Observation

In Evie’s first year the changes and milestones were very pronounced. One day she was a baby blob and the next she was rolling over, then a few months later crawling and then amazingly a few months after that walking. Her development over her second year of life has been subtler but no less amazing. The “milestone” that has amazed me the most over this past year is her gradually, but miraculously, going from baby to little kid.

In the process of going for baby to little kid Evie is also teaching me a few things. My favorite lesson of late is observation. Evie is phenomenally (of course I have a biased opinion) observant. Time and time again I will be out and about with her and she will say something like, “Look mommy a bunny.” Initially I would glance over and not see anything and, therefore, just assume that she was pretending. After doing this a couple of times I decided to slow down and really look at where she was looking/pointing and by god if there wasn’t almost always something there. I, in my foolish adultness, was just moving too darn fast to see it.

My favorite story of her acuity is just last week when she stopped me from making dinner to show me a bug on the floor. I, having learned my lesson, stopped and squatted down with her to see it. I looked and looked and didn’t see anything until, about a minute later, the little baby cricket hopped. Now I am not much of a fan of crickets in my house, but seeing how Evie had just found it and was excited about it, I figured I would do my best emulation of Albert Schweitzer and help Evie move him outside. I am sorry to say that I am a clumsy activist and managed to kill the poor cricket in my relocation attempt. Evie, however, did not notice this (observant yes, perceptive perhaps not) so we went through the motions of putting the cricket outside in his new home; saving that all things die lesson for another day.

Desert Camping

Last weekend we decided it was time to get out of town... because we had been at home for all of one weekend and heaven knows we hate to relax and do nothing :) Christof and Alicia invited us to go camping with their family and man are we glad we agreed!

Christof planned the whole thing, including buying all the yummy camp food, so it really was a great stress-free weekend for us. We left Tucson at about 4 pm on Friday and drove to mile 45.6 on Interstate 8 where we were supposed to find a dirt road and a fence.... well, after driving along the shoulder of the interstate and not finding anything we got back on the freeway and looked for a place to turn around. As we did that there was the fence and dirt road (go figure) So flipping a couple of not so kosher u-ies on the freeway we made it to more like mile 47.6, and our gate into the South Maricopa Wilderness Area. We drove about 2 miles in and found a lovely spot to set up our kingdom just as it was getting dark. It was perfect.


The first night was freezing cold, so not much sleep was had by Patrick and I. Evie, of course, sleeping on top of the two of us and with most of the covers, slept great. A nice round of mimosas in the morning and a little hike up to some nearby mountains cured us of any sleep depravity though. That afternoon we hung around camp while the kids explored, which was great fun for all of us. Evie particularly enjoyed the wash next to our camp, and sat there alone for a good hour just digging in the sand and talking to herself (or maybe Gaga).


Thankfully the second night was about 10 degrees warmer, so we all got a really good (for camping and sharing a bed with a 22 month old) night sleep. After a quickie breakfast we packed up camp and headed home. It was only 36 hours or so but I tell you what it felt like a week. Three cheers for desert camping!

Mmm dirt

Over a year ago I wrote a blog about the evolutionary oddity that is a peewee’s penchant to put everything (including dirt and cat poo) in his/her mouth. I was thoroughly convinced that this was some sort of evolutionary malfunction and that it is only by the grace of some sort of deity that we humans are still around.

Well it turns out that a baby’s fondness for putting anything (and everything) in his or her mouth is indeed an evolutionary function, not, as I had thought, a malfunction. There is a great article in the NY Times about it. The gist is that research has found that the goodness of dirt itself as well as all the heretofore thought nasties like bacteria, viruses and worms(!) stimulate the development of a healthy immune system. Therefore, back in the prehistoric day, it was the kids who weren’t eating dirt who didn’t make it and thus the genetic propensity for it. (The article doesn’t say this of course but heck it isn’t too much of a stretch now is it?)

So celebrate all ye dirt loving babes… that worm you just ate (eeewwwe) is actually good for you!