The Look of Love

You may have picked up by this point that our wonderful toddler is a bit obsessive in his preferences. Joy's response is to try to avoid giving him his latest obsession in the hopes it will tone down. My response is to try to dilute it by getting him a lot of obsessions he can choose from - that way Joy has plenty of other desirable things to replace the problem with. This is why I'm so vigorous in introducing new music and movies to him and keep track of recent successes on the right hand side of the blog (formerly Hyrum's True Love de Jour, now just Hyrum Discovers).

In the process, I've learned that Hy has this look when he's discovering a new True Love. And that's a fun thing to notice.

Last night before bed he asked me to read him The Crocodile poem again. As usual I was insistent that we read something new first. As I turned the page to the next "poom" he saw how long it was going to be and didn't have any funny pictures. He began to despair but I launched into it before he could object. .. I hadn't realized Silverstein wrote The Unicorn which I only knew as the song by the Irish Rovers and Roger Whittaker. But that meant I knew a tune for it and sang away.

And I saw ... the look. He sat entranced as I sang away about the mythic creatures. It's not a look of ecstasy, delight, or glee. It's the look of someone entranced - who is focusing every ounce of soulfiber into this wondrous new experience so that it won't be forgotten - for whom time and everything outside of this experience has ceased to exist and this one moment can continue indefinitely without complaint - slack-jawed and drooling, only his eyes betray the intensity of his interest.

I finish and there comes the greatest applause our little boy offers: in the softest, reverent voice he asks "again?"