Edmund the ComedianI have recently taken to going to bed immediately after putting Edmund down for the night. After spending much of the day with Edmund and six other roly-poly babies I am exhausted. In order to go to bed after giving Edmund his nighttime kiss, I have started doing my nighttime routine while Steven plays with Edmund. This means that when I go into Edmund's room to start the bedtime routine I am wearing my glasses.
One night last week I went into Edmund's room and sat down in the rocking chair while Steven finished putting Edmund in his pajamas. When he was done, Steven handed Edmund to me. Edmund studied my face intently for half a minute. I thought he was going to cry, perhaps because he wasn't accustomed to seeing "glasses mommy" at night. To my surprise Edmund didn't cry, but quickly reached his hand up and yanked my glasses off my face. Edmund looked intently at "no glasses mommy" for a few seconds and began to laugh hysterically. I took my glasses from Edmund and quickly put them back on, since without my glasses Edmund was simply a blob. Edmund stopped laughing, and again with a quick motion yanked off my glasses. If Edmund was capable, I'm sure he would have been on the floor rolling with laughter. I let this exchange go on a few more times before putting it to a halt.
Although it wound him up a little more than I would have liked before he went to bed, I saw this "glasses on-off" game as a cognitive milestone. For the first time Edmund laughed at something he caused, and not simply his mommy or daddy saying "ah to to to to to."
