A revisit of the 2-month mark (different child)

The blog entry that is re-posted below is from about 4 years ago, but it's worth putting here again for two reasons:

• Natalie is two months old today, and it's fun to remember the first time we passed this mark with her older sister.
  
• The picture that went with it is something that I thought was so funny. Pointed out by Rick Steves in one of his travel guides, I had to take a picture of this painting and then share it somewhere. I ended up doing that in a blog posting for Lexi. But sharing it again at this time of year, approaching Christmas, and as we become weary again caring for a newborn, is also appropriate.
  

Blog post from October 9, 2007:

Lexi is two months old today! That's a relatively short amount of time, but we feel like so much has happened and that we've learned so much about parenthood in this period.

How do I feel after caring for an infant for two months? Well, look at the picture to the right. It shows Joseph - you know, the one from the nativity scene on the night Jesus was born. We saw this painting (of the whole nativity scene) at the Abondance Abbey in the French Alps near Geneva, which we visited one Saturday afternoon this summer. It was painted in the 15th century. It's funny how the new father Joseph is depicted - how tired and resigned he looks. And this was just on the first night with his new child! Like us, he was away from his home and had dealt with some early visitors who had come to see the new baby.

Do I feel like this? Well, fortunately, no. Quite the opposite, I'm pleased to say. We are lucky to have a good-natured and generally calm baby. She has been a joy to be with, get to know and care for.

At this two-month mark, Lexi has entered a new phase of awareness and interaction with us. She can fix her gaze for a few seconds on people or things and pay attention a little more. We're starting to set her up in the car seat while we're doing things - in the kitchen while we're making dinner or eating or in a room while we're working on something. She's getting better at observing what's going on and sitting quietly for longer periods without getting fussy and needing to be held.

But most fun and fulfilling of all, she is starting to smile at us. Sometimes all it takes to get a smile is just looking at her. But it's most fun for me to playfully poke her and make little noises. She likes this type of interaction. It's hard to describe this feeling, but it melts my heart and makes me feel that she's somehow telling me that she acknowledges that she belongs to me - she recognizes me as someone who can please her and make her happy, at least.

So far, then, at two months, fatherhood has been good to me, and parenthood for us has been a fulfilling time.