Old Tricks, New Tricks, Really New Tricks

New Trick: Iain will now look at you, make sure he's got your attention, and flick his eyebrows up and down fast. If you're having trouble imagining how this looks, go do it in the mirror. It's a come-on. He's totally, "How YOU doin'?" "Come here often?" "Can I buy you a drink? Perhaps some...milk?"

New Trick: First thing in the morning, and *only* first thing in the morning, Iain will greet his breakfast with gusto. I pick him up, put him on a pillow, and present the buffet (ahem) and his eyes light up. He smiles and says "Gah!" A year from now, I can imagine this behavior as the toddler version of Maggie Smith in Gosford Park - the breakfast tray arrives and she claps her hands together and says, "Yummy, yummy, yummy!"

Really New Trick: Not pooping. Yesterday, the prune juice helped Iain produce two enormous dirty diapers. 4-pounders, as Hank would have it. But today? Bupkus. According to Sarah Bowes, he may be transitioning into poo'ing only every couple of days. Her voice to God's ears, is all I can say.

Really New Trick: I like to sit down on the floor with Iain, on a quilt, and hold him between my legs so he can sort of stand up. He isn't bearing any weight on the legs, just practicing putting them down. Plus, this puts his head and thus his eyes at a new and interesting level. So his new trick, in this posture, is to notice the dogs. "Standing," he's at eye level with Juno, and he will stare at her if she comes over to say hello. Bobo has to bend down, but Iain is particularly enthralled with him - reaching out a little and willingly resting his hand on Bobo's flank when the big dog comes and sits next to us.

SO. To recap: Sonny McSonnersons is turning into a dog-loving lounge lizard who enjoys his vittles and rarely excretes them.

The end.

P.S. To the Reading Police: we tried to read to him last night and tonight but he Was Not Having It. Last night he screamed in protest at the first page and tonight he fell asleep in his carseat at 7:30 and stayed that way. You know what they say: never wake a sleeping baby. Not even for literacy.