In his tender fourteen months, Simon has thus far had only one true love. Her name was Stephanie, she was a flight attendant on our flight to San Francisco last May, and despite his many, many crushes since then, no one has quite lived up to her or received the same intensity of affection before now.
But last night we went to Jockamo’s for dinner, got a pretty waitress we also had a couple of weeks ago, and Simon fell deeply and hilariously in love with her. It wasn’t just that he cooed and laughed and clapped and screamed at her. It was that he also would look at her, smile the biggest smile possible, giggle almost nervously, and then turn his head away when the smile or giggle reached its zenith.
At first I thought he was playing peek-a-boo with her, but then Matt noted that Simon almost seemed to be blushing and turning away from embarrassment. He repeated the cycle a few times, and I think Matt was on to something. I’m not sure if he was playing shy to flirt or was truly turning away when the feelings got too intense to deal with, but I’m certain that if he were a paler child, he would have been blushing.
I thought this was the most adorable thing ever, and as always when Simon does something terribly cute or funny, I swelled with maternal pride and love. Simon took his playful good mood home with him, and during an especially wide smile later on I noticed something new: two new teeth flanking his lower central incisors. He’s had six teeth for months now and we’ve been awaiting the arrival of these new ones since early fall. Still, these somehow managed to sneak up on us because they were not accompanied by any fussiness, feeding issues, or sleep disturbances. Lovely for us all.
We’ll try to take Simon back to Jockamo’s to show off his teeth soon. Simon might stand a better chance with the waitress now that he looks more mature.