The Secret Lives of Beans

Something is going on in this picture - exactly what I can't be sure. Elliot obviously has some problem with Izzy. Perhaps Izzy has something in his beard, perhaps Izzy has licked Elliot on the face (think Lucy's reaction to Snoopy), or perhaps Elliot wants to pull Izzy's hair and Izzy resisted. Whatever is going on, I feel like my son is experiencing his first relationship about which he is keeping me in the dark. Perhaps a little preview of his teenage years.

6 months or half a year

On Friday, the bean turned that magic number - that elusive midpoint between zero and one. When celebrating his mid-year arrival, I couldn't resist thinking of Zeno's most troubling paradox. As Aristotle tells it: "That which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at its goal." Well, that makes perfect sense, until you conclude that a thing could never arrive at its goal, because there is always a half-way point between two points. The paradoxical conclusion is that travel over a finite distance can never be begun or completed - thus rendering all motion an illusion. Well, darn - that puts the bean's most celebratory milestone into perspective, doesn't it? He is travelling towards something - walking, eating, talking and reasoning - but when its marked in developmental stages and increments of time, it all seems like a race to a finish line that is not really a finish, nor marked by a line. The bean is changing everyday - but each change is a fait accompli as opposed to a marker on a path towards a distant conclusion. So, the bean's progress towards completion is, thankfully, an illusion.

I give you proof. Does this action of saturday morning pre-coffee, haven't-gotten-out-of-bed-yet, and justeen-gone-crazy-with-the-camera, appear to be a midpoint. It doesn't get more "complete" than this.

Or this one, moments later, both dog and baby appear to have a whole new lease on life. Father is out of the picture - likely taking a shower or stumbling to find more coffee. Somehow, justeen manages to retain control of the camera.


What you see in the image below is Elliot's new smile. He has taken to biting his upper lip and organzing the sides of his mouth upwards. The result is a smile, but with only the slightest alteration, it can be a pout.


Here's Elliot, another day, waiting to go for a walk.


And that's me in the background - playing the guitar in a vain attempt to entertain the lad. He's far more entertained by his mother and the camera.


Speaking of his mother. Here they are posing together. Aren't they sweet? Notice that they have the exact same eyes. And Justeen is also a "poo factory."


Look ma, no hands. That's right. He's sitting all by his lonesome on some precarious box thing in the middle of the cemetary. Of course, we are on hand for any possible variations in his upright status.


And then, I sweep him away for a little walk. Although, he seems overly concerned with that camera again.


We return home from our long walk and the bean falls asleep. This gives me precious few seconds to do a little gardening. He likes being in the garden, he just refuses to hold a hoe.