Rockin' Around (The Christmas Tree)

You've been a busy little boy lately. You are moving regularly and it's not just little kicks, jabs or rolls anymore!

Two days ago, after we put up our Hanukkah and Christmas decorations, you were kicking and rolling all around in your Mom's belly (especially after she ate some cookies).

Last night, you were extending some limb (a foot? a hand? your head?) into your Mom's gut for extended periods of time. These weren't just fleeting movements..I actually had my had around whatever that was for like 5 seconds at a time. Maybe you were reaching out to me as a reaction to my voice or my hand on the belly, or maybe you were just trying to get comfortable and I kept bothering you.


Either way, it was truly amazing to just hold your (foot?)...it felt like a human...just a human wrapped up in a thick comforter pushing against you. So, yeah, I could feel a sturdy little appendage reaching out!

But cookies, my voice or touch aren't the only thing that's making you move now a days. We've told you how you react to music just the way that the pink ectoplasm does in Ghostbusters 2, but your Mom has been telling me that certain music makes you move more than others, letting us think that maybe you can recognize (and like?) certain tunes. You've certainly been exposed to enough Ben Folds and Beatles to know them by now, but your Mom swears that you'll wake up from a sleep and start moving around whenever she puts on Folds or the Beatles.



In fact, today she was sewing you a stuffed Lion and was listening to Abbey Road, and as soon as the tunes started, you started dancing.

This is consistent with our findings a couple of a week ago: When your Mom and I were playing "The End" from Abbey Road on Beatles Rock Band, you started kicking like crazy! So, your Mom made me play the song 5 times in a row to try to get a good video of you kicking and moving. Take a look at yourself moving:

• Specifically, around second 33, look at Toby's ear!
• And look for the big one at 1:09 near Toby's collar.

(also, ignore the gentle rat-a-tap-tap-thump-clods of my ah-may-zing drumming..it's on Expert, so give me a break!)

But, of course, we're gonna test this theory and see if it's JUST Ben Folds and Beatles or if it's just music in general that gets your motor running and starts you rockin' around!

A Light in the Belly

After reading a chapter in this book called "The Expectant Father" about communicating with you while you're in the belly, your Mom and I have really been stepping up our intra-uterine communication.

There's some amazing research (and anecdotal accounts) out there about how much you can actually be hearing and even soaking in. The book tells a story of an Orchestra conductor who somehow knew the Cello lines to the scores before he'd ever even heard or read them. As it turns out, his mother, a concert cellist, was practicing those very same symphonies throughout his pregnancy.

Of course, we've been singing to you and feeling your kicks and talking to you, but now we're trying to have conversations (albeit one-sided) with you and even play with you.

The book makes it a point to say that you will definitely know your Mother's voice (and heartbeat (and stomach gurgling noises)), simply by nature of you being in her belly. You'll also recognize my voice just from being around me, but if I make special effort to communicate with you in the belly, you'll be even more familiar with my voice.

Right after I read this chapter, you got a major concert on the way drive back from Houston two days ago of your Dad singing Ben Folds' greatest hits. And it was pretty dang good, because everyone knows that people sing the best when they're in the car.

So, besides singing to you, I've decided to start just chatting with you, giving you narration of our day, what's going on on the outside and more. It definitely feels silly to be talking directly to your Mom's belly, and takes getting over some self consciousness, but I'm starting to find it more natural. So instead of just reading out loud, like we've been doing, we're actually starting to engage you in conversation...

And, believe it or not, you're quite the budding conversationalist. Of course, not all this communication is verbal or audible. The author of the book said that he would often try gently pushing the belly once and saying "One," then pushing twice and saying "Two," etc. He said he would often get one belly kick back on the "one," and sometimes even got two kicks back on the "two!"

I tried this trick quite a few times and, to my surprise, I got some kicks back on the "One," but no matching on the "two."

However, when your Mom tried this trick, she swears that she got a One and a Two! Don't worry, I'll keep trying!

Even if she didn't, this new chapter on communication has begun in our lives and it's proving to both me and your Mother that there IS a light on in the attic...or, rather, in the belly!