Baby

Eddie's new favorite word this week was "Baby" (ever since that day at the playground!) He usually uses it appropriately, for pictures of babies and little kids, but sometimes it seems to more generally mean "human or animal." He got a little book at his doctor's visit, "Baby bathes," with lots of pictures of babies, so that's been pretty popular!

The other day, in the morning, I was sitting on the couch when Eddie came by and put a book in my lap. I thought he wanted me to read it to him, but he just kept on his way. I guess he thought "Okay, that ought to keep Daddy entertained for a while!" He's very thoughtful, making sure I'm occupied while he gets into mischief.

Eddie is a huge collector. He picks up any sticks, rocks, and other debris he finds outside. He's pretty good about surrendering trash to us to throw out, but he does NOT approve of anything else being taken away. Recently he found a huge chunk of concrete in the training field, which he carried with him. Whenever he encountered another stick, he'd have to put down his concrete to pick up the stick, then figure out how to arrange everything so that he could pick up the concrete again. It made it pretty slow going! Luckily, chasing a doggy up the steps distracted him long enough so that I could hide the concrete. When we got home, I took away his remaining stock of sticks (including a big two-footer) to leave in the mulch by our front door, and he bawled.

Two exciting things arrived today: new sandals, and Eddie's Nonno! He loves his new sandals, and showed them off for Nonno by stomping in place and carrying them around. Nonno also taught him to twirl his finger in his cheek to say "Yum, good!"

This kid has changed a lot in the past month! I can hardly remember what he was like before, but now he's really like a little person. A month or two ago, I thought childhood was a bizarre institution where you allow an animal unfettered access to your home while trying to act as if the resulting disruption was normal, and moreover everyone else joins in the conspiracy to pretend that this undomesticated creature fits in with society. But now he definitely comes across as human—extremely small, clumsy, and inarticulate, but a person.