The Shadow Knows

If the first 18 months or so of a child's life are marked by steady physical leaps (rolling, grabbing, crawling, standing, walking, running), the toddler months are definitely a time for major conceptual leaps. Fiona's latest interest is shadows.

She has a Pooh book (no, really) that shows Piglet being frightened of a shadow that looks like a heffalump until he realizes it's just Pooh Bear. When we first started reading it, Fiona didn't quite grasp what a shadow was. She would point to the shadow and said "shadow," but then she'd point to Piglet and say "Piglet's shadow" or the bathroom sink in the book and say "sink shadow." Since the artists hadn't seen fit to include any other shadow pictures in the book, it wasn't possible to explain the concept to her.

Fortunately the next day was sunny enough that I was able to point Fiona to her shadow on the living room floor. And now shadows have become the most fascinating thing in the universe. Fiona's shadow, Mommy's shadow, Daddy's shadow, Buddy's shadow (especially Buddy's shadow) all get announced with great excitement by Fiona. When we walk outside she points out the stroller's shadow.

And I haven't had to hear about my sticky fingers in at least 48 hours.