November 26, 2002 - Tuesday
Our nice, easy going one-year-old is becoming a little less easy going and a little more adamant about realizing his own wishes and desires. We've been seeing this emerge over the last few weeks, but now it's pretty clear that he's entered his second year both physically and emotionally. He screams aggressively now when he thinks he wants something and has obviously figured out that the louder he cries the more likely it is that he will get a positive response. At least, that has pattern over the first twelve months of life. Unfortunately, he does not realize that we are on to him, that the crying is no longer innocent, and that the pattern is not as simple as that. This he was learn over the next several months of life. Still, even though this obligatory early toddler behavior is kicking in and making him less than the sweetest baby ever, his vigorous cries for attention are, when a few exceptions, usually mercifully short once he realizes that it's not working. Maybe he's still the same delightful boy just stuck in a toddler's body.

This picture with Grandpa over the weekend is here because this morning Jeremy saw Harry put on his dinosaur hat and immediately picked up his red and blue hat and demanded, with grunts, that I put his on him. Fortunately, this is an easy to solve problem, but it's an example of Jeremy expressing his desires. And, it's an indication that he's starting to want what his brother has. Harry's been that way for a while, and now Jeremy is starting to hold up his end of the sibling rivalry.

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This afternoon when I picked up Harry from preschool he was standing at a pair of easels painting with another little girl, who was visiting the preschool room because she is about to graduate into the class in January. In this setting he showed little of the apprehension of the other day and had no difficulty asserting himself, aggressive "sharing" paint colors, and generally taking control of his artwork activity.

Harry also sang the complete first verse and bridge of "King of the Road" and has clearly been listening carefully.


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