So Ethan discovered his feet the other day.

Okay, correction: he discovered that he can chew on his feet.

I find this incredibly adorable. He grabs onto his little foot, folds himself in half like a baby Murphy bed, and starts sucking on his foot and chewing on his toes with a vengeance. It’s so cool to watch him discover things these days – he’s so interactive and excited about figuring out his body. He also just learned to roll from his back to his side…although the first time that happened, he immediately started crying because he freaked himself out so much. Poor thing. He seems all right with it now, at least.

A friend of mine recently asked what it is that babies do, exactly. And it’s a fair question. For a while, they really don’t do much. They mostly sleep, waking up only to eat and get changed and occasionally scream for God knows what reason, because New Mommy and Daddy sure don’t. That stage goes on for a while. But just when you’re desperately longing for something, anything, that makes you feel like a parent instead of a robot, that’s when babies start smiling and cooing and realizing they have hands. That might not sound terribly exciting, but think of it this way:  everything a baby does, from crying to cooing to sucking their thumb, is entirely new to them. It’s kind of amazing to get to watch someone do everything for the very first time. And watching how fascinated they are with these seemingly simple things is so much fun. In that way, babies are a lot like stoners: they’re not terribly mobile and their minds are blown by things like ceiling fans and anything that lights up.

So while watching a baby figure out that those things at the end of his legs are part of him and are an excellent pacifier substitute might sound boring to some, to me, it is precious.