Happy feet

As part of our continuing efforts to make baby a finely-tuned machine we have been testing the boy's reflexes. Over the weekend Courtney watched my soccer game--little did she know that my motive was to see if, by some sort of soccer osmosis, baby would pick up a proper kicking motion. He obliged by kicking up a storm--we can even see little heels digging in from time to time. However, it remains unproven whether he responded to the soccer or to Courtney's halftime snack of french fries dipped in an Oreo milkshake!

Every morning Courtney moves her hands across her tummy to see if baby can punch, kick, or elbow wherever she applies pressure. In the evenings when Courtney is lying on her side on the couch, baby puts his feet down and begins to stomp around. (He thinks he's walking already, so we won't tell him otherwise.) Then I try to test out potential names: I'll get close to Courtney's tummy and ask baby to kick when he likes a name he hears. Thus far he's been either inconsistent in his response or duly unimpressed with our choices. Baby, if you keep it up, your name is Mud.