One of the most fascinating aspects of humans beings is their tendency to come up with inexplainably complex ideas simultaneously leading one to instinctually conclude that we as humans are all somehow inextricably linked through our subconscious minds.

For example, just the other day the Mr Steve family was at the park enjoying one of our warmer 32 degree days and both Nadine and I concluded in synchronicity how sad it is that once the 26th of December hits, you are considered a lunatic if you sing any well known song about snow. A lot of us Northernians have a good four months of snow after Christmas and, darn it, we want to sing about it. But never fear, I'm working on a song as we speak that by it's very nature will have a much longer shelf life than the current slew of ephemeral snow carols. 2009 will be a winter to remember.

This song is not a snow song.
It's a winter song.
You will sing it all winter long.

Yep, now it's stuck in your head too.

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Another revelation which came to me this morning was based on the similarities between the words walking and talking. There is but one letter difference and, furthermore, both can seem to happen simultaneously in baby development. Amelia has taken her first steps not only physically, but likewise in the lifelong pastime of labeling the world in a customary language. Some of the words she has picked up so far are: dada, mama, Elijah (sort of), bye bye, duck, and, as these two videos shows, ball and yay.





I just hope she doesn't start balking next..ahahahahahahahahahahaha...balking... Ahhhh.


Starting a new schedule is never easy, even for a bambino as resilient as Zachers. Since Ryan started his new position requiring frequent travel to Scranton (give 'em heck down there at Dunder Mifflin) Zach has been coming a little earlier than usual. The first couple days, he was wide awake as soon as he came through the door and any attempts at sleep would be laughable. This morning though, I believe Zach came to realize something I learned almost six years ago on the day Elijah was born, sleep is not a responsibility your body owes to your mind but, instead, a gift to both. He went right back to sleep without a complaint and slept until both he and Amelia were ready to start their days.

I'm seeing in something in Zach which I saw in Amelia right before she started crawling; boredom. It is as if by scooting himself around the room he understands the power of locomotion resulting in the frustration of not having yet mastered it. This knowledge juxtaposed with the insufficient crawling ability creates an angst that doesn't rear its ugly head again until the late teen years. (It's a good thing I'm too lazy to draw a complete parallel here because it's practically writing itself and that blog isn't scheduled to be written for another 15 years). I've been working with him to show him how to get his hands moving in the proper motion, but at this point, it will just take a leap of faith on his part to get that first hand forward.