Michal D. Hauk. D, for determined

Joseph, once he was mobile, was a handful. But you usually knew what he was up to. Michael on the other hand will sit nicely and play with a toy (or a stick vacume) without making a sound, thus lulling you into complacency. When your attention is turned to something else, whether it is a book, cooking or some needlework, Michael will silently dissapear from view and crawl towards trouble. That is why a few times I have all of a sudden looked up and then ran throughout the house calling "Michael? Michael where are you?". If this was Joseph, I would have heard him giggling or banging something from miles away. Michael however does not make a sound, which of course makes this more scary. I have found him a few times splashing his hands in the toilet if someone had forgotten to close the lid. Or trying to climb the stairs. Or grabbing crayons out of Joseph's bin (not an easy feat, honestly) and eating them.

Today, I caught him in the act of dissapearing while I was in the kitchen and followed without a word or without stopping him. Michael saw me. He looked at me. And then proceeded to crawl further, diapered behind sashaying left and right until he was at the stairs. He looked back again as if to make sure I followed and then pulled himself up, walked around the bannister and proceeded to crawl up the first stair. I followed to keep him from, you know, falling down the stairs. He crawled all the way up the stairs and waited for me on top, then made his way like an arrow out of a bow towards the bathroom where he pulled himself up on the rim of the tub and started pounding it to make his desires clear. He wanted a bath. What was I waiting for?



This water baby crawled all the way from the kitchen, down the hall, up the stairs, across the hall, towards the bath. D for Determined.