Calm and Happy

Today the Sprout was calm and happy. Her timing was perfect, as we'd run out of most food and didn't want to order in dinner for the fourth night in a row. Grocery shopping is much harder when your choice is either to bring an angry baby to the store with you or to leave her at home with a helpless spouse. We faced no such dilemma today.

We set out for the grocery store but needed breakfast first. So we got tasty drinks and foods -- coffee and a Kim's Good Idea for me -- from the Edge. The Sprout was well-behaved. She did shout once, but Summer soothed her quickly. And another baby there also had a brief fit, which is always reassuring.

At East Side Market, today was senior discount day, so the Sprout had a ready-made admiring audience. She was mostly tucked into her wrap, sleeping, but had her customary fingers resting on the wrap's edge. These provoked exclamations of adorability. One woman told us she had wanted half a dozen kids but only had one; she told us, "Don't listen to anyone!" but also that we should split the difference, more or less, and "just have three."

Back at home, the Sprout remained mostly calm and happy, alternating between periods of intense awakeness ...

... and deep sleep.

She continued to smile readily. The character and quantity of smiles and smile-types seem to be growing.

One other notable development today: Petey seems to have at worst decided to tolerate the Sprout for now or at best accepted the Sprout into the family. While I had the Sprout tucked into the crook of my left arm, Petey jumped onto my lap with great purpose. I rubbed his cheeks while the Sprout gently but repeatedly kicked him in the side.

He seemed happy. She wasn't sure what to make of things.

One last note: as you can probably tell from some of the pictures above, the Sprout's hair was spiky and messy and almost mohawkish today. We enjoyed that.