To Ethan (Little Octopus)

Dear Ethan:

You've turned into a little octopus over the past weeks. You've grown another dozen of arms which facilitate you to grasp everything you want anytime anywhere. You love to shake and bang things against your head. But, you have to be very careful when you are at grandma's. She's such a collector who has unlimited everything in her house. Some of them may be a real hazard to you. Like those never-been-used massage jacknobbers on the coffee table which your grandpa mistook for paper-weights, they may look like toys, but they are not, and they can really hurt your little head.

Your new ability does give me frustration, not to mention embarrassment. One time when we were in a restaurant, I was holding you with my right arm, while my left arm had to choose between keeping your right hand off the hot tea on the table and keeping your left hand off my boob. I chose the former. Yes, I was sexually harassed in public for a whole 5 minutes.

Yesterday, you started to put your hands into good use finally. When I was feeding you with a bottle, I tried to put your right hand onto the big handle of the bottle. When I thought you would probably let go of the handle and pat the bottle as usual instead, you put your left hand onto another handle. And right there, you were tightly holding the bottle with your two hands feeding yourself. Oh, my heart exploded into millions pieces.

Love,
Mommy