"Say 'Hooahh!'"

The first day of my so-called "vacation" at my brother and sister-in-law's in Jacksonville, NC has given me the impression that it will be nothing but ten days of baby-sitting my three-year-old nephew (in six days) and one-year-old niece while my brother continues his Marine adventures in Iraq and my sister-in-law is consumed with her annual military training through the week. But I can't complain, because, despite a sometimes whinny and incorrigible Owen who hates having clothes on, I'm loving it.

I am especially realizing that I really enjoy just watching children and how much you can learn about the human person just by how differently they act from adults. It seems these differences in action reside in differences in development of consciousness. Owen will run around the house naked or dance crazily in front of a roomful of amused spectators; actions that a typical adult, sober and in their right mind, would never dare. And why can one-year-old Kierra gaze at me into my eyes, whereas, Owen, almost three, now finds it uncomfortable to do so? In any case, this question about the development of consciousness and self-consciousness is intriguing. And more intriguing is how, though still developing as a human being, a child's lack of consciousness allows them to do things with an amount of carelessness that an observer can obtain an "undiluted" sense, so to speak, of the nature of the human person and their unique person. Their lack of care about conforming to societal norms and the staus quo gives us a glimpse into their individual person, more than if they were a fully developed being. Or so it seems...

In any case, perhaps by this time next week, my excitement will have subsided significantly and I'll be ready to finally move to Pittsburgh. One thing is for sure, however, I will certianly not grow tired of Owen new favorite command: "uncle Eric, say 'hooahh!!'"