(Title in honor of Led Zeppelin's recent re-issue "Mothership")
One of the great moments in being a parent has got to be when the baby laughs for the first time. And I don't mean the little smile-like responses of happiness that many babies give not too long after birth, but the first real guffaws that clearly come from their own deep amusement at something they are seeing or are involved in. We went to a Japanese restaurant with friends Becky and Ted recently, well maybe a month ago now, and they were playing some techno-ish music a little bit too loud for the baby; the room was too loud in general and I don't know if they were trying to mask other noise or poor acoustics or just thought the loudish music served the hip atmosphere, kind of like bars do: playing music too loud so people can't talk as well and so perhaps drink more. The baby had been put on the floor in a corner in its carseat but I asked for a chair and brought him up closer to our level. Towards the end of our dinner, I took baby Evan up in my arms; he had done such a good job of enduring our adult time out. I began playing with him, making faces and shaking my head to the music, and he clearly started having little fits of laughter, a huge grin on his face. Ted commented, "That's amazing." And it was; to see a baby enjoying itself so perfectly, even in an environment that wasn't baby friendly. Perhaps he was having a release after sitting patiently through the noise. Anyway, it was a special moment in his life and mine.
