More than just a noisy bundle of flesh

For four and a half weeks I looked at Henry with unconditional love and a certain amount of curiosity, both based on the same thing.  He didn't actually do anything.
 
Like any new parent my love was unconditional as he didn't need to do anything. I didn't need him to come bounding in to the room and shout "I love you Daddy" for me to love him back. I don't need him to buy me a Christmas present, send me a fathers day card, get my slippers and pipe, run down the shop to get me a paper or become the best midfielder in the history of English football.  I dont need him to do any of that for me to love him (although everything on that list will be greatly appreciated at some point during our lives).  No, little Henry needs to do nothing, my love is totally unconditional, as is his mothers.

My curiosity was based on the question of when he would actually start doing things. Anything at all! I mean anything constructive.  He could of course already garlgle with an uncanny knack of sounding like the Tazmanian Devil, he could stare aimlessly at the wall or ceiling, he could pass huge amounts of wind and not batter an eyelid and of course he could present mummy and daddy with a poonami or two.  But none of that, as touching as it all is, really makes you want to make an announcement via the town crier (although of course I have managed to bore all my friends and family with endless facebook posts - come to think of it, this is probably attached to one).  Henry was, for all intents and purposes, just a noisy bundle of flesh, but we loved him anyway.

Everything changed dramatically when he was four and a half weeks old.  Over the previous week or so Henry had started to make what looked like smiles, but we soon realised that these were only appearing after he had had a particularly satisfactory wee, released some gassy wind or even had a number two.  We tried to claim that they had been made because he had seen us, but the fact that his eyes were usually closed as he lay soaking in the glory of his release was an indication that we in fact had nothing to do with it (although, as I said, wee sometimes had something to do with it).

But anyway, after 4 and half weeks everything changed. Gail was holding Henry on the sofa and as I walked over to greet them he looked up at me, opened his mouth and beamed from cheek to cheek.  Now I know I have a funny face but it had never got this reaction before. 

The important thing here is that Gail and I don't really care if our first born son finds my face particularly funny, its quite cute that he does, what we know now is that he recognises things and there are things going on inside that pretty little head of his.  In an instant he is now so much more than just a noisy bundle of flesh, now he is interacting, now we know he has emotion. FACT! 

The best thing of all is that this is just the tip of the iceberg.  Gail and I both know that his character is going to start snowballing and neither of us can wait.  We both also know that we are still going to have sleepless nights for a while longer yet, but that doesn't matter because that smile at four and a half weeks told us that the fun has just begun.