Jack woke up from his (two hour) afternoon nap yesterday, about an hour before we were headed over to the neighbors for dinner. I took him outside where four of the neighborhood kids were loudly playing. Our landlord was nailing a ceiling to the porch with a (loud) compression nailer. Jack just stood there, a blank stare on his face. He didn't want to walk around, push his car, or go on the slide. And, I couldn't leave his side. Eventually, we made our way over to dinner, where Jack proceding to.. stare. He stood close to me, just looking. No sounds, maybe a few curious expressions, but just looking around.
After a while, he ventured into the living room where a mix of Miles Davis, Bob Dylan and some other folk and jazz was playing, and he stared dancing. His new dance looks like "the swim" - he waves his arms in front of him- kind of a mix of freestyle swim and modern dance. Then he was picking up the (unlit) candles on the coffee table, lifting them up over his head and grunting as if to let everyone know how heavy they were. By dinner, he was talking and gesturing. By dessert, he was doing his "back up" trick, laughing, and hamming it up, trying to make everyone laugh.
I realized how much Jack is like me and Ed - but better (of course). It takes him a while to warm up- he takes time to soak in his surroundings; the more people and/or the newer the place, the longer it takes him to absorb. But once he does warm up, he turns on the charm. Where Ed & I tend to stay a bit reserved, Jack works the crowd. I love it. Not because he's like us, and not because he is observant first- I'm sure I'd love it if he dove into a situation talking and playing right away- I love it because it's Jack. I love seeing who he is.
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