Art's old "Pirate Eye", something that he did all the time when he was first born. Here's a few pictures of him on his birthday, one day old and three days old. He kept up the pirate eye for a few more weeks, but he just doesn't do it anymore. (Click on the pictures to see them bigger.)



I've actually been thinking a lot lately about how rapidly Art is growing and how many things he's already grown out of. I'm sure all babies grow and change this fast, but it's amazing, if you really think about it. And then it's just as amazing how us parents just grow along with the baby. Take, for instance, the Chipmunk Sound Art used to make when he was hungry. He would go, "Eh eh eh eh" and we knew it was time to eat. Now he's in a sort of rhythm so we know by timing as well as a whimper sort-of cry. He also used to root around - shake his head trying to center on anything near his mouth that could be a nipple. He doesn't do that anymore either. He used to strain and cry when he was working "something" out, but no more. His system has matured and he's not so bothered by it. He's grown out of newborn diapers and out of size small diapers. He wearing size two! He's grown out of his four ounce bottle. Gosh! I remember when we were impressed if he ate three ounces!

Art is not yet three months and he has already developed and taught us new hunger cues, learned to breast-feed and bottle-feed, he responds to four songs now (Itsy Bitsy Spider, Old MacDonald, B-I-N-G-O and Momma's Little Baby Loves Shortnin' Bread), smiles a lot and even seems to laugh a little bit. He doesn't do the Pirate Eye anymore, he doesn't get mysteriously fussy at 7pm anymore, he doesn't fight sleep as much as he used to or sleep in our bed. Pretty remarkable.