Real

I still receive the Baby Center updates I enjoyed during my pregnancy. Watching baby develop on the site from tadpole to chicken/alien (you be the judge) to human was a weekly ritual. Marq and I read each "your baby this week" update for news on our child as though it were a report card from school. Now that Ya is here, we read the updates to confirm our suspicions that our son is indeed gifted :)

The 4-week-old report says that he shouldn't have tears yet... but Ya does.
When his little lower lip quivers and his eyes squeeze shut, I see those tears well up in his eyes.

Today, while whimpering about being set down (I swear he LOVES to be held all day), I saw one of those so-called non-tears roll down his cheek. I felt so bad that I had to cuddle him and kiss him and tell him Mommy was with him. Those tears are real and they are convincing. I'm admittedly a sap when I see them fall and Ya knows he'll get an instant reaction. Of course I have delayed my responses once or twice to snap a picture (and then I felt bad for making a photo of his misery).

The same site also says that a 4-week-old doesn't have the ability to selectively grasp at things. Tell that to Yadon. When he is really mad and we try to soothe with a pacifier, he lets us know he will accept no substitutes by yanking the cord of the paci or by ripping the pacifier itself out of his mouth. His control is real. Put the no-scratch gloves on our little boxer and he'll be free in no time. Usually the first one goes sailing into the air as he throws his arm in aggravation and the second is pulled off by the naked hand. The gloves: gone in 60 seconds. Daddy won that time guess bet!

When it comes to development, Yadon is setting his own rules. Maybe these landmarks he's hitting aren't a real sign of genius, but his Mommy and Daddy are convinced he is one...