Chasing Mr. Rohan
#264: looking for someone to decrypt "da-da-da-da-da-eyy"
Dear reader,
Rohan is on a mission. It is not yet clear what the mission is. But it must be something important. He knocks on every door, reaches for every book, opens every bag, and examines every corner of the apartment every day, stopping only to poop, and feed, and nap. Gentle questioning has yielded no answers.
In today’s post, some scenes from his days, rendered in ink by pen and brush.
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I admit we are not best prepared to assist his enquiries. Nor do we understand his methods. Take the licking, for example. What could be divined from slobbering over the oven door? Are there clues on the floor we don’t see? I vacuumed right after, but that did nothing to alter his behavior.
To be fair he is not even trying to keep it a secret. There is a lot of auditory information. But it must be encrypted, because none of it makes sense to us. We say it back to him, in the hopes of gaining his trust. But he only smiles, enigmatically, and repeats himself.
Further confusion is caused by his apparent disinterest for anything inside a box, no matter how soft or vividly colored the toy might be. He is only interested in the box itself. Every container has been held, turned over, discarded, picked up again.
Sometimes he is found inside the box itself. When discovered, he steps out without any overt expression of embarrassment or shame.
Is he left-handed? Or right? Is he ambidextrous? He offers no clues during feeds or playtime. He will reach for bites of the cracker dipped in almond butter with his left hand. Then, with the right hand, grab a sliver of avocado. He will throw the ball with his right hand but it will fly behind him instead of in front. He is a master trickster, unpredictable and impossible to pin down.
Is he making progress? Or is he at a dead-end? Morning after morning, day after day, he resumes his investigations with undiminished energy. He returns to the oven door, licks again the microwave, picks up bread crumbs under the kitchen island, and crawls at high speed whenever the door opens.
He is equally enamored by his copy of Pout-Pout Fish and my copy of Dostoyevsky’s Notes from Underground. Reader, what is this game he is playing??
Are we completely in over our heads?
📺 And, are you watching Severance too?
We are excited for Season 2, although Rohan has not expressed enthusiasm either way. He enjoys every screen equally.
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Thank you for reading, and for giving me a space in your inbox.
Clearly your son is a cat. Loves boxes, investigates everything, nonstop unintelligible narration, licking - the signs are all there! ;)
All joking aside, children often lick things because the tongue is more sensitive to tactile sensations than hands. And you get to find out an object's flavor at the same time, which is an added bonus. :)
Watching for the Dostoevsky updates as the days pass 📚🚼