Jack is just about to be 15 months old. He doesn't walk, talk, dress himself, speak Spanish, or grow hair.

We started going to a playgroup once a week with various kids in the neighborhood. Sophia, who is 1.5 months older than Jack, can run, dance, sing, and talk. Her favorite word is caballo. Oh, yeah, and she knows sign language.

He does, however, have just about all his teeth. And he's getting hair. See?















He was so funny in the bath tonight, despite that fact that he got up at five a.m. and only napped for 30 minutes all day long.















I don't care what those other kids can do. When I asked him where the letter T was, he picked up the T out of the tub and said "T" in his loud little Jack voice. It brought tears to my eyes.

I can see how parents get wrapped up in the one-upmanship that comes with having a kid. I watch the other children and try very hard not to compare Jack to them, but it is difficult. The worst thing is that this entire group is made up of girls, and apparently girls mature more quickly than boys. Go figure.

So I guess what I'm saying is this. I can spend a day worrying that Jack isn't social enough, refuses to walk, and sometimes hits other kids. But he looks at me and it all goes away:















He is the smartest most wonderful baby in the
world.

I may not have said that about him yesterday. I took him to get his pictures taken for Valentine's Day. I had a cute outfit including hat and shoes. He had a great nap. It should have been the perfect photo session. Instead, he clung to me as if I were about to dip him into a vat of boiling oil. He threw the hat across the room, and kicked the shoes off his feet. These pictures actually don't look too bad. But by the end of the photo shoot I was bruised and beaten.

As we were waiting for the pictures to print, I took him out to the play area. I expected him to just grab a hold of my leg and demand to be lifted. Nope. Wrong again. He took off, crawled around, played with other kids, acted like I wasn't even there. Given his behavior in the photo studio this was completely baffling to me.

Just look how far away he is:















and again:















At least the pictures came out ok.

Today we went up to my dad's office for a short visit. There Jack came across a new toy. Traffic signal bolts.















Not every young man can say he owns a bolt that is larger and heavier than some small mammals. He is a lucky guy.