Moah

Or 'more' that is. It's one of Quinn's heavily-used words. More food, more of the thing you just did, more of the thing he just did himself, or sometimes just a random uninterpretable 'moah'. One time he even said it in his sleep while at the cottage in Nova Scotia, which struck us as a great "zest-for-life" moment.

It's a solid life philosophy I suppose, or at least the start of one. Find out what you like and do more of it. The next steps after 'more' are to figure out what is "too much" and how to stop at "enough". One can get carried away with the figuring and stopping parts though - I could use more 'more' in my life, in areas at times. But one can also easily fall into 'too much'. I guess the skills of finding that balance and exercising restraint are among the most difficult parts of parenting. Then it becomes a lifelong thing for each of us, with the transition from parents managing it to managing it for one's self often being a primary point of conflict.

Hopefully we can properly imbue Quinn with these skills as he grows up without being overly restrained or overly permissive. Until then we'll try to get him as much 'moah' as we all can handle.