in the dirt

Eddie's curiosity is reaching new levels as he is now totally uninterested with his toys and just wants to explore household items and of course those things he should not be touching at all, like blind cords and electrical cords of any and all sorts. In the kitchen he has a keen ability to sense when I am about to open the refrigerator or pantry cabinet and is always right there waiting to attempt to grab items. In the fridge he goes for the beer bottles. Figures. I even cleared out the bottom shelf on the door and put some of his toys in there. But no, of course he ignores that shelf altogether and goes for the glass bottles. In the pantry he grabs the baking powder and cocoa. Today I pushed the baking powder way to the back but to no avail, as he extended his long arms as far as he could to reach it. I pushed it back further, he started to cry. Upstairs his latest favorite thing to do is crawl into the shower, take the drain cover off and stick his hand down there. I have discovered how nasty the drains are after seeing his fingers covered in mildewy muck.

He seems to like to get dirty. Today we went to the park and after a 2nd attempt in the swing failed (he gets this look like he is going to hurl), I sat him down facing all the action - all the kids, the spraying water fountain, the jungle gyms, and he just kept turning around and crawling towards this tree and wanting to play in the dirt and feel the mulch in his fingers. He had no interest in the bouncy, textured park surface which is made out of some form of rubber and plastic, and instead wanted to crawl on the cement sidewalk and into the dirt. I was trying to figure out if he was just freaked out by all the commotion of the kids running around, but it didn't seem to be the case because he wasn't whining or fussing as he turned and crawled away. He was doing his excited grunt, this sort of hissing noise that he makes when he seems to be intensely interested in something. So I guess he is just not interested in the bling of the jungle gyms and prefers the shade of a good ole tree and some dirt. Nice. We like that simplicity.