NSJ

Before Niko was born I started saving my yogurt tops because it seemed like they would make a cooler toy than an addition to the landfill. Plus I’m fairly confident they don’t use led paint in the manufacturing process. My original vision for how how the toy made of yogurt tops would all come together involved gears, motors, rope, and a CPU. In a rare demonstration of realism, I ended up settling for a permanent marker and some letters and numbers.

The yogurt tops turn out to be great distractions for him at meal time. He ends up throwing the tops more than the food. This is bad for Sumo, but good for our clothing and the kitchen walls. It allows him to be bad in a, “Then I’ll just throw this on the ground if you make me keep eating” kinda way, never internalizing there are 49 more where that one came from. Plus the great thing about “throwing things on the ground” it is never gets old, even after 50 yogurt tops.

For reasons not yet apparent, Niko seems to have gravitated towards the letter “Y.” The funny thing about being a new parent is you are amazed by ANYTHING they do. “Did he just burp? Quick, get the video camera and see if you can get him to do it again.” You are so amazed, that you make him do things over and over. Each time, you are prouder than the last. I imagine once you have five or six of these rug rats, it takes a Nobel Peace Prize to even get you to look up from the newspaper.

[flv]http://happyinwater.com/nicholas/videos/letter-Y.flv[/flv]