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Someone around here really knows how to savor the present moment. A sampling of our moments from the past couple of weeks:

new word: sick

Thankfully, it was short-lived, occurred during normal adult awake times, involved only certain typical symptoms and not others, and (so far) only got subsequently passed to one parent. Ah yes, the first vomit milestone. Finally, the reason to possess 3 sets of crib sheets is revealed.

The above photo was taken the next day, when a recovering Sam requested an early nap in mommy's bed. No blackout curtains, no white noise, no lullaby. Just a pacifier, a pillow, and the blue dustcloth that he recently adopted as a lovey (totally his idea). He still says, "Tick" (sick), or "tick mouf" (sick mouth) in memory of his experience.

By Sunday, we were all well enough for a long walk around a lake at a local park. The past three days have been record-breakingly warm, and we have been spending as much time outdoors as possible. After being ill myself, I am finding the nice weather to be particularly uplifting. Something about blogging from the back porch, wearing a t-shirt, hearing birdsong in the distance, reading gardening books, and watching as my little guy happily plays in his new yard... I like it.

bam!

Sam knows who he is: Baby. Throughout the day we hear about all the things that Baby wants: "Baby eat," "Baby more?" "Baby close it," "Baby do it," and, when he is not getting what he wants within a sufficient timeframe, we hear simply, "Baby! Baby! Baby!" as lips turn down and quiver, face turns a deep red, arms stiffen with fists raised, and tears well up. You may remember my prior attempts at getting Sam to say his own name. He obviously knows his name and responds to it all the time; he just doesn't use it to refer to himself.

Today we took a rather long car-ride to meet some friends at a children's museum, and Sam was doing quite well remembering his friends' names and talking about them during our drive. I decided to work with him on his own name, asking him, What's your name? and then telling him to say, "Sam." After repeating it only a couple of times, I asked, What's your name? again, keeping my eyes on the road ahead, and from the backseat I heard a little voice reply, "Bam." That's right, Bam! He did it! The very first time he said his name. Then we worked on another question, and he got that right away. We've been doing it all day long, including on the phone with Daddy. So proud!

staycation

I'm just loving these 4-day holiday weekends. Every week should have this balance of work-time and family-time. We celebrated New Year's Day with some yard clean-up, including leaf-raking, pond-draining, and the beginning of the purge of the less charming yard installations left behind by the previous owners (plastic frogs anyone?). I spend a lot of time these days staring at the various spaces inside and outside our house, dreaming how to make them our own (while spending no money).


On Friday, Sam's new wagon (thanks, Grandma!) made its first journey around the neighborhood. Denis and Sam have been visiting the nearby creek (of course), which Sam has named, "beek park," (creek park). Isn't Sam's hat just the cutest? A friend of mine knitted it for him when he was born, and I've been trying to extend its use this winter (his third, amazingly), even though it's too small and pops off Sam's head every few minutes. I am sad that he is outgrowing it...though I wouldn't trade all the cute hats in the world for the joy of watching my little boy becoming who he is.