The Number 2

Aiden celebrated his 2 month birthday last week, which marked the first week of seeing himself in the mirror above his window swing - ADORABLE! He also has a much broader range of emotion... expanding from open mouth 'laughing' to full on squeals and from occasional frown faces to full on tantrums. I wish I could say the more dramatic expressions of his feelings would tire him out and extend naps times, but it's been quite the opposite. He continues eating like a hippo, and has actually started waking up more frequently at night to get the nutrients he needs (pray for Sheri as she continues to pull the weight during the nighttime feeds).

There is no shortage of parental advice outside the protection of our villa; even in Doha, Qatar folks have the audacity to come up to Sheri and I to 'correct' our poor parenting. I'm not boasting that we are the foremost parenting experts; we'll be the first to admit we've learned an awful lot the first 2 months of this gig, but I do have a problem when folks get in my face pushing wive's tales that lack any substantial basis. The most awesome examples actually come from the Doctor's office and Church - 2 locations you'd typically expect some slack on the new parent - child abuse accusations.

When getting our son out of his stroller at his last doctor's appointment (which dad unfortunately had to miss for work), the Surgeon noted that Sheri 'incorrectly' held Aiden, failing to keep two fingers on his neck... and judging by his tone of voice he was seriously concerned about Aiden's well being. Standing joke around our house now is to hold two fingers on Aiden's foreneck - as if checking his pulse... "two fingers / two fingers". I have now commited to be at each doctor's appointment so we can use all 20 of our fingers to slowly slide our son out of his stroller and avoid redicule! If any Doctor has more comments during our trip this morning I may have 2 fingers for him (actually Aiden has learned the fine art of the flip off, so we may let him take the honors)!

Remember that we live in a town where half the babies this pediatrician sees don't have a carseat; where I also get strange looks for pushing a stroller or holding my son in public (woman's work)... and we get the guilt trip on "two fingers" - frustrating!

Then at church last week, Aiden was able to champ through the first 70 minutes of music and message - but during the final wrap up he got a bit cranky, so Sheri (being the amazing mother she is) stepped out into the foyer with him for the last 5 minutes. While out in the foyer she was approached by a lady who offered some 'great' advice to help with Aiden's hiccups (which he gets once or twice a day). Apparently babies with cold feet hiccup more (missed that chapter in my latest issue of Pediatrician Weekly). Quick solution - "you have to cover his feet to help his hiccups". How do you cover up feet when they already have shoes on? I told Sheri she should have handed Aiden to the Motherhood 101 instructor so she could feel how sweaty he was from the overcrowded church service (wall AC units can only do so much)... cold feet? I guess I'm a bit too quantitative/logical; seems like in our situation the more appropriate 'random guess at how to make the hiccups go away' wasn't to make my baby sweat more with socks or a blanket - I would have gone with the dunk him in the holy water and hold him upside down method.

The best 'indirect' part of parenting (ie not Aiden related - because the list of amazing things grows by the day), is our weekends seem so much more productive. The very act of parenting suddenly makes mundane activities seem important; take yesterday (which ended up as a 2 movie day - aren't those the best). We started the day lounging around the house - then between feeds and diaper changes we watched 'Yes Man' - rented off iTunes, worked out at the clubhouse gym, did groceries, started laundry, cooked dinner, bathed and put our son to bed, then finished the night by watching our second movie rental 'Marley & Me'. Safe to say that anyone who has gone through the puppy training phase or new parent phase of their lives will immediately connect with this movie. I think more than 70% of the dialogue between Owen and Jen in the movie came straight out of a Brandon / Sheri discussion. It felt so awesome to sit on our couch, snuggling with our two dogs, the occasional grunt from our sleeping baby over the monitor, watching a movie that was entirely wholesome and perfectly aligned with that moment in our lives. Highly recommend 'Marley & Me' - I did not expect a movie built around raising a rambuncious puppy to so sweetly and meaningfully intersect my life and remind me how special the experience of life really is.

As hinted at earlier in the post, we're off to the doctor this morning to tackle the first big round of vaccines (the 2 month shots). We've got our tissues and children's tylenol ready - we've been advised from our parenting mentors to buckle up for this doctor's visit. Plenty of tears and a good chance of mild fever to follow; can definintely use your prayers that our little man avoids the more severe side effects and that mom and dad can make it thru the experience. I think movies may be the order of the weekend!

What would a post about the meaning of 2 be without mentioning that after an impressive game 7 win against the Ducks in round 2, the Redwings have 2 rounds standing between them and a Repeat Cup... you have to think that the Motor City could use a boost in morale with the American auto industry in ruin.

PS. Aiden made it through the shots, at the looks of him and the dust storm outside today is shaping up to being a 2 movie day as well! Especially if you consider the Biggest Loser 2 hour Finale a movie

(note the Band-Aid and tired baby)