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The Sound of Silence. I've always loved the song; now I love the actual sound of silence. Well, not complete silence. At the moment there is the clicking of the keyboard and the static from the baby monitor. Other than that ... nothing. And it's beautiful.

 Don't get me wrong. I love to hear my little boy babbling or even breathing. And when he says "Mama," well, that'd be a good time to ask me for something because believe me, he can have it. A car for a 16-month-old? Sure.

The thing is, Nicholas likes sound. A lot of it. All at once. Do you have an annoying childless friend who thinks it's funny to give your kids noise-making toys? For years and years, I was that friend. I gave my friends' kids little pianos, doggie xylophones, animals that talked. Well, you reap what you sow and I am reaping plenty these days. My dad keeps giving Nicholas these cute little singalong books. Which, on their own, are charming. But Nicholas likes to get them all going at once, so we often have a mixed chorus of "Farmer in the Dell" "If You're Happy and You Know it" and "This Old Man" going on around here. Then he'll stop them in the middle and start them again, almost like a miniature deejay spinning vinyl. He actually wore out "Mary Had a Little Lamb," which gives me hope the rest of 'em won't last forever. Except that a new one seems to show up around here every few days.

Thanks, Dad. I am sure this is payback for something I did 40 years ago. Just wait until Nicholas has kids. I'm getting them a drum set.