July 04, 2004
Learning
I love watching Jareth learn things.
He's getting better at dexterity lately. He likes turning the stiff pages in his books. He has an abacus-like thing on his swing. It's rings that slide back and forth. He likes to stand in front of it and move the rings one-by-one from one side to the other, and then back again. Usually he's doing that with just one finger.
For his birthday I got him the book Tails, by Matthew van Fleet. It's about animals and the different kinds of tails they all have. On each page there are textures to feel. There are fur inserts for furry tails, and scaly textures for scaly tails, and shiny plastic foils on the peacock tail, and so on. At first he was fascinated by the colors, and being able to turn the thick pages. Now he has realized that there are those things to feel, and he loves checking them out. (By the way, I highly recommend the book as a gift for toddlers!)
He also got from my sister-in-law Jenna a piano thing. on the top of it is a little symphony of animals playing instruments, and they all move whenever the piano keys are pressed. The whole thing can also do five or so different instruments. He loves watching it go. At first he kept trying to manipulate the animals to try and make them go. I've been gradually working on getting him to figure it out. Now he knows that it's the keys that make it happen, he just isn't quite pressing hard enough. But watching the development has been great.
I love that he's letting me see the world all over again. I thank him for that on a regular basis.
Jareth at 9 months, one of my favorite pictures so far...