Learning Curve

Layden seems to have hit that point in the learning curve where it suddenly sweeps up. He has made it past the grub stage where he would just lay where we put him, barely wriggling. Then he made it through the just barely mobile, randomly chaotic stage. Now we are at the increasingly mobile, monkey-see-monkey-do-monkey-innovate stage. In the second stage he would crawl over to a pile of dirt we were trying to sweep up and spread it about, then stick his fingers in his mouth. Now he crawls even quicker to the pile, spreads it all about, but now he dusts off his hands afterwards. He is getting very close to walking. He took a step to the microwave. He took a step all on his own, stood up midcrawl, took a step, then continued crawling. He also will dance with music on occasion. He an a paint pail were really getting down with their bad selves. He is also getting us very well trained. Oli commented that Layden seemed to be developing his own version of sign language and that he used a certain gesture so Layden knows he has something to give him "That one I learned from him".
He still really likes tools, power or otherwise, in fact screw drivers may be his favorite. Today he grabbed a screwdriver, then a screw then put them together in the correct way. Coincidence? I think not. (In case you were just realizing, yes, this is just a look-how-wonderful-and-smart-my-baby-is post.) Sadly screw drivers are rather dangerous looking so we had to take it away. We investigated the snow today and found the texture and consistancy quite interesting but the temperature left something to be desired. He saw a picture Oli had taken last night of the deer lying in the middle of our backyard in the snow and he got very excited. He bounced up and down and made happy noises looking at the picture of the deer on the laptop.
Layden is definitely his father's son. He loves tea. He always wants a sip of Daddy's. He liked Jasmine gree, green and white, morrocan mint and is currently enjoying green with lemongrass. Strange, strange family. Oli blew a raspberry on my stomach and Layden thought it was awesome. So he just had to try. At first no success, the key is to exhale, not inhale. Then success! It was so exciting. The he kept making movements like a chicken pecking for grain, rarely leaving himself time to exhale at the tummy. Good times were had by all.