The Boy enjoying his late-morning yogurt until it runs out...
Eating Yogurt
the boy
Corn!
L is such a picky eater. She’s a first child: we really didn’t know what we were doing. We followed this book’s advice tempered with that person’s wisdom and those mothers’ experience. We’re doing things a bit differently with E. He eats what we eat, and he has from the moment we could give him solid food. As a result, he’s not a picky eater.
There are a few culinary preferences that the Boy and L have in common, though, and one of them is corn on the cob.
L hummed and purred as she ate, working it back and forth like a typewriter paper carriage. The Boy makes use of a variety of methods: the double-handed high hold, the single-handed nibble-from-the-end, the single-handed reverse grip flute position (the right hand would be gripping a flute from the top, not the bottom), and variants of them all.
Occasionally, something not-quite-right hits him, and he balls up his fist and his face into what looks like a mysterious sourness.
But he gets over it, takes a new grip, and continues.
Spaghetti!
Every parent has this picture. I know that somewhere, in an album packed away in a box somewhere in my folks’ condo, there is a picture of me eating spaghetti.
What is it about spaghetti that it’s an almost-universally favorite food among toddlers?
Chainsaw
I hear a chainsaw somewhere in the distance in our neighborhood, and I think, "That's a sound I usually associate with Babcia's small village." Then I realize it's just the Boy making his car sounds downstairs.
Watching the Rain
A rainy morning, so the Boy made frequent trips to the back door to observe.
Watering
How to Fall Asleep
Note to the Little Man: If you're really serious about falling asleep easily, there are a number of things you have to do. Many of them don't impact you: lower stress, get some exercise, eat well, etc. However, there is one basic step you could do that would dramatic increase your chances of falling asleep quickly: stop moving around!!!
Crackers and Blocks
Having a one-year-old means finding a plastic block at the bottom of the animal crackers' box...
Fitting the Pieces
Dear E,
I wish I could tell you that life is like the puzzle you struggled with today, that there are a few missing parts and with a little trial and error, you can figure out where they fit. Life is a puzzle, but it's more like the puzzle "Dalmatains," with a mass of similarly patterened pieces that seem almost impossibly random.
You'll struggle at times to make the slightest bit of progress, only to find yourself wondering if perhaps you didn't force a piece here or there after all. "Maybe they don't fit quite that snuggly," you'll say to yourself as you plod off to bed one night.
But rest assured, there is a bigger picture, it is accessible (if not difficult), and it is beautiful.
Your Dad