9/8-9/2006 - Playing hard

With each of my kids, I felt an inexplicable responsibility to help them learn to play. As if my children may have gone out in life to be the only ones with no understanding of what "fun" is. I haven't been as diligent with the baby, but I have distinct memories of showing my eldest how one could make plastic animals talk to one another, in English or whatever animal tongue they chose.

Despite my fears, my eldest eventually learned to have fun. He has recently shown great aptitude for it, spending as much as 40 minutes making plastic animals talk to one another. The baby also shows signs of developing this critical skill.

I don't see the baby so much (especially during the week) so it all starts with the nightly bath. For the most part, the bath has been a period of exploration, during which the baby finds things he shouldn't and experiments with what happens when they get wet. On occasion when the boys bathe together, the Eldest has taken great delight in sticking foam bath toys to the baby. The first inkling of "fun" I saw in the baby was the moment he stuck a foam toy to himself and looked up at me with that drooly grin.

Of course, this was as much imitation as it was having fun. But this week, he has begun to have unambiguous fun in the bath. Somehow he discovered that the big splashes were [a] emanating from him and [b] fun. All of a sudden, we were all soaked as the baby repeatedly struck the water, shrieking with delight.

I am overjoyed to watch my boys having fun. I can really think of no greater fatherhood experience to date. I look forward to what lies in store.

34,500 enjoyable steps today. Cheers,