Lucky Dax; he was the happy recipient of a new belt on his birthday two weeks ago. And not just any old belt, but a nautical-themed one, with the flags of the Moorings Yacht Club adorning it. Captain Dax loves his belt. One tiny issue...
CARTER loves Dax's belt even more! Every day, upon entering his Mommy and Daddy's room, he seeks out this belt and performs "The Dance of the Belt," an exotic and concentrated modern dance-esque performance. He clutches the belt, and toddling or crawling with it, drags the buckle on the ground, bangs the length of the belt against our sliding glass door, spins in complicated three-point turns from a sitting position, winds the belt around his legs and maneuvers out of pretzel-like positions... there is intricacy in "The Dance of the Belt." (And perhaps only one known performer!)
Woe to anyone who tries to take the belt away during The Dance. Or anyone who tries to thread the belt through his pant loops and wear it. The Dance ends only after a significant period of time, multiple rooms have been traversed, and perhaps Mommy cajoles Carter with a handful of Cheerios or cheese.
Carter performed a similar ritual this past weekend at his friend, Ian's, birthday party. Luckily there was no belt involved; instead, our one-year-old in perpetual motion found a mylar Elmo balloon with a long ribbon string and proceeded to lap the McFarlane's apartment with the balloon clutched in two hands for an entire hour and a half. I was certain someone had strapped a pedometer on the little man and told him he couldn't stop moving until he reached a certain number of steps. But I should have known better - Carter was simply performing "The Walk of the Balloon."
I see marathons in this kid's future. Perhaps run while clutching a belt.
