Myron is starting to notice more things in the world and establish some interests.

Trees!
The first not-entirely-predictable thing I’ve noticed Myron take an interest in is trees. I think it’s something about the way the branches blow in the breeze and the high contrast they create against the sky. As an aside, he is also interested in ceiling fans for their similar qualities. When he gets fussy in the evening, my main strategy is to take him out to the backyard and walk back and forth so that he can look up at the trees in the neighbor’s yard. This trick has about a 90% success rate.

I’ve started to pay more attention to trees now. I looked up from our backyard to try to see what he sees. I noticed that there are little green cones on the tops of the spruce trees that he looks at. I didn’t know green cones were a thing because I’ve only ever seen the brown ones on the ground, where even the tiniest ones are brown. Sometimes when I am walking or biking through the park, I start to pay attention to all the different types of trees, and it’s overwhelming when what was once a nondescript wash of green comes into focus as all kinds of different shades of reds and greens and blue-greens and so many shapes of leaves, and I realize there are probably 30 or so species of trees in my view at once, most of which I know nothing about.

Peek-a-boo!
This usually amuses him now. Sometimes it takes a couple of rounds before he gets into it. But then he is really into it, at least for a few minutes.

Fingers!
Myron has (possibly) started teething, which means lots of drool and also lots of fingers in his mouth. His favorite way to do this involves making the devil horns symbol. Em bought a mélange of teething toys when this started happening. His favorite is an orange ring that fits over his wrist and has four rubber finger-like protrusions.

Music and dancing!
We (mostly Em) sing to him sometimes. Em came up with a one-verse version of “Papa Loves Mambo” (as made famous by Perry Como) in which she replaced “mambo” with “Myron”, and that has become our family theme song. He usually smiles at the “wow” at the end. He also gets excited when we move his arms and legs to music.

He wasn’t always so into this. When he was almost 3 months old, Becky (who taught music for decades!) came to watch him once and played a nifty string instrument and sang to him, but he didn’t pay much attention to it. Next time he sees her, I’m sure he’ll be a lot more interested.

Shawn improvised a song for him a month later, and he was at least curious about it.

Speech!
Myron really focuses on us when we talk now. And he’s talking back by making mostly “aah” sounds. Em’s favorite book to read to him is called Stellaluna – a story about a bat who grows up with a flock of birds and befriends them. My favorite book to read to him is a Spanish version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar – La Oruga Muy Hambrienta. I’ve been speaking to him in Spanish as much as possible in an attempt to have him learn some of the language. I’ve also been looking up words I don’t know to help fill in the gaps in my Spanish knowledge. No matter what I say though, he just says back “aah” in agreement.