Jaegermeister
Friday 
in mid-morning 
Mystie
**Jaegermeister, German: Master of the Hunt.**
With the amount of stalking of bad guys — which Jaeger can say with surprising clarity — that Jaeger does, this was not an inappropriate name for our second little guy. So, again one wonders, does God lead one to the name that will fit the child best, or do names shape who we become? After all, in the Bible the power to name something is considered power indeed.
But, this post was not intended to contemplate that mystery, but to commemorate this point in my son’s development. He is 22 months old, and the sincere and assiduous disciple — or at least thorough imitator — of his older brother.
Running out to the yard, little Hunter snaps up at the sound of a bird, points his finger, and shouts “djoom, djoom, djoom.” This development came after Hans had a day where he recounted Daddy taking a shot gun along into the orchard when they went to pick apples last fall to shoot any bad birds (crows & magpies) that might show themselves. Jaeger listened intently to each telling of the account and picked up on the basic idea that birds are bad guys and we should shoot them so they don’t kill the trees and eat our apples. Now I have the task of teaching him to distinguish between crows and quail, magpies and geese.
Indeed, to have named him Hunter would have been too conspicuous, too patent; the name Jaeger is more subtle, and maybe someday he will learn some of that subtlety.
Jaeger talks more and more everyday and is even getting to the point where sometime people other than Mommy can understand him. Mommy still doesn’t always understand him. My heart does leap for joy when I first notice little ones attempt to form words. I have not the patience nor fastidiousness to teach signing. I would rather encourage speech — or at least vocal communication. So far it’s worked for me. This is the straightforward age. They don’t sneak or manipulate, they are into flagrant, obvious disobedience. They look at you, you tell them no, they do it. You tell them to do something and they shout “no!” For the most part, however, Jaeger himself is a cheerful and happily obedient little boy. His own apparent joy at being understood when he speaks is a delight to behold and has made him even more cheerful. He also has overcome with Hans his fear of dogs, which I believe he never would have had in the first place if it hadn’t been for Hans’ example, so I am pleased that he has also followed Hans’ example of bravery. He is even coming out of his shell more toward those he is not related to. He will still glower at anyone who comes up from behind him and begins talking to or touching him, even if they are related. Yet he has begun to be much more friendly to people Mom gives the ok to. We took some less familiar children home yesterday and Jaeger was playing silly games with the 12-year-old girl sitting next to him. You have to catch him in the right moods, he still is prone to put his head down and glare at you sideways if he has a mind, but his time table for warming up to a place and people is getting shorter. He is always generous with his goodbye hugs.
Stocky and solid, a Paulson second to my Winckler oldest; everyone comments on his similarity in build and look to my Dad. Those Paulson genes are strong, and that’s a good thing for the gene pool. The tall, lean, high-metabolism of the Wincklers does come at a price — food allergies and sensitivities. So far Jaeger has displayed none. We have yet to see if the Winckler musicality and athleticism runs within that figure as well, or if we can get at least one of those traits coupled with the supreme cuteness of a Paulson.
(MCL)
with 
(personal library)
