Young Stillman continues to thrive, and astounds us with the way he changes daily. We're guessing he must weigh 16 pounds or so, and as you can see from the photos, he's developing quite a unibrow and his hair is lightening considerably.
He's remarkably alert these days, making eye contact from way across the room, and paying close attention to his three favorite objects: the television (I know, I know! We don't let him watch it, but if you carry him into a room where it's on, his eyes zoom in on it, especially commercials for local car dealerships); a plastic star that lights up and plays classical music; and as is the case with all babies, of course, an iron image of the Hindu elephant-god Ganesh.
Yes, my son worships graven images. I think it's funny; TLS thinks it's creepy. A few years ago, I brought home from India this dull-black iron depiction of Ganesh. When we moved into this place, I half-jokingly hung it on our bedroom wall where a screw was sticking out. A week or so ago, we realized that every time we carried Stillman past it, he looked at it and smiled. Now, it's not just a matter of smiling. He coos at it, laughs at it, stares meaningfully at it. It stops him from crying. Really, he's fussing and you carry him over to the wall and hold him up to it and he starts to laugh. The thing just hangs there, dull black, but it somehow entertains him or otherwise holds great significance to him.
It's getting really fun to play with him. He laughs, is starting to giggle, and plays The Howling Game with me. In the Howling Game, what you do is, is you howl at each other. He makes the greatest shouting/howling/laughing noises, which I do my best to imitate. Sometimes it can go on for 15 minutes, just us looking at each other and trying out new sounds. He's pretty attentive when we read to him, too. Sometimes he'll spend a good quarter hour looking through books with us, staring at the pictures, occasionally yelling at them. Kind of like me with the TV.
And he remains a serious music fan. He likes a beat, and he likes it loud. Lacking breasts as I do, it's the only truly reliable method I have for calming him. Crank up some music and dance. You can't try to dance without music; that's just stupid. Same with music without dancing. But put the two together, and it soothes the savage beast.
3 comments:
Ummmm, I had thought I'd save the postage and just bring that box of clothes for Stillman when we come east this summer. I may be too late, judging from the size of him. Thriving? I should say! His 18 month old cousin weighs in at probably 22 lbs.
Hey, Stillman - you look great in that green turtle onesie! Can't wait to give you lots of hugs and kisses.
Auntie Luna
stillman is so cute! kennedy
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