Signs

While Joshua is happily kept preoccupied with the usual boyhood interests of trains and cars, Caleb's interests tend to be much more eclectic. One of his chief obsessions is signs. When we go to the playground, he makes a beeline for the playground rules sign. The swings, slides, and sandbox are all secondary to this glorious sign that evokes such deep passion, causing Caleb's eyes to widen with wonderment and his limbs to twitch gleefully as he studies it intently. When we are out on a walk, we must stop and examine every sign... crosswalk signs, stop signs, no parking signs, you name it. They all command Caleb's immediate attention as he demands to know what each sign represents before performing a celebratory prance around the pole. The grocery store is yet another venue offering a plethora of signs for our information-thirsty toddler. The other day we were strolling down an aisle at Whole Foods when Caleb stopped dead in his tracks and exclaimed with grave concern, "Uh oh! The sign is missing!" We looked up, and sure enough the sign that should have been displayed above the yogurt section was absent, leaving only the sign-hanging apparatus dangling lonesomely in its place.