The Blog of all things Scout

The other day I left Scout alone in the kitchen for a minute with a bowl of yogurt. Apparently a minute is all the time that is needed for a two year old to make free associations. We have been taking the kids to the pool a lot lately and really it is all Scout talks about. “Pool? Pool? Pool?” Evidently, cherry flavored yogurt looks and smells a lot like sunscreen, and a minute was all it took for her to liberally spread the gooey stuff over the entire surface of her body. It was then that the nucleus of my new blog began to form: The blog of all things Scout.

Scout has an amazing propensity for mischievous trouble. Whether it is mainlining ranch salad dressing, scattering her mother’s craft beads throughout the house, or simply displaying the charming cognitive developments that are so unique to a two year old, Scout is an imp. albeit a very, very sweet imp.

IMP: (I’mp’eh) fairies frequently described in folklore and superstition that are somewhat mischievous similar to a demon but smaller and less powerful; a mischievous child.

Well, maybe not an imp, but she is a wonder. She'll dance to literally any tune she hears, will spontaneously burst into song, will pause to pet the kitty then turn and pinch her sister. There is something really fascinating about watching children grow and develop. For example, the other day we were putting in a new bookcase, as we have grossly outgrown our old ones, and jenny was making irregular piles of books on the floor divided into the usual categories, cookbooks, poetry, harlequin romances, epistemological philosophy, ancient heresies of religion… when scout wandered over to the littlest pile, pointed, and said “Baby.” Jenny looked at the pile of books and, not seeing what Scout was referring to, replied “What baby Scout?”

Scout repeated her gesture “Baby.” She said, then, as if to clarify, she pointed at a slightly larger pile of books and said “Mama.” Then to the largest pile of books “Papa.”

I can’t even begin to tell you how cute this was. Jenny was astounded at Scout’s seemingly new capacity for abstract thought. Needless to say, we have the cutest two years old in the universe! (Which is the universe’s way of protecting her when we discover permanent marker on our 19th century end table)

Scout has reached that formative age when free associations come naturally; it’s that point in life where most of artist, poets, designers, and us creative types in general strive to return. I think the true wonder of the age is that the associations are so simple, this pile of books resembles a family, that bowl of yogurt resembles sunscreen. There is no pretension, because the artifice of pretension doesn’t exist. These are the association free of judgment. That is what makes them so beautiful, so elegant, and really, so darn funny. Now to capture it in pictures so I can make my new blog…