Point and Schtick

One of the sweetest experiences of parenthood is the simple act of gazing into your child's face. I remember the first time I saw Benjamin's scrunched-up, angry little tomato face and thought to myself, "Wow. That's my son." The Angry Tomato Face was soon replaced by the Crying Tomato Face. As he got older, we came to know more of Benjamin's faces: the Give-Me-Boobies Face, the I'm-Crying-So-Hard-My-Face-Is-Going-To-Turn-Inside-Out Face, and the I-Want-More-Cheerios Face. And let's not forget the Pooping Face, which is often confused with the Deep-in-Thought Face. Then this week, a new Benjamin Face unveiled itself: the Maniacally Happy Face.

Vince is the one who should be credited with "discovering" this particular face. Vince realized that if he made a maniacally happy face and then pointed at Benjamin, Benjamin would respond by making a similarly maniacal right back at him. They went back and forth like this several times until Vince's cheek muscles started cramping up. Later on, I gave it a shot myself, and found that Benjamin would reward my facial acrobatics in the same way.
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If there's one thing I've learned from this whole exercise, it's that nothing escapes Benjamin's attention. Baby see, baby do. I suppose this means I should be careful about how I behave when I'm around him. Especially in the car while I'm driving. As funny as it might be, I don't think it would good to have a baby who flips the bird and curses.