feel the empathy

jack is beginning to develop empathy. according to the baby neurology book i've been reading, this is a big step in neurological and psychological development and you often first see empathic behavior when a child feeds you. well, mommy got a mouthful of cheerios this morning (which in turn earned jack another handful of chi-chis on his tray ... cheeky monkey!) when jack was "sharing."

he actually fed both mommy and daddy some of his food this weekend -- avocado for mommy and turkey for daddy. he's so empathic, he even knows which foods we prefer!

another thing jack likes to give us is ... fur.

yes, fur.

and i don't mean a mink stole either.

he loves to read a book about baby animals that grandma jane gave him.

the book has a variety of animals and their "fur" for little readers to touch and pet. jack giggles literally every time we read the book (which is often, because the giggling is precious). however, in addition to "petting" the fur, jack also "picks" the fur and tries to pull it out of the book.

once he's got a pretend handful of this fur, he puts it in mommy or daddy's palm.

it is seriously one of the cutest things i've ever seen. and that's my objective journalist side talking ...