Perfect by Every Measure

Tucker is one month old. One month. It's really just another number. He's gained three pounds, and grown three inches. More numbers. Sometimes we get hung up on numbers and measurements.

It won't matter much to him, to anybody, how much Tucker weighed when he was 1 month old. His size has very little to do with who he is, or the sizable impact he's already had on us. We'll keep track of these measurements, when we remember. Our records won't be meticulous. But we aim to keep track of more, too... to describe him, how he already amazes and inspires us.

He lifts his head, sparsely covered in fine dark hair, supported by such a strong neck. He fixes his eyes, dark blue and gray and brown, they focus and follow. He purses his lips, full and pink, a little like his sister's, his tongue occasionally flicking in and out. He cuddles into the crook of Andy's arm, and rests there almost as soundly as he rests in his carseat. When he's awake, he thinks he needs to eat, hungry to the brink of starvation. He raises his eyebrows and swallows in synchrony. And when he's finished eating, he burps in a manner that sounds as though he's been swigging beer. He might be proud of his booming baby belches someday. It might mean more to him than how much he weighed.

Tucker is, by our accounts, perfect by every measure.

JEB