While I try not to have too many expectations of who I expect Harper to be when he grows up, I can't help but hope that he is a geek. Math, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, any of the math or sciences would be lovely. The best I can do is to encourage critical thinking, and give him educational toys.

Have I gone too far?

Pros:

Making a two day trip in 5 hours.

I don't have to drive.

Airports are fun.

Can feed Harper without stopping.

Cons:

Small seats.

Expensive food.

Being stuck in a big metal tube with dozens of people for 5 hours in the middle of flu season.

My poor baby is sick.

My poor Tom is sick.

I am sick.

And then I saw this product on Amazon.com:

In my "What to Expect" book, there is a little blurb on how to stimulate your child though toys and games. It says that children Harper's age won't listen to stories, but that they will enjoy the bright colors of picture books. We find with Harper this is half true. He loves his board books, mostly to chew on. His "toy box" (a small square basket) is more than half filled with little board books we have been given or collected. I even found little 3 inch books that are perfect for his hands.

But he doesn't just enjoy the board books. We read chapter books to him, with occasionaly pictures. While his attention may wane after just a few pages, he will sometimes listen to a whole chapter. Tom is currently reading the Wind in the Willows to him, and I am reading the Mouse and the Motorcycle.

We don't do this because we are trying to creat a genius baby. We don't sit down with flashcards and try to teach him to read, or enroll him in classes so that he'll be doing calculus by age twelve. In this day and age, reading is often viewed as arachaic. Why would you read when you could watch tv or listen to your mp3 player? I want Harper to be a reader. It is wonderful and increasingly rare.

So, a few weeks ago, the wierdest thing happened. I was cleaning out Harper's toes when I found this:

It kind of freaked me out. I was able to pull a strand of hair out, but it was so deep, I couldn't tell if I had gotten it all, especially since it didn't seem to get any better (by forming back into place). It looked like it might have broken the skin it was so red, so then I was also worried about infection. It was a Sunday afternoon though, so the only place I could go was the hospital. The doctor called it a "Hair Tourniquet" and confirmed that I did get everything out of it, the skin was not broken, and that the line may take several days to go away.

It took over a week for that line to go away!! I'd never seen anything like it (aside from a tight hairband on the wrist, which hardly compares) and I have 8 siblings and my mom did daycare!

At least our first ER visit was a mellow one.

Here is some internet randomness I found. And by randomness, I mean awesomeness.