Simple Pleasures

Sometimes I'm amazed at how the simplest things can please and entertain a baby. It's one of my favorite joys about having a baby in my life: to watch the look of awe and wonder at, well, just about anything.

At dinner last night Josiah was fussy and tired, but it was too early to put him to bed, so we were doing the best we could to entertain him while we ate. He was fine as long as one of us held him on our lap, but he's also in the grabby stage and was trying to grab our dinner plate or drinking glasses, or even the food as it went to our mouths. John and I traded holding him, trying to keep him happy, and every now and then we tried putting him down in his bouncy seat between us. No matter what toy we gave him, he just cried, putting us back at square one.

Then I remembered the spoon. He had taken great interest in one of those plastic kid's spoons that's shaped like an elephant on one end. It didn't have sharp edges and wasn't too small that he'd choke on it. So I plopped him into his seat, handed him the spoon, and ta-da! He was quietly amazed for about 20 minutes while the rest of us finished our dinner in peace!