We had Dylan over for the night last Sunday. He is a delight, but it does take both of us to keep up with him. He is not "hyper" active, but is very busy. So much to see, touch, hear, taste...and get into. He is beginning to form simple, two word sentences such as "shoes, bye-bye." (When his mother and uncle were small, they would see me reach for my shoes -- I hated shoes then, and hate them today -- and they would say, "Mommy, I want to go..." because they knew I was going out. They generally went most places with me.) So, Dylan comes by his association of "shoes" and "bye-bye" honestly.

He climbs, and is totally fearless. He climbed onto the couch in the living room and from there onto the card table in the center of the room (we don't have a coffee table, so we just put the card table where a coffee table would go), then walked to the center of the table, looked at me, and said, "I jump". Next thing I know, he's launched himself straight into my arms. He repeated this exercise five or six times before he lost interest.

Bedtime here is not as much of a challenge as his mother finds it to be. She describes getting him to bed at night as "a nightmare." I suggested she put into place a simple, predictable bedtime routine for him, and be consistent. He gets playtime, then "PJ time" here. When the PJ's go on, activity levels and noise and light levels start decreasing. He sleeps in darkness in a quiet room, with little problem. I told his mother that babies are very much creatures of habit; they like knowing what comes next, and they like routine.

The house usually looks like a cyclone's hit it when he leaves...but I find I really don't mind the mess. I'm mellowing with maturity. His mom never gets upset by the messes, and good for her and for Dylan. She continues doing a superlative job of nurturing him, despite having had some very serious barriers early on. He is without question one of the most absolutely secure children I've ever known.