I can't believe it's been nearly two weeks and I've forgotten to mention that Rowan's pacifier has gone the way of the baby swing. (That is to say, Rowan doesn't use a pacifier anymore.) The story honestly seems too good to be true: a couple of weeks ago I thought it's probably time for Rowan to ditch the "paci", so one morning for his nap I just put him down without it. And that was it. It was a cold-turkey, approximately painless transition to the pacifier-free life.
Speaking of freedom, let me just say: we're not ruling anything out permanently, but all you grandparents out there shouldn't be expecting another grandbaby, at least from us, anytime soon. While several of our friends say they can't wait to experience the newborn phase all over again with their next child, Tom and I are relishing every little step Rowan takes away from newborn-hood. I was afraid I'd look back longingly at the nursing and the rocking, and maybe when Rowan is a full-fledged preschooler and wants nothing to do with cuddling I'll change my mind, but for now, I say bring on the walking, talking, feeding himself, pacifier-free, pack-a-little-bag-and-go life!
Now, the other half of this title mentions problem-solving, and you're going to love this little story. Just this morning when Tom was about to leave for work, Rowan and I were playing on the living room floor. Tom walked over to say goodbye, and Rowan handed Tom a small ball we had been playing with. Tom showed Rowan the ball, then closed it in one of his fists and swirled the two fists back and forth to confuse Rowan. Then Tom said, "Where's the ball?" Rowan chose a fist, and it was empty. He inspected it carefully to see there was no ball. Then he opened Tom's other hand, giggling when he found the ball. Tom decided to repeat the game, so he closed the ball in his fist, swirled the fists around, and said, "Where's the ball?" Rowan looked for a moment and then simultaneously reached up and opened one of Tom's fists with each hand! Our baby is not constrained by the implicit rules of the game, so he figured the sure way to get the ball was to yank open both fists at once! Naturally the ball fell onto the floor where Rowan grabbed it while Tom and I looked at each other with a silent "Wow." Tom said he had expected Rowan to try some new strategy, but he just wasn't expecting that strategy. You go, Rowan!