High expectations

I was thinking the other day about how much babies are expected to figure out in the first year of life. They come equipped with no skills except a couple of basic reflexes like sucking and grasping, and in a mere 12 months, they are supposed to learn to focus, to hold their heads up, to gain control of their arms and hands, to smile, to laugh, to sit up on their own, to roll over, to recognize their names and some simple commands, to crawl, to stand, and in many cases, to walk and say a couple of words.

It's pretty amazing stuff. In just the past week or so, our baby has started to be so much more fun. Actually, up to this point I'm not sure he's ever been "fun"; he's either been fussy or neutral. He was kind of fun to look at sometimes, but that's about it. Now he can smile and gurgle at us and he is showing a heightened awareness of the things and people around him.

Yesterday for the first time he demonstrated a distinct awareness of the TV, and actually stared at it for quite a while during American Idol. I've been kind of nervous about this. I don't want him to get the idea that we watch TV all the time (ok, ok, so we pretty much do...) and I don't relish the idea of him being entertained by it and having to be weaned from it. Time to establish some ground rules about the baby and TV, I suppose.