Look, ma, no hands!

The caption for this photo would be something like, "What?" My little man seems to want to be an acrobat. Maybe he'll be the next Man on Wire. (I hope not.) Is he a thrill seeker, or just interested in testing out his body in new situations? Hard to tell, but in addition to standing on the rocking horse, he has taken to launching himself off the chair, face first. He seems to like the sensation, and falling on the carpet doesn't hurt. Is it my job as a parent to tell him no, to try and train him to be cautious? The first time he did it, I found myself uncertain about how to react. If I don't squelch his inner daredevil, will he end up hurting himself when there's no carpet or I'm not there to catch him? But if I am too overbearing, how will he learn to set healthy limits for himself? I suppose it just gets harder the older they get.

At almost 14 months, Mazin now has an impressive receptive vocabulary, and seems to understand much of what we say. (The simple stuff, anyway.) He likes to show it off, to. He has one of those books with photos of lots of things in it, and he loves the game where I say the word and he points to the object. Somehow he knows strawberry, although it was way back in June when he spent hours in the fields with me, squishing fruit between his fingers. I guess it was pretty memorable. I can tell he is frustrated by his inability to speak. He does a little squawking shriek and points and grunts when he wants something, or doesn't get his way. It will be so liberating for him when he can say what he means.