Eric and I took Ben out to dinner by ourselves for the first time ever yesterday and he did wonderfully! He sat in the high chair, tossed around his rings, ripped apart napkins, and interacted with other kids. Yes, you heard me right, he interacted. There may be hope afterall.

On either side of us there were kids. One side had a 10-12 month old in a high chair, smiling and yelling at him. On the other, two little girls who kept giggling. Ben looks at the smiling little boy and stares. Just stares. The other little boy, unperturbed, talks. Ben stares for a moment more then turns his attention back to ripping the napkin. It may not have been a perfect interaction, but at least he made eye contact.

Nearing the end of the dinner, Ben starts getting fussy. A slight cry comes out of his mouth, so one of the girls from the other table comes up and giggles at him. Here is where you’d expect him to either A) continue crying or b) stare. What did he do? He turns pink, looks down and thumbs* the table.

REALLY? I have to deal with this already?!? Seriously? He’s only 7 months old! I am in so much trouble.

*Thumbing: Placing his thumb on something, stretching out his other fingers out and either poking the object with his thumb or rubbing the object by twisting his hand back and forth. The latter being the “look how cute I am” action, the former being the “what the heck is this thing” action. He did the latter. THE LATTER!