August 18, 2001 - Saturday
Harry's young cousin Chloe came to visit today. It's not the first time Harry has seen her, but it is the first time she's been to Harry's house and the first time Harry's dad remembered to take a picture. This is Chloe with her father, Harry's funny Uncle Ben.

Harry is much bigger than Chloe. Harry talks more and walks more than Chloe, too. In fact, compared to Harry these days, Chloe really doesn't do too much at all other than sleep, smile, and eat. The funny thing is that it's hard to remember Harry being just the same way only a year and a half ago. With a young child the present can be so intense and encompassing that the past is quickly a distant memory. Looking at Chloe and comparing her actions with Harry's these days, it seems infants are so easy to handle. They don't get into cupboards, or fall and hurt their heads, or eat mysterious objects. It's not really true, of course. Infants are a lot of work, too. It's just a different kind of work. Infants sleep more, and those breaks are wonderful compared to the relative non-stop of a toddler, but when infants are awake they demand constant stimulation and they supply very little of it for themselves. Much to the contrary of infants being easy, I actually remember feeling a sense of relief when Harry started moving around and finding his own amusement because it took a little of the pressure off me to figure out how to distract him every other moment.


Comments, opinions?