The Lean and Look.

The Lean and Look.

I call this pose the Lean and Look. Ollie does some variation of this position approximately 99.9% of the time he's being held while awake.



(Successfully handling the L&L is his buddy Sage's dad, Chris. Chris of Tessa and Chris fame.)

Now, a little more about the L&L. I have to say, it's completely adorable. Obviously, he leans, and by "lean," I really mean "attempts a blind swan dive out of my arms and into the unknown." This would be much more annoying if he weren't cute. He kind of cranes his neck, opens his mouth a little, and his eyes somehow get even wider than their usual baseline wideness. And, if you move in the way of whatever he is leaning or looking at, he will flick his little body over to the other side to see it. Holding him is really a full-contact sport, because the Lean and Look rarely lasts long before it becomes the Lean/Look/Grab. See figure 2:



Sometimes you're duped into thinking you can hold a cup of coffee or, in one recent ill-conceived attempt at tidying up the house, a pair of scissors. He's a grabby little beast, and is FAST. We had about a 2 hour period when he was first able to perch on my hip where I could hold him with one hand. Now, I need about 7 more hands. Then I'd be a real octopus, unlike Oliver's little octopus finger puppet that only has 6 legs. Because that's a sexopus. Go on, say it out loud.