Monday, March 3, 2008

Looking into a different world


I took this picture of Israel yesterday. He loves the camera. Every time I take it out, he tries to grab it from me. (This makes close-ups difficult to manage.) He likes to stare straight into it as though he's looking for the thing inside. He also loves that we just figured out how to use our webcam. We use it to talk to my (Lezlie's) parents. It is so crazy. I was still busy being amazed that I could take a picture and have it ready for people far away to see a couple of minutes later!

When I was a kid, I used to imagine that there were secret portals that lead straight from one location to another. And now, here it is...a little rectangle in my room that looks into my parents' tv room. It's a blurry version of the real thing, as though you're looking through watery glass, but who knew that would ever be possible during my lifetime! I guess the nerdy folk sitting in pasty rooms staring at screens and speaking in code are actually more like Willy Wonka than I ever would've thought.

This crazy invention is a great thing. It helps people feel like they're not so far away. As I try to share Israel rolling over or give people a look at the two teeth he now has, it helps me know that these times are important. And fleeting. I know that every day really is something new. It's been just a little over two weeks since we had Israel dedicated and many of you were able to come see him then. But in the time since then, he's sprouted these two teeth and seems to have learned to use the toilet for his real messes (no joke...), eats cereal and vegetables and can roll his way from one side of a room to the other (and from the middle of his crib to a corner of it in the middle of the night...much to my chagrin). These things happen too quickly, but I'm glad to be able to make them last a little by sharing them with you. Thanks for taking the time to peek into the rectangle that leads to somewhere between my head and a computer keyboard. It means a good deal.

2 comments:

Maria Kristiansen said...

Your entry made me think of when Luca learned to sit up by himself. Several different nights we would hear him in his bed and he had sat up and couldn't figure out how to get back down!
We use the webcam too with Lars' family, but we now have to convince Luca to guess what Farfar (Grandpa) is going to have on his head or in his hands. Sometimes he is holding a car or wearing bearskin hat or who knows what else. Fortunately speedo weather is not there yet!

keep growing said...

I hope my family doesn't get any wild ideas about speedos from your post! Israel isn't allowed to watch anything over G-rated yet!