Milestones

I have not been good at recording the milestones in Ben's life - I cannot remember exactly when I felt the first push of his legs (he did not kick, he would just find a spot and push on it for hours), or when he first smiled (which he now does all the time forcefully, if you don't smile back he just smiles again and tilts his head to say "I am smiling at you" until you cannot resist and a smile comes across your face even if you try to hold it in).

But tonight, he asked me to read a book again (and again, and again, and again, and again until I hid it - ha ha - object permanence is not yet understood). And when I say "ask", I mean "demand" in a nine month old way - where there is a little whine and a shake of the book and a stare and peace when the mom understands, and the book is read again.

This is something special and fun that I would like to record. To create a place to keep track of books and thoughts and potential books and potential thoughts.

What book is worth such a fuss:
The Foot Book: Dr. Seuss's wacky book of opposites

Ben does love rhyming and rhythm and silly gestures - and this book has it all. There is more though, it is the something magical, something that is so good you just have to read it as many times as possible, something about Dr. Seuss which we got to experience tonight. Maybe it is the great lines such as "fuzzy fur feet" (best to say when the cat is around and you can grab her paws) or for Ben (S L O W F E E T) or that George has been chanting around the house "In the house and on the street, how many different feet you meet!"

"To feel most beautifully alive means to be reading something beautiful, ready always to apprehend in the flow of language the sudden flash of poetry." (Gaston Bachelard)