Isaac's Spirit

Isaac has been going through a bit of a shy phase lately. He mostly refuses to have his picture taken, he runs away from the phone giggling when we Skype with family, and he hides behind my legs when anyone--even someone he loves, like Miss Gina--talks to him.

I suppose I should just let him be.

But I can't resist trying to capture the essence of Isaac at every turn. Cataloguing every facial expression and saying.  He's changing much too quickly and I wish to remember it all. For instance, right now he is totally engrossed in all things monster. He swears they are behind every closed door, waiting to scare us. He grabs at these invisible monsters, adding his own sound effects when he does. Sometimes he fights them (ugh), sometimes plucks them up and puts them in his mouth.

And speaking of eating, he also likes to take pretend chomps out of his stuffed animals and even Ben and me. "I eat you up," he says, taking a line straight out of one of his favorite books quite literally. I guess we had that one coming, didn't we?

And the other day, he picked up his teddy bear, his penguin, and his blankey and laughed at himself as he struggled to keep them all in his arms. "Woah! I got-ed so many stuffs," he chuckled.

All of these things; the sweet little songs he makes up as he plays; the inflection in his voice; the "little sisters" he carries around all day; the hand gestures he makes as he tells us a story; the raucous screams and wild giggles; the way he calls anyone "little" (little girl, little man, that little guy); I wish to remember them all.

Before long, they'll have vanished or changed, these things that make up the essence of Isaac.  And so I try, in vain, to capture Isaac's spirit as it is right now before the details are forgotten.