I had a truly amazing experience last night; a fetus kicked me in the face. Granted, there was a womb between us, but I could clearly feel my son firmly snap-kick my face and follow up with a right-cross.

As impressed as I was with his ability to throw effective combos, I was completely awestruck when I realized that he was responding to the sound of my voice. As I mentioned a while back, I talk to my wife's big pregnant belly every night and every morning. Up until yesterday I had no idea if my words were just falling on partially formed ears, but last night I realized he was listening.

My face was pressed gently against my wife's belly as I rambled on about strollers with cup holders when I felt a jab. I immediately started to laugh.
"Did you feel that?!" I asked.
"He hasn't been moving until you started talking. That's for you." I was completely amazed. I started talking again and sure enough the kicks and pokes began as well.

I wasn't completely convinced his pugilistic display was solely for my benefit, so I waited for a while without talking and got no kicks. When morning came, I put my face up to my wife's belly and said good morning. I could feel the tremor of hands and feet thumping against my wife's tummy.

I know the idea of getting smacked every time I speak to my child will quickly grow tiring once there is no longer padding between us, but I've still never been so thrilled to get punched in the face.