Just Simon

If you call Simon a nickname, or ask him who he is, he will often tell you that he is "just Simon."  Apparently, that is enough.  

Just Simon turned three this week, and, as fate would have it, we found ourselves once again at the urgent care clinic.  We thought that Simon might have an ear infection, but it turns out that he just had a horrible, lingering cold and an eye infection.  Nice.  The nurse said, "Didn't I just see you guys?"  Yes.  You did.  Asher found the irony of Simon having to go to the doctor on his birthday just like Asher did on his hilarious.  

Unlike Asher, who kept his strep to himself, Simon shared his cold and his eye infection with both of his siblings.  This is in keeping with his personality in general-- he is just a more communal person.  Things like sharing and helping out without being asked come more naturally to Simon than they might to other three-year-olds.  Understanding that other people need space, or might want to do something on their own do not. He told me a few days ago (when I told him that he couldn't take a bath with Ivy, but he could take one by himself when she was done because I was suspicious of his eye) that he only wanted to take a bath with somebody because, "taking a bath with nobody makes (him) sad."

Simon likes to go places- almost anywhere will do, but his favorite place is the zoo by Grandma's house.  He likes to snuggle.  He likes to copy Asher.  He likes to "help" Ivy get where he thinks she would like to go.  He likes chocolate.  He likes to wear his underwear backwards so that he can see the big picture that is supposed to go in the back. (He warns me in advance that he is going to put his underwear on backwards just so that there won't be any surprises.)  He likes to play silly games.  He likes bandaids, and socks, and dragons.

Simon doesn't like having video taken of him.  (Or wearing pants.)  When I started trying to make a movie of him, he told me that making movies makes his tummy hurt.  So, while this video is admittedly not the most exciting kid video of all time, it is one of the best I've managed to get of Simon in a long, long time.  Please excuse the graininess (Simon insisted on being in the basement, which is dark.) and the extreme close-ups (I took the video sideways and when I rotated it, it forced me to crop it in close to preserve the aspect ratio.  grrr.)  But there's no way Simon will ever be so cooperative again, so take it or leave it.  I'll be honest.  It's really for me anyway.

(Simon says that he likes Asher, R2D2, and the R2D2 chair, and that he likes to eat balls.  When he says that he likes chips but not salsa, he is lying.  The kid could live on chips and salsa.)