The Number Field

Yesterday, I didn't arrive home until late. Elena had long since finished her dinner and even took her evening bottle before Jenny and I sat down to eat a delicious breakfast dinner of whole wheat pancakes, bacon, and grapefruit. Although Elena played with her toys for a little while at the beginning of our meal, after just a little while she crawled over to see what was happening in our area.

I'm surprised by how tall Elena has grown. When standing, she can almost see the table top, and at this particular moment she had an excellent view, so she could tell how much we were enjoying dinner. Even though she had eaten more than enough already, she wanted in on the action and started whining. I didn't respond to her advances, so it went on for a few minutes.

Then Jenny intervened. In a very normal voice with no gestures or other cues, she said "Elena, Daddy isn't sharing with you, but if you come over here maybe Mommy will share with you." Upon hearing this, Elena immediately let herself down, crawled all the way around the table, pulled herself up and started begging at Jenny's knee. Jenny told Elena she wouldn't get any pancake unless she signed for "more." As you can see below, Elena complied. At least in my mind, this clearly demonstrates that she understands what we say. Also, the big smile and laugh after she gets the pancake is probably because of the syrup, a rare and tasty treat for her.

Just before bedtime we tried do some fingernail trimming. Usually Jenny files them, but Elena has increased her resistance and Jenny asked for my help. I decided to give the supposedly baby-safe nail clippers a try, and managed to take care of one or two of them, but when I set to work on her left pinky I miscalculated or flinched and nicked her fingertip. Elena didn't seem to mind it at all, but it started bleeding enough that we put a band-aid on it. I wonder how many other babies have their first nail clipping and first band-aid coincide? Unless I'm just the clumsiest father alive, I'm sure there have been more than a few.