It's hard to imitate a newborn baby's faces when you have tall teeth.

I don't think most people believe me when I say that Anna said her first phrase—“love you”—to me about ten days ago (at the mature age of 8½ weeks), or that she said “hello” a day or two before that. What I think is really telling is that she said both of them while I was changing her diaper.

I think parents—fathers especially—should learn to take advantage of diaper-changing “opportunities.” Like feeding and rocking a baby to sleep, changing diapers is an obligation that can't be avoided. There are two approaches a parent can take (besides shirking the job by foisting it off as much as possible on the other parent). One is to minimize the time spent on the chore; the other is to maximize the enjoyment of it. I was preparing very well to pursue the first strategy. There's a station set up in our house called the “Poopie Lab”—dedicated to finding the design and process that will help Daddy do his diaper-changing job as quickly and conveniently as possible. Kristine was surprised and impressed at how easy it made the work for both of us and how comfortable it made the experience for the baby. (For one thing, I've noticed that she is much calmer if she always gets changed in the exact same place. Public restrooms are not appreciated.)