Boogers

We are realizing that we can track Jackson's developmental milestones (and social awareness) through his response to boogers.

For his first year and a half of life, he was pretty clueless about the presence of nasal emissions of any sort. Case in point, this video clip from when he was 17 months old:



Then around 20 months of age, he suddenly became aware of his boogers...especially the runnier variety. If he sneezed out an abundance of snot, he would cry. But he wouldn't do anything about it. Well, that's not true. Occasionally, he'd unintentionally smear it all over his hands and face. Or he would burrow into our shoulders, leaving some interesting remnants on our clothing (the mark of parenthood...at least it's not spitup any more).

Then around the 22 month mark, he started showing some initiative at taking care of snot, at least. If he sneezed, he would say "Iwan kleenex. Iwan tissue. Iwan blow de nose." And we'd know to help him wipe off the offending fluid.

Now at 25 months, he's officially entered into familiar toddler realm. He can clearly discern between the wet stuff and the dry stuff. The other day, as we were driving, I noticed a prolonged break in his normal commentary about the same sights we see every day on the way home. He was clearly concentrating on something. Then he piped up from his carseat in back, "Mommy, look! A booger!" He held out his finger for me to see (you wouldn't believe how large some of these things can get, coming from such small individuals). I asked him if he needed a tissue and started scrounging around the car for a scrap of paper while trying to navigate the streets of Beverly Hills. Then I heard his triumphal declaration, "I eat it!!" Sure enough, his finger was clean as a whistle. Well, I guess that's better than having it inadvertently wiped on me.

Clarice