In recent weeks, my son has gone through some remarkable changes--from sleeping through the night (almost), to being able to move his head back and forth, to being very responsive to our voices and facial expressions.

The sleeping issues, which were discussed in terms of extinction in my last entry, could not have come at a better time. My wife and I are finally able to spend some time together watching movies, talking or just relaxing--this comes after four months or so when we never had any time to ourselves. (Perhaps the human evolutionary system is set up this way so that mothers and fathers produce siblings for their first born--if we didn't get this reprieve from screaming and sleep deprivation, I don't think we'd consider having another child!)

Physical changes, highlighted by his new found ability to turn his head and keep it up without assistance, has led to some more restrictive consequences for us, though they're generally for the best and probably...

Lately, the word "extinction" has assumed a brand new meaning in my vocabulary.

Once thought to represent that awful fate of an endangered species, the definition has been expanded to refer to the process by which infants and newborns learn to soothe themselves to sleep.

The term "extinction" in this other context is derived from the infant no longer crying and needing parental soothing when put down for sleep at night. In practice, what this means is implementing a rather awful routine pursuant to which my wife and I put the little man down in his crib, leave him to his emotions with no soothing. This process generally results in us listening to him wail for 20-30 minutes (at first it was 3-4 hours) until he finally cries himself to sleep.

Not exactly pleasant for him or for us.

But we're told by both our pediatrician and a number of books that we've consulted that this is the best course for him and for us.

...

After the last few evenings, we've come to realize that our previous movie watching schedule has come to a complete, if unceremonious, close and has been replaced by a new, more remote-active version.

Among the movies that we've watched have been some really good ones, even if they've been interrupted, ranging from the serious, Tae Guk Gi: A Brotherhood of War, about two Korean brothers and their family and the impact of the Korean War on their family, Black and White in Color, about colonial French and Germans in Equatorial Guinea during World War I, and The Sky Above, The Mud Below, about the filing in of the last pieces of unmarked territory on Western maps in 1960, to the classics, The African Queen, the Bogart/Hepburn classic set in World War I Africa, to the vapid, House Bunny, the Anna Farris quasi-Old School for girls vehicle, and Hamlet 2, a 40 Year Old Virgin-esque vehicle about a failure of a high school drama teacher, to the animated Wall-E, the well-reviewed...

The little man has arrived and he is indeed a bundle of joy. He's just starting to get the social smiles and it's a pleasure to see what's new each day--he's also a cutie (but what parent doesn't say that, right?)

From birth until 4 weeks, he was generally smooth sailing, sleeping and eating with just a touch of wakefulness peppering each day...but lately, I've been learning some lessons on what most babies usually go through in the first months.

Having spent my life up to his birth completely unaware of the term colic, I have now been schooled, largely vicariously through my wife's sleep-deprivation, time and understanding, on what it means to have a colicky baby.

The little guy arrived about five weeks early, and after battling and beating the standard jaundice which so many premies get and do, he was generally doing really well...cute as a button and learning to nurse and sleep.

But among other things that babies get, particularly...

After 8 hours of labor, our son was born healthy at 6 lbs 7 oz. at 9:10 yesterday morning. He's doing well and so is his mom.

More to follow as time permits.