Going Low Tech

We played with some old-fashioned tried and true toys this week. Your mom and I pulled you through the neighborhood in a little red wagon yesterday. This was lots of fun. You really enjoyed it, stretching out and getting comfortable just enjoying the view. It was a gift from your great aunt. I had a wagon almost like it when I was a child. You did good until we were almost home and then you wanted to pull yourself up on the sides of it and stand up. We couldn't let you do that. Kissing the pavement would not be a good thing. A Jack-in-the-box was another classic toy that amused you this week. No matter how many times we played it, you were always taken by surprise when we got to the point where jack pops out. Pop goes the weasel never gets old. You even cranked the handle a few times on your own. The classic toy phone was another fun toy that you loved. This is a rotary phone on wheels with bright blue eyes that blink up and down as the phone is pulled by a string. I'm not sure what it is about this toy that is so appealing, but children love it. The eyes look a little creepy to me, but you seemed fascinated by them. You also liked the rotary dialing function, letting your little fingers do the dialing. I don't think that you will ever use that obsolete technology, but I will describe it to you one day. It will be as by-gone as switchboard operators. Everything will probably be voice automated by the time you get old enough to use a real phone. Maybe one day children will play with toy cell phones from "the good old days." These low tech toys are something from my childhood that I am glad you enjoy. Battery operated toys are nice but its also fun playing with things in which you provide the energy and imagination yourself.

From A to B

I'm pretty sure I remember from Geometry or some math class that the shortest distance from point A to point B is a straight line. I thought about that as you zig-zagged across the floor learning to crawl. I won't go to the trouble of plotting points on a graph to show the course you made as you moved from point A to point B, but rest assured, it wasn't a straight line. Not even close. You moved in all directions, sometimes even backwards. I will just say that you were taking the scenic route, or as Robert Frost once put in his famous poem, "The road less travelled."

"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference"

Keep taking the road less travelled, even as you become steadier and more skilled at crawling and then walking. Be a trail blazer but take time to smell the flowers along the way. Who knows what you might find along your journey, and remember that the real journey begins where the path ends. The shortest distance from point A to point B may be a straight line, but it is not always the best path.

Foot In Your Mouth

Your foot sometimes becomes your own personal teething toy. Those toes of yours sometimes seem to be just the right size to do the trick when your pacifier or anything else just don't seem to satisfy. When you are nurturing an incoming tooth it seems that you need a variety of options to assist in the process. I like to watch your technique for stretching your leg to put your foot in your mouth. It is enviable to a former yoga enthusiast like myself. Keep stretching. Don't forget to breathe as you stretch that foot closer. I would love to be as flexible as you are. It is something you don't want to take for granted. Don't forget the taste of it either. I seem to forget the taste of my own foot. It is usually in my mouth quite a bit, but in another sense. Your foot is literally in your mouth. My foot ends up in my mouth proverbially. More often than I would like. I do believe that this makes for totally different tastes indeed!