Seth, a.k.a. The Boy

Today is Seth's five-month "birthday." I know it's silly that new parents call every progression of time a Birthday, but it helps us mark the milestones. And then we can check a dozen different books and websites to make sure that the child's progress is "normal" or "on schedule" or "within normal ranges."

My favorite example -- Your Baby's First Year Week by Week, which sits on our coffee table. For every new skill, it always gives a disclaimer that all babies are different, they reach developmental milestones on their own schedule, yada yada yada... and yet, each week's entry includes the baby's length and weight. Excerpt:

How big is baby this 22nd week?
Baby weighs 15 1/4 pounds and is 25 1/2 inches long this week.

So, to be clear -- he might start crawling anywhere from 4 months to 10 months, but something's wrong if he's not 15.25lb at exactly 22 weeks!

Anyway, Seth decided to celebrate his 5-month birthday by waking up at 3:15 AM, ready to party. He's woken up during the night before, but it's always because he's unhappy -- either uncomfortable from teething, or hungry, etc. This morning was different -- he was just singing away and attempting somersaults in his crib. We tried to calm him down, but to no avail. By 4:00, he'd degenerated from Playful to hungry, and Rachel -- bless her -- patiently made up a bottle, fed him, and got him to fall back asleep.

Anyway, as I laid in bed, I found myself wondering why he'd woken up at 3:15, ready to play. He'd been particularly tired yesterday evening, so it was all the more surprising. I eventually came to the undeniable conclusion that he'd been Punk'd by some of the other babies. I'm pretty sure they sent him an Evite for a 5-month Birthday Celebration at 3:30 AM. Or maybe they texted him:

Party@3:30
Hpy 5mo Bday!
Bring xtra diprs!

Pretty cruel to get The Boy's hopes up like that. But he's clever - I bet he spits up in their bottles when they aren't looking.