Shutterbug

Ruth and Paul, Sam's beloved South Dakota aunt and uncle, gave Sam a Fisher-Price digital camera for Christmas. It's meant for toddlers, so it has all the robustness attributed to Timex watches in the old commercials--I am pretty sure a 300-pound scuba diver could sit on it and do no damage. (Though I wouldn't want to see the photos.)

The reason this gift is so great is that it gives us a little window into Sam's brain. And not the parts devoted to chasing the cats or flinging food. It reminds me a little of the experiments you used to read about it National Geographic, where they taught sign language to a primate. All of a sudden you learned about the likes, dislikes, and even humor of some large ape. This yields such priceless anecdotes as the time Koko the gorilla charged a zookeeper, scaring him witless, and then signed, "Be calm and share the bananas."

So far Sam's adventures with the camera have mostly shown the sort of mugging we adults like to do for the camera. But there's something endearing about the angle of the photos--whether it's at a neck-crankling upward tilt or down at Zoe sleeping (though not for long) under the tree. I look forward to seeing what else he comes up with.