Arthur is three months old! And his three favorite things are looking at mobiles, listening to music, and being outside. Every evening when it cools off I take him outside and put him on a blanket on the lawn where he lies happily looking up at the sky and occasionally chuckling to himself like he seems some private little joke up there.
Beatrice was never all that interested in mobiles and other dangling-object-diversions, but Arthur is absolutely giddy about any objects hanging over him. His favorite is the mobile my friends made for him, which he will stare at for almost an hour at a time, laughing and squirming and kicking.
In fact Arthur is always full of laughter and smiles (his laugh sounds sort of like a little happy hiccough) but unfortunately whenever you pull out a camera to document him doing something cute he completely freezes and stares fixedly at the camera instead. As you might expect, therefore, I have a lot of pictures of him staring fixedly ahead.
He's also a fairly clingy baby, at least more so than Beatrice was, and often insists on being held. Beatrice generally wanted attention only when she had a specific need, like a bottle or a diaper change, and so it's taken me awhile to figure out that sometimes Arthur doesn't want any particular thing, he just wants you to pick him up.
He continues to roll over daily and can move himself effectively if slowly across the floor by lying on his stomach and pushing himself forward with his legs (he hasn't quite figured out what to do with his arms yet). He can hold his head up more or less indefinitely, but of course that leads to a false sense of security in his parents and occasionally when he's tired his head will flop suddenly and dramatically over, reminding you that he is, after all, only three months old.
At this three-month appointment the doctor commented on what a sociable and interactive baby he is, and indeed Arthur seems to really love attention. He is also very vocal and makes a wide range of coos, sighs, and sounds like "ah-goo" and "goo-goo."
He also sticks out his tongue a lot.
Beatrice and Arthur continue to work on their new relationship. Beatrice "helps" me by bringing me Arthur's diapers and wipes and by choosing Arthur's outfit every morning. Every evening she "reads" him a story, often Madeline.
When Arthur cries she says to him, "I know, Arthur, I know, you're okay," in imitation of me, and reports to me "Arthur is sad!" She will then suggest to me that possibly "Arthur is hungry," "Arthur is lonely," "Arthur wants to eat milk," "Arthur's tummy hurts," "Arthur bumped his head," or "Arthur has an 'owie'." She might then kneel down next to the baby and shout, "Be happy, Arthur!" at the top of her lungs.
She is very good about sharing her toys with him and respects the idea that certain objects belong to Arthur. Whenever we go anywhere she asks eagerly, "Is Arthur coming too?" and often says unbidden, "I love Arthur. Arthur is my brother." She even made up a little song for him that she sings to him in the backseat called "Arthur's Song." He really seems to love her, too, and smiles and laughs whenever he sees her.
If all of this sounds perfectly ideal, of course, that's not the whole truth. She's still much too rough with him, though she's slowly getting better, and occasionally she lashes out - as when her best friend Jack was paying attention to Arthur and she got jealous and hit Arthur in the head with my car keys. But we're working on it - every day gets a little bit better.
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