The Ideal meets the Real

It still happens to me: I think, oh, wouldn't it be wonderful to take Mazin to the river to go swimming? He'll love it! I picture the two of us bouncing up and down in the current, me getting a nice cool-down while Mazin giggles at the gurgling water. I always forget to consider the little elements of reality that threaten to shatter the ideal: mosquitoes and deer flies, wet diapers, pebbles that look like rice puffs, and sand--ah, sand, sand everywhere. It's worth it, though. I make the effort to get out there because I think it's good for Mazin to be outside, experiencing the world of sights and sounds beyond his familiar boundaries. I feel mildly guilty that I haven't yet taken him up the side of a mountain. (Add sweat, thirst, and burning thighs to that list of ideal crushers, and you have a serious deterrent.) But it's not August yet. We still have time. So strange that soon I'll be able to ask him what he would like to do. We have proto-language going on already, and he has definitely said "yum." Does that count as a first word? Other recent accomplishments: climbing the entire flight of stairs to the second floor--and closing the baby gate behind him! (And then looking back down the stairs with great satisfaction at his triumph.) Also throwing a ball to me when I ask for it--that's pretty cool. Eating chunks of food, as opposed to puree... which is now so six months! Mazin will have nothing to do with food he can't pick up himself. Crawling still meets his mobility needs, but I see walking on the horizon. He loves to pull himself up and stand. It's all happening very fast. So fast.