You made your first deliberate choice today: Saying "screw you" to grandma

Today, as far as my knowledge goes, you made your first deliberate choice today. Im sure you've made choices before...but this choice was extremely deliberate. You were asserting yourself, for the first time! And your first choice you have ever made in your life was......(drum roll please)....giving your grandma the baby equivalent of the middle finger.

Grammy Loreen is my mom, your maternal grandmother. She is probably the only other person who loves you with the same passion as your father and I love you. She drives 2 hours, several times a month, from Columbus to Cincinnati, just to wipe your ass. She was there the day we found out what sex you were. In fact, if you had girly bits, you would have been named Aurora Claire Loreen Nelson, after your Grandma Loreen. She is the only one who gives me a break and will stay up all night watching you so that mommy can catch up on sleep (daddy would, but, he works 2 jobs, so, it's pretty much just me flying solo on the staying-up-all-night business). She hosted a baby shower for you in Columbus, she makes sure you have enough clothes and toys, she sings to you and dances with you. You have peed on her and she just smiled and laughed. She was in the room when you were born, she saw you enter this world. She is the one you will live with if anything were to ever happen to me or your dad.  I came from her, and you came from me.She loves you with as much power and passion as someone could love another person.

So, what was this thing...so grand...so enchanting...so brillant that you would say "screw you!" to your grammy who loves you? A puppet. A puppet in the shape of a duck, a wolf and a cute, but, deformed looking boy.

Today you went to your first puppet show. You saw "Peter and the Wolf". And you were in love. I knew you would be awake for some of it, as you had a good nap that morning. But, I didn't know how it would go. You are only 3 months old and life probably seems like a Salvador Dalhi painting most of the time, I'm sure. I didn't know if you would get fussy and start crying, or, if you would be bored since the theater was so dark and fall asleep, or, if you would want to "talk" and "coo" and "laugh" and interrupt the entire show since music was playing and the atmosphere was fun. It was really a crap shoot how you would react. But, you fell in love. The seconds the lights dimmed, the music came on, and those (mostly) well-crafted puppets came out and were animated ....something magical happened. Your eyes were glued to the show. Some hand sucking, bib sucking and, of course, the need to eat a bottle ensued. You are your father's son...all you do is eat :-). But, you were glued to the show. You couldn't take your eyes off of it. You were in love. You were so quiet....taking it all in, concentrating intently. You smiled and lit up watching the puppets act out the fairy tale.

Grandma had to sit behind us due to the seating. She wanted to see you, so, I turned you AWAY from the show to see grammy behind us. However, you had other plans. You were trying to be nice to grandma, so, you didn't fuss....but....you kept constantly turning your head back to the puppets. Back to the show. You basically said "screw you, grandma, you're nice and all, but, these puppets are where it is at!!!!". You couldnt be bothered with your grandma who loves you. The need to gaze upon a marionet was urgent.

We got the hint and just kept you forward facing for the rest of the show.

So, the first deliberate choice you have ever made was chosing a piece of wire and felt in the shape of a duck, over your flesh and blood grandmother. Luckily, she won't hold this against you when Christmas comes around :-).

And yes, there will be more puppet shows in your future. Don't worry. I know now you need your puppet fix :-).