The Evolution of Stefan Man

Bipedal Movement...Check!

Modern humans are unique in the primate world because of their bipedal movement. That is, they walk on two feet instead of four. The earliest known primates to walk on two feet were Ardipithecus and Australopithecus, who lived anytime between 3.0 and 3.9 million years ago. These species often lived on the fringes of forested areas, gradually moving closer to the wide open grassland plains of Africa. These early hominids will eventually evolve into the modern Homo sapien, or humans. (I hate merely cut and pasting, but in the effort of time, I've gone and done it from an easy to understand location. From Link.)

Note: Stefan started out sitting on the mat playing as he does every morning while I cook breakfast/clean the kitchen. I turned my back to rinse the french press and viola! OK, he didn't WALK there, in this particular picture, as he needs to hold on to things (well Mom, Dad, or the bathtub are the walking assistants in his mind), but I'm impressed with the locomotion. At this point, it happens only occasionally, so it's a pleasant surprise when he's not where I've left him!

Use of Tools...Check!

Using tools has been interpreted as a sign of intelligence, and it has been theorized that tool use may have stimulated certain aspects of human evolution—most notably the continued expansion of the human brain. [I LOVE the brain!]

Paleontology has yet to explain the expansion of this organ over millions of years despite being extremely demanding in terms of energy consumption. The brain of a modern human consumes about 20 watts (400 kilocalories per day), which is one fifth of the energy consumption of a human body. Increased tool use would allow hunting for energy-rich meat products, and would enable processing more energy-rich plant products. Researchers have suggested that early hominids were thus under evolutionary pressure to increase their capacity to create and use tools.^{[51] 
(A little more dense reading at Wikipedia.)}

^{So you have to imagine the actions, but Stefan is using the remote control to pet the cat (one day, I will figure out how to link to video, maybe depending on privacy of sites involved). Poor kitty! He only made contact once, and it was really gentle! We're giving Stefan a hockey stick ASAP...he LOVES using things to do things. Spoons fly cheerios around the table and ultimately onto the floor. Sticks are perfect for outside poking. Cords are just stiff enough to reach and pull off limits coffee table items. So now the radius of Stefan has grown to include what ever grabbing tool he has. OH YEAH..DUH! He now can feed himself (or me) with a spoon, with assistance. Dad took some time off of work to breakfast with us while Stefan ate oatmeal...THE second awesome thing of the morning!! He didn't spit out the solid chunks of food...so psyched! I love when things suddenly click:).}

Dead-ends and Extinct Evolutionary Branches...check!

This one I can paraphrase. Humans are the end of the chain, and we've broken Stefan's mold! I love the little booger, but 2 of exactly him...let's save that for Wonder Woman. Mom, I've got a kid like me (so far). I guess that isn't saying much at 11 months, not like I expect him to keep it clean around here, but he is such a tornado! It's obvious where his play places are in every room from the shredded papers, toys askew, and general chaos. So much so that I'm bothered by the entropy. Although he prefers playing with one toy, the rest of them are strewn about the room after he's "cleared" them out of his way, so he can play with that one specific toy he's in the mood for.