May 13, 2001 - Sunday
We've taken lot of pictures of Harry, far more than even the number on this site, but I've been bad about taking pictures of Harry with other people. The most recent pictures of Harry with other people is almost 6 months old. Today, we were at my parent's house for Mother's Day and Harry's Grandmother's birthday and, as usual, I forgot to bring the camera. I suppose I've never been all that good about taking pictures of random events with lots of others, so perhaps this is really no different than ever. The fact that I have taken a lot of pictures of Harry is really the oddity. On the other hand, with Harry around we tend to take pack up extraneous gear wherever we go. So, why the camera wouldn't be among them is something of a puzzle.

I suppose it's arguable that the answer is that as new parents we're simply focused to the extent of obsession on our own child. The other people are now all effectively in the background. I hope and think that's not the case, but it does fit something of a stereotype, it seems to me. And, certainly today, Harry was more my focus than anyone else at the party. He was not much his normal self, being very shy around other people and more cranky than usual, and that is probably a result of being over tired from not sleeping much yesterday. He was demand much of his mother's and my attention until he went to take a nap, and even that was quite a prolonged event. But, at least then, he took a two-hour nap and gave his mother and me some time with the others. But that, of course, meant no pictures.

In a very intriguing side note, as usually I tried to coax Harry into a nap with song and sang, among other things, my version of "What a Wonderful World." During the bridge, Harry, who thought he was not tired, lifted up his head and repeated some of the words.

The colors of the rainbow
are so pretty in the sky ("pretty")
They're also on the faces ("faces")
of the people going by ("bye")

I sang the bridge three times and Harry did this on both the second and third times through. The first two words - pretty and faces - were very much in the character and mood of the song. "Bye" was less so and much more with Harry's new enthusiasm and clear toddler understanding of "bye-bye." I'm not sure what to make of this little episode, but it sure was charming (excepting the fact that I really wanted Harry to be going to sleep) and warrants repeating to learn whether it was the beginning of something or just circumstances.



Comments, opinions?