Eighty-Eight takes center stage

We hosted a party for my Mother-in-law's birthday yesterday. My sister-in-law brought her eight-month-old nephew. She carried him to our backyard in his car seat and placed him down in the middle of the circle of relatives who had already gathered. The stage was set for Eighty-Eight Fingers to come over and investigate because, to that boy, nothing goes unnoticed, unpoked, or unprodded, including eight-month-old baby in a car seat.

First EEF leaned into the car seat to get in the poor boy’s face to talk to him. Then he rubbed his head a little. Boompas saw his brother messing with the cool new toy and came over for some of his own leaning over the baby and head rubbing. EEF, filled with all the wisdom of an energetic almost five-year-old, told his little brother, "Be gentle with him otherwise you will make him cry like you!" That set the gathered relatives to guffawing. It was very cute, but that statement was only Act I of the EEF Show.

Soon Boompas' short attention span kicked in and he tired of the new baby, leaving EEF alone with the baby in his car seat. It did not take EEF long to start rocking the car seat and fiddling with the handle, trying to figure the whole system out. After almost tipping the car seat almost all the way over and spilling the baby face first into the dirt (almost!), EEF queried the crowd, "Hey, how do you work him?"

Let me tell you, it is very difficult to scold the boy for almost dumping the baby face first in the dirt while laughing hysterically.