March 15, 2001 - Thursday
For a couple of weeks now, Harry, at various points of malaise, has been practicing standing on his head. Of course, he can't do it, at least he can't get both feet off the ground. But, he's clearly trying to do something like that. With his hands and feet all on the floor, Harry will put his head down, transfers his weight forward, then either lift up one foot high - so it looks as though he really might be about to thrust himself up to a full headstand - or lift his two hands and fan his arms up and out to the side like he's posing to be a diver in mid take-off.

A few weeks ago Harry went through a period of craving the book "Chester the Worldly Pig." It's about a farm pig that learns to balance on his snout so he can join the circus and, while in some ways it's to imagine, it always seemed to me that Harry was trying to emulate Chester. So, tonight, while Harry was performing his best three point stance, I commended him on his agility and told him he looked just like Chester the Pig.

These are the moments that continue to astound me. Harry's more than a year old and learning constantly, but sometimes there are these wonderful surprises that prove it's not all by rote and that there's a clever little mind in there forming otherwise seemingly random associations. Harry immediately stood up and looked at the bookcase. He didn't see the book right away and I didn't either. He started to move toward the bookcase for a closer look and I called out to his mother asking where the book might be, worried that it might be in the car or upstairs. Just as Harry was starting to pull random books from his shelf, his mother found Chester the Worldly Pig hiding under a stack on the floor. As she pulled it out, Harry giggled with delight.


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