Baby Jake update (11/30 column)

I can tell I’m starting to get more recognized in the community. It’s a great feeling to go places and see friendly faces of people I’ve worked with. But I think my notoriety is miniscule compared to that of my little boy, Jacob. Everywhere I go, I get the same question, “How’s that baby doing?” Since so many people have been asking, I will give you all an update.

Little Jake’s going to be four months old this Friday. It hardly seems possible because I can still feel the pain of having him like it was yesterday. They say that memory fades. I read that about stretch marks, too, but they don’t seem to be going anywhere either.

It’s quite an experience watching a baby discover the world. Most parents would say this, but Jacob seems to be quite a unique little guy. From the moment he came into the world, he has been an observer. I remember the first night in the hospital when we were both laying in our beds, I looked over and he was wide awake, watching TV. I know babies can’t see very far, so the bright light in the darkened room must have caught his gaze. He still likes TV, especially sports.

I’m a believer that children should be taken on outings as frequently as possible to learn how to behave in public. Since I’ve been dragging him along with me almost everywhere I go, Jake’s become quite the traveler. Just a few weekends ago, while Dad was hunting, we road-tripped to visit some of my college friends in the Twin Cities. There we visited the Mall of America, a place Jake would be more excited about if he was a girl, I’m sure. We looked at the Christmas lights, shopped for presents, and even made his own teddy bear.

All through the mall, people kept smiling and commenting, “He’s such a good baby.” I guess being a first-time mother, I didn’t realize I could be a lot worse off. Jacob rarely cries unless he’s hungry, overly tired or bored. He likes to be held up so he can see what’s going on.

Physically, Jacob is also excelling. He was nearly a nine-pounder at birth and he has kept up the pace. At two months, he was bigger than 95 percent of babies his age. With the four month visit coming up next week, I’m curious to see where he’s at now. Jacob’s unusually strong and learning to reach for things, which is why I had about six inches taken off my long hair a month back. He’s been able to support his body weight on his legs since birth. If he wasn’t so top heavy, he might be crawling soon.

His most recent accomplishment has been learning to sit up. He still needs a little support, but he can hold himself up pretty well. Sitting up opens a lot of new activities to him, and now he can look around whenever he wants. He also started using the daycare’s exersaucer. His teacher told me he’s the youngest she’s had that was able to use it. Sitting up also opens another new door: solid food. We’ll wait to see what the doctor says, but I suspect he’ll start a little rice cereal by Christmas. So I told Jake he needs to ask Santa for more bibs. Big ones. The kind that covers the entire body and looks like a towel with a hole cut out for his head.

And Mom’s going to ask for more laundry soap.