We have a new favorite game at our house, and one member of the family is particularly good at it. We’ve named this game Overboard. It’s a simple game, really, where Mac will take anything that he can and drop it to the floor. I’m sure he has been playing long before I realized it was a game, but I can still remember the very first time I noticed. It was my mother-in-law and her twin sister’s birthday back in August and we were celebrating at the local hibachi restaurant.  Mommy and Daddy were taking turns holding Mac, who would’ve been just over 6 months at the time. I remember that night in particular because we realized that going to dinner with Mac was going to be different from now on. No longer would we be able to take turns holding him and then put him into his car seat when the food arrived and enjoy dinner while he took a nap. Mac was taking a stand and that meant, everything within arm’s reach needed to be on the floor. From chopsticks, to napkins, to his bottle or Mommy’s phone, they were all sent flying to the floor. We laughed with him at the time, and Daddy would reach down each time to pick everything up. This was likely a mistake as Mac soon trained Daddy to pick everything up and give it back to him.

Fast forward to today, and Mac has perfected his overboard technique. Everything that he can get his hands on continues to be dropped to the floor. Now that he’s on the move, it’s become a whole different game.   If I set him down to play in his pack and play for a few minutes, he immediately stands up, and one by one drops his toys over the edge. When he’s in the high chair eating, he plays, dropping his puffs or his crackers over the edge. (which Lucky appreciates)  The most popular time is when he’s being held and he specifically pulls his pacifier out of his mouth, straightens his arm, and releases as if to say, here Daddy, please pick this up so I can drop it again. Recently he’s added a new element. After Mac drops his chosen item, he looks down at it, and says very clearly, “uh oh.”  He says it so much, my wife asked me if that was really going to be his first word. I said, I guess it’s better than “Fetch, Daddy.”

Okay Daddy, I’ve cleared everything within arm’s reach and then some, anything else you’d like to put in front of me? -Mac