Shut Eyes

Tolliver has an inadequate respect for tomorrow.  Lately anyway, he's not sleeping through the night.  And I'm not complaining.  I mean, night-waking falls squarely in the realm of universal baby problems, right along with nap strikes and pacifier addictions.  And squarely in the realm of universal is where we'd like to be.  Well, there and in bed at night.

Really though, Tollie's such a sweet boy.  He frustrates easily and throws top notch tantrums, but he short circuits back to happy pretty quickly.  He uses a few words, some of which he even puts together into short sentences (Hi Dada was Celia's first sentence, too!).  He shakes his head ridiculously hard, like an all caps no means NO, and has several other gestures which he uses to mean all sorts of serious business.  He's able to identify body parts, poking eyeballs and tickling toes.  He turns switches on and off and opens and closes cabinets and, in general, occupies plenty of time with repetitive practice.  He's very curious but not especially cautious, and insists on doing things like walking up steps and sitting on bar stools just like his brother.  He imitates at least five animals (the elephant is my favorite!) and he uses a spoon and he brushes his teeth.
He's like a ticklish little container of the divine, Tollie is, with generous cheeks and glittery eyes.  And with a mama who doesn't mind shutting her eyes to a little sleep deprivation, especially when he opens them to so many other good things.
JEB