Oblivious to Danger
When Leon first learned to crawl, Minh arranged the furniture in the living room to section off a baby-safe corner of the house. The new arrangement insulted the house’s feng shui* — but it achieved its purpose of keeping Leon reined in, so I tried not to complain too much. But as time went on he would scream like a banshee when we set him down in his play area because he knew he was stuck there. So before Minh got home on Friday I rearranged the furniture back to its original position, and Leon’s been cheerfully cruising around the house ever since.
We’re still getting the hang of having a danger-oblivious munchkin at our heels. This morning I opened the door to let the dogs out, and when I turned around I found Leon wrist-deep in Six’s bowl, happily sucking on a kibble of dog food. (Mind you, this wasn’t the first time he’s eaten dog food since the furniture rearrangement.) Yesterday Minh did the same and ended up fishing a dried leaf out of Leon’s mouth.
Between his mobility and his fearlessness, we’ve had to keep a careful eye (and hand) on him at all times. For example, I was giving him a bath a couple days ago and he thought it was hilarious to lurch forward and slide around in the tub. Giggle, rinse, repeat. What he didn’t notice (or care about) was that I was clutching his arm so he didn’t fall backwards and smack the back of his head on the porcelain. During his bath yesterday I think he realized it wasn’t quite as fun to slide around in a bathtub that has anti-slip bath decals. Leon: 0, Mom: 1.
He’s definitely developing preferences, not just for danger, but also for “toys” (cups, flat objects like books, doorstops, lids — not any of the toys I actually spent money on) and foods (butternut squash, chicken, blueberries, grapes, melon, dog food). This weekend he kept shouting “Muh!” in his high chair. I was so excited that he could articulate the “m” sound — was he actually saying “mom”?! But Minh quickly pointed out that he was consistently yelling “muh” whenever I wasn’t putting food on his tray fast enough.
More. He was saying more.
My son’s first word is a demand to keep shoveling food in his mouth.
* Just kidding. It was mostly just a pain to crawl over furniture every time I wanted to sit down and watch TV.