He started really smiling in May. It was charming. It was magical. It was worrying. He smiled mainly at inanimate objects. Stationary inanimate objects. He specifically loved smiling at the wall near his changing table and the windows. I was positive something was wrong. You'd think after having raised his sister that I would not fall prey to these types of worries. Wrong. I was sure his head was horribly lopsided and that he couldn't turn his head to the right. It wasn't, and he could. Two days before a doctor's appointment where I was going to lay out my fear that there was something developmentally wrong with him that he would not smile at the woman who carried him for 9 long months (and nursed him all day and night and lovingly swaddled and rocked him), he simply focused on me and smiled. He hasn't stopped since.
His smile has not been elusive. He doesn't save it for special occasions or even just for a few elite people. It's not tight-lipped or coy. He smiles for the camera like a baby model in the JC Penney catalog. (That's still a thing, right?) If he has his pacifier in his mouth, he'll smile so widely that it falls right out. He giggles to be sure, but most times it's the smile that gets me. It is the huge, goofy, charming, (almost) toothless* grin of a happy little boy.
*He has two little tooth buds. Hooray!
He smiles when he sees his big sister bounce into the room.
He smiles at strangers when he's bopping along in the infant carrier strapped to my chest.
He smiles when a spoon carrying delicious oatmeal and plums gets close to his mouth. Every. Single. Time.
He smiles when you blow raspberries on his belly.
He smiles when you even just threaten to blow raspberries on his belly.
He smiles when he has good and tight hold on your hair. (That one may be a little less charming.)
He smiles when he sees himself in a mirror.
He smiles when he makes a good, loud, piercing screech for no discernable reason.
He smiles when he kicks his feet so hard that his bouncy seat nearly rockets him into the air.
He smiles when Lola's tail smacks him in the face.
He smiles when he sees any of his grandparents, aunts, uncles, or cousins.
He smiles when he kicks his feet in the bath and causes a baby tidal wave.
He smiles when he finally gets the elusive toy on his baby rocket ship into his mouth.
He smiles after he gives you a lamprey-kiss on the cheek.
He smiles when you give him a lamprey-kiss on the cheek.
He smiles when you tickle his nose with a tissue.
He smiles when you smile.
He smiles when you unbuckle his car seat.
He smiles when he topples over on the futon.
He smiles when he gnaws on a washcloth.
He smiles when you go to pick him up in the morning.
He smiles when his daddy airplanes him around the house and when his mama sits him on her shoulder.
He smiles when we are reunited after any length of time- a workday, a nap or a trip to the bathroom.
And when he smiles, I cannot help but smile too.
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| He started off slow but then really hit his stride. I dare you to look at these pictures and not smile. |
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| I DARE YOU. |
