Communicating Joy

Jack is more and more expressive everyday. He waves his little hand and flashes a coy smile at his favorite people. If you say "bounce, bounce, bounce", he dances and bounces his body. He started clapping his hands in celebration two days ago. If you say, "Yay" and clap, he'll follow suit. Or if he's feeling it, he just starts clapping on his own. It's fun to hear baby hands clap together and see your little boy smiling up at you, hands mirroring the obvious joy his face is radiating. Jack likes to applaud his sister when she does something impressive (sings songs, runs, hops...). He also says something that sounds like "Yay" when I prompt him.

He's got a sweet, subtle sense of humor, too. When I'm walking and singing him to sleep, if I stop the song and the walk abruptly and look at him, he smiles at me like he gets the joke. If I ask him, "Do you think that's funny?" He smiles and laughs like he understands what 'funny' means.

Just like Harper, Jack's enjoying the bird mobile/toy on the side of his crib. When he wakes from his nap, he entertains himself by pushing the button with his foot and watching the birds fly around and around to the tune of classical music. I often hear the sound of this toy before I hear him cry out through the monitor. Such a sweetie pie. We're trying to use his crib more and he's taking to it slowly. It just requires patience and consistency and it's a little tougher to do it with #2 than with Harper, simply because he is the second child (keeping Harper quiet, keeping Harper out of her own room when Jack's having his AM nap, worrying about Jack's noise waking Harper...).

Having two is definitely tougher than one, but we lucked out that Jack is as sweet as he is. Harper and Jack are great buddies, and his general contentment, attachment and lovey-ness, and capacity for joy makes him a natural part of our family and a fun part of everything.