First Steps

Justin's knee surgery went great yesterday. He's already walking on it and says it feels better than when he went in.

Meanwhile, everybody has their new interests this week.

Richie's is Batman and Bathound, a caped dog who, when you push on his tail, says things like, "Batman is my partner, not my owner."

Richie has Batman tell Bathound, "You're just a little guy. You can't go with me"

And Bathound says, "Well, I can do this." And he flies across the living room and lands right on top of Batman.

I think this is Richie's way of making peace with being the second child.

Johnny is in the middle of solving a mystery with his cousin Kevin. They saw flyers that said a man had gone missing. So far, they've uncovered the following clues: A dirty string at the swimming pool, the letters "t" and "h" spraypainted on a stop sign, and a talking building.

Everyday, Johnny puts on his police jacket and carries his walkie talkie and notepad into his office upstairs, where he...pours over his notes? makes phone calls? checks the priors on suspects? No, no, he looks at the pictures in encyclopedias, of course.

J.J.'s new thing is standing on his own. It's amazing how a skill like clapping, which you could go your whole life not knowing how to do, is important. It's the only reason J.J. lets go of the table or side of the pool or couch--to clap. Then we all clap with him. It's like having a guy holding an "Applause" sign in our house.

But another new skill we don't like is biting. Whenever J.J. doesn't know what to do, he either waves bye bye, claps or bites someone.

It's like he thinks, "I'm clapping. I'm clapping. Okay enough of that. Should I wave bye-bye? I'm waving, but nobody's leaving. Ho hum. Nothing to do. I know, I'll bite mom's arm."

We're trying to teach him to kiss instead. I think that if we reversed reactions this would work. If, when he kissed us, we said, "Ow. Owwwww. That's a real arm, J.J.," and when he bit us we said, "Aww, that's nice," he'd get bored with biting.

Well, J.J. will soon have something new to occupy his time. Last night, he might have taken his first step. The judges are still debating. He went from couch to table, but did he let go while walking?

We're going to allow it. Mainly for poetic reasons. We all were there for it--Justin, Johnny, Richie and me. We were watching a movie, well, watching J.J. actually, and he just went for it.

It was also kind of sweet that J.J. took his first step on the same day that Justin took his first step without his miniscus lodged in his knee joint. I'm sure J.J. planned it that way, being so advanced in medical understanding as he is.

It's funny how, as grownups, we have to go through surgery to get back to where we started, but kids get stronger--mentally and physically--everyday, just because time passes. I guess we change with them a little bit. I never knew so many clues were all around us, or there was so much to clap about, or that Bathound could teach a David and Goliath lesson. But that's kids for you. They see things that are not on our eye level.