TOUGH ROOM

So the twins are almost a month old now, but they still can’t really do all that much. They’re especially limited in their facial expressions. Either they look tired and hungry like Nate. Or they look surprised like Will. In this specific picture, Will is surprised that his parents would dress him in such a girly shirt.

They also cry a lot, but that doesn’t make for cute pictures. But that’s about it. Lately, though, they’ve been practicing a smile or two. I’ve been assured that these aren’t real smiles. They’re not reacting with pleasure to anything you’ve done, they’re just training their face muscles. Or something like that. Julie has all the baby books, and I’m much too busy playing Tetris to read them.

But today, I think I may have actually gotten a real smile out of Nate. I was making faces at him, when he smiled. Unlike the other fake smiles, this appeared to be a reaction to what I was doing. So I did it again. Another smile. Not bad.

Emboldened by what may have been an actual interaction with one of my kids, I stuck my face right in his and said, “Hey Nate, I’m your dad!”

“Heh, heh, heh.”

He laughed. It was a very soft, very quiet laugh, but it was still unmistakable as a laugh.

I’ve got a background in comedy, so I’m always happy when I can get a laugh out of someone. The fact that I could provide his first laugh ever… well that’s just cool. But I was a little distressed by what he laughed at. He laughed when I told him that I’m his dad. That hardly seems respectful. When I said, “I’m your dad,” he should have saluted, not laughed. I definitely need to get me one of those whistles like Captain Von Trapp had. But I digress.

So Nate is capable of laughing, but it takes a bit of work. I’m sitting down to work up some new material right now.