ivo says ow!

There are a few things that we won't - or we think we won't- be sorry to see Ivo grow out of... One of those things is hitting people on the head - the other is throwing things at peoples' heads. He is strong and is aim is dead-on. He may be ambidextrous. Yes, we hold out great hopes for his major league prospects...We are just a little tired of flinching and embarrassed when he hits kids...

It's not so much the exuberance-based hug-em smash-em whack-em that we mind. That is understandable and rather than seeming evil - seems sweet. It is instead the surprise bashing and the cat-and-mouse teasing he does. He'll hold a block, book, plastic rhino behind his head - poised to launch - and giggles thinking it's funny when we tell him "don't throw - give it to mama..." He gets a kick out of the whole process - then he sneak-attacks - even though you kinda knew it was coming all along.

We've tried various ways of trying to talk him out of this... Mostly he laughs at us. But he has come to understand and embrace "ow!". He says it when he understands that someone has pain. He says it when he has hurt himself. He says it when he sees a small cut, scracth, mosquito bite, rip in fabric, or anything slightly amiss. He doesn't seem to get that some of these ows are avoidable - are generated by his little guns...

He's super awesome even though he doesn't understand the thin line between pleasure and pain, love and hate, fill in the blank...