In bloom....

The whole world is growing, so fast it is almost audible. The flowering trees are glorious, every branch coated so fully with blossoms it's as if they have always been that way, and always will be. The imitation of permanence is so convincing I almost take them for granted. The world is awash in "spring green," and the air smells like budding leaves and new grass. Jack and Cor and I had a simply delicious walk this evening, out in all this glorious spring. The sort of evening where I could walk forever. Jack happily played with his feet, took his hat off, said a lot of stuff that all sounded like "ahhhh" and looked around at the sun. I narrated the tour with a description of every flower I could see, and some commentary on house architecture. Corydon sniffed a lot.

Jack's new flashes of the day:

* His FIFTH tooth is coming in. Yep, 5 teeth. The kid is a dental overachiever. My boobs are a little concerned.
* He can now sucessfully feed himself every 3rd Cheerio or so. He has also decided that he likes matzo crackers.
* He can spin in a circle using his belly as a pivot point. He is also pushing his entire upper body and even his hips off the ground with his arms. Just no apparent desire to GO anywhere.
* His 12 month size clothes are fitting much better than I thought they would when I bought them for summer...! They seemed so big when I brought them home. All of a sudden they're the size of Jack.
* He is very opinionated about being laid down these days. Almost every time he is laid down on the changing table he complains loudly-- until we start Pooh singing his "up, down, up" song, that is.
* The night before last he slept for 8 hours straight, 10:30pm-6:30am. I was hoping it might be a habit, but last night we were back to our usual (as of late) schedule, up at 12, 3, and 6.
* He knows to clap on command ("clap, clap, clap") and was all about the clapping today on our walk.
* He is saying "da da da" a lot, with some "ba's" and a lot of "ahh's". And sometimes, like last night, he screeches, seemingly for the joy of hearing his own screech. (15 minutes of it at bedtime...)
* When I tuck him in, he really likes to have his hair and his forehead stroked. He'll look up at me and relax visibly when I do it.