"To Love Oneself Is the Beginning of a Lifelong Romance." --Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband

We thought that this week we'd present our blog in terms of pictographical representations of the week (not surprisingly, this pictographic evidence all revolves around our son). In the time honored tradition of Narcissus and many other self-admirers, Andrew has recently discovered his reflection in the mirror. Here, you see the boy presenting his reflection with a sloppy token of his affection (i.e. a "smooch"). (Dan says, "we don't blame him for giving himself a kiss in the mirror--he is a rather handsome young man--but we wish he wouldn't use so much tongue!")When he's not admiring himself in the mirror, he's trying to pull the mirror off whatever surface it may be adorning and throwing it on the floor.

"The Youth of the present day are quite monstrous. They have absolutely no respect for dyed hair." --Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan


This is Andrew trying to escape from our home-made barricades to keep him in the living room (otherwise, we're constantly trying to haul him back from other, less baby proofed regions of the house. If you can't tell what this is, it's a body pillow wedged between a tupperware box and a chair. And no, he didn't make it through--he eventually gave up trying to squeeze across the opening). We can certainly sympathize with the urge to escape: both of us adults occasionally find ourselves in that position. This week, it was Dan's turn--he spent the first several days of the week at a conference in New Jersey (the location should say it all) where the sole purpose of his presence was to boost audience attendance at his advisor's symposium. Needless to say, Andrew and I both missed him greatly and all concerned were glad to have him back in town. My methods of escapism are a little more subtle--I simply go shopping.

"In married life, three is company, two is none." --Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest


Here is a picture of Andrew, charming as always in the Lands End overalls I picked up at a garage sale. Although he looks rather restful in this picture, this was taken only seconds after Dan had to be extricated from Andrew's death-grip on his scalp. As part of his ongoing investigation of his surroundings, he's figured out what he can and cannot pull on. (Although I think that mostly he's discovering that anything can be pulled on--his favorites are hair, the computer keyboard, and the DSL connector). Keeping Andrew entertained can sometimes be a challenge--we had stake conference today, and Andrew spent most of the time cruising around the narrow space in front of our seats. He also charmed our neighbor (an investigator, as it turns out), inveigling her into giving him bouncy rides on her foot.

"Youth smiles without any reason. It is one of its chiefest charms."--Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray


Andrew really is delightful (most days)--he's starting to understand a lot more and interact a lot more. For instance, if I ask him, "where's your ball," he'll often stop what he's doing to look around the room until he spots his ball. He loves to play a limited form of catch where we roll the ball back and forth (well, mostly I roll it). I don't know if he's fully grasped the concept, though; after a couple of rolls, he'll usually crawl towards me, corner the ball, and tries his darnedest to chew on it (doesn't quite fit in his mouth). In a similar spirit of joie de vivre, Dan let me experience once more the carefree single life by watching Andrew so that I could attend the adult session of stake conference Saturday night. Afterward, I went to dinner with several friends in the ward at the only real Mexican restaurant in a sixty mile radius (although I did take pity on Dan and brought some food home for him). It was nice, but I have to admit that my stamina for staying out is not what it once was; I got home just after 10:30 pm and it might as well have been the wee hours of the morning, as tired as I felt!

"Nothing looks so like innocence as an indiscretion."--Oscar Wilde, Lord Arthur Savile's Crime

Dan calls this picture, "Trigger's Triumph." Andrew was pulling himself up on his horsey and ended up sitting on the red side frame, and then gradually slipping underneath before he figured out that he could turn over and extricate himself. No real connection to our lives; we just liked the photo.