Declaration of (Partial) Independence

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness...

Matthew has, apparently, been studying up his American history, and now understands the basis for the Declaration of Independence. Freedom. Fun. Independence. Scare your parents. All the things our forefathers thought about when writing the Declaration back in 1776.

For a kid who just started to crawl during the week of Christmas, he is now a happy, independent, crawling, thrill-seeking, pulling up, falling over, bump your head, do it again, freedom-finding, fearless dare-devil!

And the true exclamation point, the "where has my baby gone?," "boo-yah, Mommy, looky here what I can do" moment... totally unposed. That is brother Luke's encouraging, bad influencing hand you see in the right side of the photo.