Fun with Darby

Darby's growing fast.

A couple days ago, Casey was upset because Darby was trying to use a plastic radio with the dragon castle.  (How cool are kids' toys, by the way?)  I played along and told Darby that the radio doesn't go with the castle, it goes with the car carrier, and do you know where your car carrier is?  Darby stared at me for a second, then turned around and toddled away.  A minute later he came back, car carrier in his arms.  I applauded him.  As Erika observed, Darby knows English!  Then he began to cry because he couldn't lift it onto the coffee table.

Darby dances, too.  Casey never really did that so much, but Darby has an instinct for it.  Yesterday, during one of the many, many sessions of Rock Band that Darby demands (I typically turn failure off and let him beat on the drums at random while the notes scroll by), he took a break from drumming, stood in front of the TV, and bopped up and down, grinning.  That's only slightly new.  Erika tells me that on their latest trip to Indiana (I missed this one), Darby at some point approached the stereo, cranked up the volume, and then began rocking out in the same fashion.  I think she'd have found it a lot cuter if Darby hadn't chosen a Cher song that she hates.

Last night Darby needed some entertaining for a few minutes, and he needed bedtime badly.  I looked around for some way to keep him occupied, and when the objects most ready to hand turned out to be plastic balls, I remembered how much Casey liked juggling when he was that age.  So I started juggling for Darby, who started waving his hands excitedly, trying to catch the balls in the air.  Then I let him have a turn.  He carefully picked up one ball in each hand, thought about it for a while, braced one against his chest so he'd have a hand free, and then he picked up the third ball.  So with all three balls cradled on his chest, he stopped again, thought for a while about what to do next, and then he threw all the balls on the floor.  He stood there, clapping and smiling, so very proud of himself.

I'm proud, too.  But I'm also surprised he finds time to develop these talents between meals.  There are so many meals.