The Looking Glass and a Little Give and Take

Master Blackwell and I had more time to play last night than we usually get. Unfortunately at Casa de Blackwell, we work on a pretty tight schedule.

Thanks to "Mr. My Cheeks go Rosy at the Drop of a Hat"
we've confined playtime inside the home.

Work means I leave at 7:30 a.m. and get home most nights at 5 p.m. This schedule doesn’t provide much time for us to play, given that he goes to bed between 7:30 and 8 p.m.  So, from Monday to Friday, it’s quality over quantity with regard to play time.

And last night was quality. (Though, Mrs. Blackwell was out for the evening, which made it less fun.)

I sat on the floor and listened as he grabbed and drooled upon whatever was within reach. While coating his toys, books and a blanket he also uncorked a stream of loud baby babble that went on for about 15 minutes straight.

He wasn’t too interested in anything I had to say and my presence was noticed only when I attempted to move or had to get up to go to the kitchen.

This was very much a sit-and-listen-to-me type of affair in which I was reduced to the role of spectator.

That was until the clock drew closer to bed time, his baby babble slowed and he began to crawl on me. Moving up toward my head and wearing that familiar distant look in his eyes, I knew immediately that he was headed toward my glasses.

I was right but, unlike the game detailed in this space earlier this week, this one proceeded differently.

Once he reached grabbing distance he removed my glasses and drooled on them. Nothing different here. But instead of spending a minute coveting the spoils of his trip, he extended his arm and dropped the glasses; I didn’t have to pry them from his hands.

No longer was he stealing and then clutching onto the glasses. He was now sending them back to me.

Initially, I thought he’d just grown bored of the glasses and the moment I put them back on he went for them again. But, like the last time, he didn’t hold onto them for the customary amount of time. He gave them a lick or two, and then he dropped them in my hand.

Perhaps the boy just read my sign. 

To be sure that he was indeed giving them back and wasn’t in fact just bored, I didn’t immediately pick up the glasses. Instead, I left them sitting where he dropped them. This interruption in the cycle drew his interest. He looked at the glasses, then at me, then at the glasses and then did nothing at all.

For about a minute the glasses sat next to my hand. During this time he sat still, frequently looking at me and making sure the situation remained the same. He made a little bit of noise, blew a few spit bubbles and in general just chilled out.

Finally I relented, wiped the lenses clean and put them back on.

No sooner were they resting on my nose than did he remove them. But, like last time he didn’t hold on for long. A quick lick and they were released back to me. This, it’s clear, is the new game and it’s not really a game at all. It’s literally, give and take.

After watching him do his own thing for the better part of an hour and feeling like I was merely along for the ride, it turns out we really did play together.

Accordingly, and until the little guy decides different, my contact lenses will be on the shelf a lot more.