Man Parts, Large Appliances, and the Art of Falling

It’s been awhile since the last post because I’ve spent the last month following my son around with pillows and foam-covered oven mitts. He’s learned how to pull himself up onto all things pull-up-able. The problem is he’s just started to figure out how to get down. His plan of attack was, until recently, to simply fall straight backwards, like a tree in the woods, only I was around to hear it and it made very loud, sad sounds. 

He has also developed some sort of obsession with large appliances. He can’t stay out of the laundry room, partly because the dogs eat in there and why wouldn’t he want to put himself between two hungry canines and their food (I believe that instinct comes from the same place that also assures him that the only good time to “pet” a dog is when that dog is sleeping), and partly because of the spaceship-like glow of the buttons and numbers on the washer and dryer. The microwave seems to have some sort of tractor beam as well. He loves watching the numbers tick down which can only mean one of two things: He’s going to make a great football analyst or become the next Sabremetrics guru (a la Billy Beane).

And then there was the day he discovered he was a boy. It only seems to happen in the bath (for now), but talk about a tractor beam! I imagine his preoccupation with that area will last until the day he dies.

He’s also had a curiosity for how everything tastes for awhile now. Everything, and I do mean everything, must go in his mouth. Here’s a brief list that is nowhere near all-encompassing:

• Power cords
• Golf balls
• Paper in all forms (newspapers, magazines, bills, etc)
• Dog tails
• Mom or Dad’s face
• Grass, leaves and probly a bug or two I’ve missed
• Long, lady hair
• Necklaces
• Dog tongues (I know it’s weird)
• Tags (if it has a tag on it, he will find it and put it in his mouth, guaranteed)
• Water (that will invariably leak back out of his face, onto his shirt much like a dental patient fighting the effects of Novacaine)

But all in all he seems to be progressing at an extremely fast rate which is good and bad. I don’t recognize the pictures of the kid we brought home from the hospital anymore but it’s fascinating to see the development of his personality especially since he’s beginning to react to the things he hears and sees and is no longer just a bump on a log.