I wanna hold your hand (and discovery of knuckles)

Ever since Astrid was old enough for her car seat to be facing forward, she's taken comfort in holding my hand. If she's having a crying jag, and all the books and toys in the world don't help, all I have to do is reach behind my seat and say, "hold mommy's hand" and she will grab my hand in her little one and instantly stop crying. It can be quite awkward at times driving with one hand behind my back, but I know she loves it and needs it at times.

Today we were driving around doing errands and while I was holding her hand, she noticed my knuckles for the first time. She touched one, then the next, and went down the line. She was quite curious what they were and in her exploration started pressing down pretty hard. I said, "Ow, not so hard baby" and "Be gentle." It was so sweet to see that she understood by the way she patted my hand gently and continued to explore, but more gently.

So here I was trying to explain to a one and half year old what knuckles are, and that she had them too. Astrid kept repeating "bone...bone...bone." It was pretty cute.

Then when we got to our destination and I was getting her out of her car seat, she held out her hand and touched her own knuckles. I thought it was pretty significant because on her own chubby baby hands, where the knuckles are, you only see dimples. She made the connection and understood that where there was hard bone (knuckles) on mommy's hands, she had the same in hers, and she was showing me right where they were (even though you couldn't really see them in her hands).

It would bring me great joy if Astrid's curiosity continued and she asked for a life sized skeleton for her birthday or Christmas, or other such items that should could learn from like a microscope or telescope.