We’ve been neglectful blogging parents lately, but Griffin’s been making so many leaps developmentally, we can hardly keep up. Over Thanksgiving break in Santa Cruz, despite the slippery tile floors of the rental house, Griffin learned to crawl. Andrew was witness to the first official crawl (and burned his Thanksgiving cheesecakes in the midst of the excitement), as well as the first official pull-up-to-standing. It’s so amazing that Andrew has been around for these developmental milestones in spite of the fact that he’s working full time!
We had only one week between Griffin’s crawling victory and pulling up to standing, so we’re frantically baby-proofing much higher than we thought we’d initially have to. Actually, I think baby-proofing is a misnomer. It should be baby-not-going-to-get-hurt-too-badly-if-he-comes-into-contact-with-this…-ing. Thankfully he’s not very fast yet, but it’s only a matter of time.
I wish I had some video to go along with this story, but the title says it all.
Griffin and I went on a walk on Tuesday down to Lakeshore Avenue to get more English muffins from our favorite bakery, Arizmendi. Naturally, as long as we were down there, we had to take a swing through my favorite store, Urban Indigo. Andrew often jokes that he could go in there with his eyes closed, pick something at random, and I’d love it. It’s pretty much true. The store may as well be named Sarah’s Favorite Things, but I digress. They have a children’s section, which I now have more of a reason to visit thanks to Mr. G, and I came across a jack-in-the-box. More specifically, it was a Jack Russell Terrier in a box that popped up to the tune “Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?”, and since Griffin has really been enjoying peek-a-boo, I thought he might like it.
I was wrong. He LOVED it. I mean, this kid would not stop laughing. I just did it over and over and over, and he kept laughing and squealing like it was the funniest thing on the face of the planet. Everyone in the store couldn’t help but hear his giggling, and it was agreed that the scene was pretty stinking cute.
Not being one to impulse buy, I didn’t take it home with us. Not only was it a little on the pricey side, but I thought ahead to what kind of trend this could turn into (“Oh, he likes it! Let’s buy it!”) and decided I’d try to find one for a Christmas present. We headed out of the store for our walk home, and over the mile or so home, he continued to laugh hysterically at random. Is it possible he was playing the scene over and over in his head, and it was continuing to make him giggle? This happens to me quite often, so I imagined it was happening to him, too.
We arrived home, and it was quite obviously nap time, but he was still in a great mood! We snuggled in the rocking chair, and he continued to giggle as he was falling asleep. Even after it was obvious that he was out and I had laid him in the crib and closed the door, I could still hear him laughing in his sleep. That pretty much clinched it. I needed to find a jack-in-the-box before Christmas.
The next day, I called around to just about every kid store I could think of (second-hand stores first), and no one had a used one or one that wasn’t a creepy clown. I decided to swallow the price tag and head back to Urban Indigo. The doggy one was way too cute to pass up, so into the bag it went. When we got home, I was really excited to show it to Griffin again, this time with video camera handy, ready to capture the laugh fest.
Unfortunately, he only found it mildly funny. I think his chuckles were pity chuckles, as in, “That wasso yesterday, Mom, but I’ll satisfy your need to hear me laugh since you spent 30 dollars on it.” Yes, that’s right. 30 dollars. There’s a lesson in here somewhere that I’ll figure out eventually. I’m still kind of new to this mom thing.
In my history class today I asked students to write a mini-speech arguing to the Second Continental Congress that the “unalienable rights” included in the Declaration of Independence should be extended to women and slaves. I offered extra-credit for reading the speech aloud or for writing it “in character” (so that it reads something like an 18th century speech). Most of the arguments were fairly basic, and few tried to write in-character, and fewer still had any rhetorical flair. But this girl had both (imagine it delivered in a ringing voice to the assembled delegates):
We call ourselves Men, but only Animals would strip rights from another human being, be it a woman, or a slave, or a child, or the elderly. Am I right to suggest that by Excluding the majority of the population from the Rights we have created for ourselves, we have lost all humanity? I call upon myself and the members of this Congregation to restore this humanity, and to distribute fairness to all People!
I love it that she took on the role of a male delegate, wrote with passion, and capitalized words for emphasis (like they did in the Declaration). I can imagine Patrick Henry reading these very words!
