My very own sociopath.

Last year, around this time, (you know, when Z stopped being a blob and started being a very small, very whiny person) I noticed that some babies seemed empathetic. Specifically, they would cry, or at least frown, when other babies cried. It was sweet and reaffirmed that empathy is a universal capacity in all of us, arising naturally in infancy.

Except, it seemed, for Z.

When babies cried, she'd maybe glance at them and then turn back to her toys. Lately, she's taken to saying "Wah! Wah!" and rubbing her marshmallow fists at her eyes, mimicking the babies who cry during every rendition of "The Wheels on the Bus". It's a little less like empathy and more like .... derision.

So for the last year or so I've gone about my life, doing laundry, walking the dog, cooking dinner all while being seriously concerned about the possibility that I may have birthed my very own sweet, adorable sociopath.

This past weekend, it seems that I got a reprieve.

Z's taken an interest in Curious George and has particularly focused on The Curious George Book of Opposites. In this book, George is DRY, out of the water and then falls in the water and gets WET.
And this makes Z CRY. At first she would just look upset and I would quickly turn the page. But lately, I've been holding still at this page. Letting the tears come. Letting the empathy sink in. Or is it fear?

Unfortunately, there was some early evidence that Z doesn't LOVE water.


But I'm allowed to cling to this as evidence of empathy, right?