Perpetual Motion Kid

He is in non-stop motion.  Something is always moving; arms, legs, head, everything.  He rolls around on the floor.  He runs.  He flails, and then spins around until he gets dizzy.  He picks things up.  He puts them down.  He climbs on chairs, and then he climbs off without ever actually pausing to just sit in the chair.  There is much to be done.  And dammit, he's going to do it all, right now.  

It's actually quite difficult to photograph him sometimes because by the time you have him in the frame, he's gone.  He's in the next room. 

(When you view this photo, make a bullet-shooting-off sound, like "p-chow!"  Or the roadrunner cartoon "meep-meep!" and then "p-chow!")

He is a blur of high-speed toddler.  Except when we go to pick him up in order to get him to go somewhere that he doesn't want to go (inside, from outside), or to do something that he doesn't want to do (put on his shoes or his jammies).  Then he goes completely limp in your arms and tries to ooze out of your grasp.  Have you ever tried to put a coat on a 30 lb bag of jello?  That's what it's like.  At these times, we say that he has "gone boneless."

Look at this sweet child.  The photo below was taken in Charleston last week, while Claire was talking to the Chair of our new geology department.  It looks like he's saying something, doesn't it?  Do you know what this sweet precious boy is saying in this photo? "In a little while, when Mommy is talking to the Dean, I'm going to flail around and wedge myself between two chairs and then scream bloody murder while Daddy tries to extract me and then sheepishly drag me out into the hallway."