Firsts (four months old)

I had a hard time choosing one or two representative pictures for Samuel’s fourth month. So instead, here’s a selection that shows a few of his firsts during the past weeks:

First long-distance car trip. Saúl, Samuel, and I traveled by car to Yacuiba, Saúl’s hometown, at the end of November. Samuel behaved beautifully, obliging his parents by sleeping most of the eight-hour trip.

First Christmas party. Since Saúl still works for MCC, we were invited to the annual Christmas dinner. This year it was held on the basketball court behind the MCC office. Here Samuel is spending some quality time with Zulma, a Bolivian MCCer and friend. In the background are Martín and Yovana with baby Alison and Saul’s mom.

First teeth. No, they haven’t come in yet, but Samuel is diligently working on his teething technique. Notice this month’s innovation: sucking with two fingers, one for each itchy incisor.

First social encounters. Samuel had “met” other babies before, of course, but now that he’s four months old and more alert, he’s beginning to interact with them. So far his “friends” include Alison (see above); Valeria, the daughter of my ex–libraries program coworker Sandra; and—pictured here—Alan, the son of a university friend of Saúl’s. While Alan’s and Samuel’s parents prepared a chicken dinner a couple of weeks ago, these two chatted in baby talk for quite a while; later Alan, who’s three months older, grabbed the handle of Samuel’s baby carrier and rocked him for a while, and Samuel made grabs at Alan’s leg.

First foot play. The blur in the picture shows that the foot’s in motion! Last month Samuel discovered he had feet; one day while I was holding him in a seated position, he looked down and was suddenly mesmerized by his striped maroon-and-gold Calvin College socks. Over the past few weeks he’s gradually learned to touch his feet, then lift and grab them. He hasn’t managed to put them in his mouth yet, but that seems to be next on his agenda.

First prayer. OK, that’s probably not what Samuel’s really doing here. Besides foot play he’s also learned to enjoy playing with his hands—touching one hand with the other, finger to finger, and then putting them in his mouth to make sure they still taste good.

Though Samuel may not be praying yet, Saúl and I do pray for him—that in the year ahead our son will continue to learn and grow. We thank God for his health and happiness so far, and hope you will enjoy the same in 2010. Happy New Year!