Yes, each of our kids have had successively less hair.

Alex finally figured out how to shake his head “no” and suddenly he has opinions on EVERYTHING. He’s really off like a rocket on this communication thing and enjoying the tyranny it brings, like every good almost-1-year-old should. He thinks he should have the ultimate say in what he eats, where you carry him, and what books you read him, often slapping books out of your hand with an imperious shake of his head. “No no no!” he’ll calmly say, as you try to feed him anything other than sweet potatoes or bananas.

He hasn’t quite figured out “yes” in the same way. In order to demonstrate, Sara put her hand on the back of his head and moved it up and down. So now Alex thinks he’s supposed to put his hand on the back of his own head in order to shake it “yes”. Eventually he got tired of doing that, so he shortened it to just slapping himself in the side of the head twice.

There are a lot of things you don’t understand until you’re a parent, and accepting two slaps on the head for “yes” is one of them.