A good baby?

Since becoming a parent, there's one question I've been asked more than any other:

Is Hope a good baby?

Embedded into this question are several others including,

Is Hope colicky?
Does Hope cry a lot?
Is Hope eating well?
Does Hope sleep through the night?

Hope is certainly doing well in all of these areas. She hasn't been colicky. Most days, she eats well (although she still won't take that silly bottle). She sleeps well, typically only waking up once during the night. (For a while, she was even sleeping all the way through the night.) For the most part, she cries only when she needs something – when she's hungry or needs her diaper changed.

Even so, despite smiling politely, inwardly, I cringe every time I hear, “Is Hope a good baby?”

I mean, in reality, what baby isn't good?

Even if Hope had colic, she'd still be a good baby.
When she cries a lot, Hope is still a good baby.
Even if Hope was still struggling with breastfeeding, she'd be a good baby.
When she doesn't sleep through the night, Hope is still a good baby.

What makes a baby good isn't her behavior, something babies actually have very little control over.

What makes a baby good is that she is created in God's image.

So yes, Hope is a good baby.

And even on days when Hope cries inconsolably unless she's being held, she's still a good baby.

In fact, she's a very good baby.

God herself declared her so.

“God looked over all he had made and he saw that it was very good!” - Genesis 1:31