Baron takes on 2011!

Crazy, crazy kid. He has a mountain of toys now. A monument of blinking, chirping, whistling, whirring plastic things. After a wonderful holiday season I find myself glad that I packed some of his toys away a month ago in anticipation of just such a situation. The funny thing is, he likes 'em all. He's still getting around to the shwag he received at his birthday and now he has even MORE and he really does get around to most of them. Papa gave him a set of lazer combat remote control vehicles and he's geekin out over those. He doesn't quite get how to make them go forward or backward, but he sure knows where the lazer trigger is. He will keep firing the that thing off over and over and over again until that 'beew-beew-beew' is the only thing I can hear. Over. And. Over.
Thanx again, Papa.
But yeah, who do you think Papa really bought that for? Yeah, that's what I'm thinkin' too.
I can't express how happy I am that he will sit still through his favorite book without going off to do something else. Really. I just wondered there for a while if he would ever slow down for a book. But. Buuuut, and I hate to complain, but if I have to read 'It's not easy being big' with Big Bird and Elmo more than four times in a row again, I might hide it somewhere for a little while. It's the only book he wants to sit through. And he will sit still for every page, pointing at the different characters while I say their names as I read the story and he really loves it. But as soon as that last page is flipped over he demands a re-read or else. Ugh. Soon.
He's full on testing his boundaries now. He understands what we say very well. He knows of the few things that will get him in trouble. Like using his drum sticks on the wall. So, sometimes he will grab his drum sticks and run over to the wall, look at Mommy or myself, and raise his arms in preparation for the strike that he knows should not be struck. And sure enough, if we make eye contact, he more than likely will hit it, just once, and as soon as we raise our voice or start to get up he'll throw the sticks one direction and run off in the opposite direction. He doesn't do this all the time, but it's a few things like this and as a group it seems like he's testing us in one way or another most of the time. Admittedly, it probably doesn't help to dissuade him when I see that look of inquisitive defiance in his eyes and I can't help but grin. He's a tiger in a small cage, wanting to go out and find something new to pounce on. We were expecting to raise a small, fragile child that we would have to protect from the world and instead we have a monkey minded wrecking ball information sponge that we have to protect the world from. Can't wait to take him hiking. Let him take down a deer or maybe a mountain goat.
Gets me thinking about what sports he will be interested in and what he'll be good at when he gets older. I expect that he's going to be very competitive and strong. Like, gorilla stong. He's already sprinting at cheetah speed and he can climb anything, even well cleaned glass. So what will he want to play? I was never into sports. I did it because it was expected, not because I wanted to. I think Baron is going to be the opposite. I hope so! How else am I going to live vicariously through him?
Heh.