If you look closely, you’ll see that Arlo is holding a seashell he decorated with marker up to his ear. Right before I took this photo, he said, “Guys, be quiet! I’m talking to the ocean on my shell phone!”

Once upon a time, we used to listen to the sound of the ocean. We could hold a conch shell to an ear and imagine the sound of waves in the white noise produced by that little echo chamber, a closed system of whorls. Then Arlo was born, and he started talking. Since then, not even the ocean has been able to get a word in edgewise.