Remembering What I'd Otherwise Forget

Okay, enough with the damned "wow, can my baby sleep!" posts. Time for a new tidbit in Max's development, that being the relaxing of his hands. What started as unintentionally restless attempts to scratch his face (some of which resulted in big red marks slashed across his cheeks), Max has begun to grab at things and--equally important--find his mouth. This means that a) he's about to get a whole lot more entertaining, and b) he's close to taking a key step toward soothing himself.

As a second-time father, these occurrences are a reminder of how much I've forgotten from Jackson's infancy. I have no memory of watching his hands relax, of seeing him suck his thumb for the first time, or even what his first words were. A big reason for this is the single most frustrating moment I've had as a father, namely the loss of his baby book.

Anyone who's had kids knows that the baby book is the domain of the first-time parent. That means that when Jackson was born, I quickly assumed about 95% of the responsibility for his baby book, and I relished that job. I stuffed everything in that book--from his first nail and hair clippings to when he started saying "dada" to who was at his first birthday party. There were receipts and photos and a family tree and lists of gifts, not to mention the lengthy lists of early favorites--such as foods, books, music and TV shows. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry.

Thankfully, Sarah, being the first-time parent in our household, is in charge of this task for Max, and Sarah does NOT lose stuff. At least not important stuff. To be fair, I didn't really lose Jackson's baby book as much as it lost itself. I moved my office from one room of my San Jose house to another, and poof, the book was gone. No idea how or where, but suffice it to say, I turned that house upside-down about 19 times trying to find the danged thing to no avail.

Anyway, my point is, my baby is growing up fast (don't they all?) and with Sarah in charge, I can feel fairly confident that come 20 years from now, I'll be able to read all about it.