Baby Faces (HoL 10)

By royal decree, November 21, 2005 and all subsequent November 21^sts ad infinitum will be now known in the Cravey house as “Laughter Day”.

Nancy heard two distinct, loud laughs today for the first time. I heard the end of one from the other side of the house. I heard two “pre laugh” growls as well, but Nancy got to hear the real thing, after tickling him under his chin.

This is a big deal. Nancy is going to celebrate by going to bed early. Seriously though, all three of us are excited about this new milestone. I can’t wait to hear a loud clear laugh for myself. I keep telling him this joke about a family circus act doing an audition, but when I get to the punch line, he just gives me this puzzled look.

His other cool new trick, which I just noticed today, is that he became fascinated with books. I was reading him a book called “Baby Faces” (Not to be confused with the less popular “Baby Feces”). It’s basically large color photos of babies making happy, sad, angry, and sleepy faces. The author had originally included “Bloodlust” and “Ennui”, but it was deemed a little before its time, and was edited out of the final print.

Anyway, he seemed interested in the book. Not so much the images, but the fact that you could turn the pages. I let him at it, and he played with the book for probably ten minutes. He has two soft, vinyl books, and I got those out for him to play with as well. One is called “Who Loves Baby?”, and it’s pictures of family. The other is called “Danny the Dolphin’s Tricks”. To summarize “Two dolphins jump through a hoop and play with a ball”. I think the actual book uses fewer words than that though. He played with both books for quite a while. He would open them, and turn them around, and look at them. I was fascinated watching him.

I am starting to lose my mind. Right now there are three large plastic “Greensboro Grasshoppers” cups filled with water next to me, because, twice now, I forgot I already had fixed myself a drink. A couple of nights ago, I went to return a pack of floss from the living room to the bathroom. I made a straight trip from the recliner in the living room to the back bathroom, and managed to lose the floss somewhere along the way. I have gone nuts for two days looking for it. It was in my pocket. We only discovered it because all the clothes that were washed with that pair of shorts have a delicate minty smell.

Well the boy is crying again, and Nancy and I are passing him back and forth, so I’ll go get him.

Strength and Honor

Big Matt