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It seems like chaos to parents who live in the middle of it all day, every day. I know that’s true because they told me so. To me, coming in for a few hours on a Tuesday night, it’s a wonderland of energy and exuberance. That’s the perspective of someone who will end up sleeping in his own bed in his quiet home in the country at the end of the day.
So tonight I went to Tammy and David’s for dinner, and as an added bonus I did a little last-minute emergency baby sitting while they went out and bought a second-hand crib. D.J. started talking as soon as he opened the front door for me, and he didn’t stop until a bowl of Tammy’s homemade tomato and rice soup was put in front of him.
It was all dinosaurs and Spider-Man, as usual, and as usual I got a little lost in the telling. But that didn’t really make any difference to him. When you’re in charge of the narrative the way he is, you kind of gloss over the lapses that well-intentioned adults are likely to make.
Dakota was busy with his cars and his animals, and he didn’t require as much attention. An occasional acknowledgment was about as far as his demands went. He would look at me and say a word, then wait until I repeated it. Or he would wait until I said something worth repeating, and then repeat it himself. It’s not that complicated once you get the rules straight.
And Aiden, when his parents brought him home from the shopping trip, was his usual charming baby self. He laughed, he played with a plastic spoon, and he ate almost as much as he got all over his face. You can’t beat the life of an (almost) eight-month-old baby in a loving home. It might never be quite this good again, but he doesn’t need to know that now.
He did his latest trick for me tonight. Actually, he did it for himself, but I watched. He is now nearly fully mobile (when he’s allowed to be). He doesn’t exactly crawl, but it’s a little more than a scoot. He gets up on his hands and knees, then lifts his body up off the floor and moves both feet forward a step, then collapses. Then up, forward, down – as often as necessary to get where he wants to go.
He’s very quick and agile at this, so he doesn’t care if he crawls or not. As strong as he is, and as well as he uses his feet for this maneuver, it won’t be a shock to see him walking upright a little earlier than maybe we expected. There’s no real need to encourage him, because he motivates himself well enough.
He’ll climb up and over any obstacle, including parents and brothers and uncles. He’s almost as fascinated by the dog as the dog is fascinated by him. If Aiden and Titus had their way, it would be a perpetual baby-puppy love fest. Hence the occasional need for obstacles. | 
