Back in Town

Well, I'm here in Spokane. And this is a posting. And I'm glad to be back. And the cats were mostly happy to see me. And I had a blast in Chicago. I loved seeing my sis and her hubby. And my dad, over the weekend. The star of the show, of course, was my 19-month-old nephew. Such a cutie pie. He'd figured out how to say my name (without the "th"), and was not shy about invoking it, which I loved. He figured out how to say "Grandpa" for my dad (the "g" wasn't all there, but the "pa" was clear, and he was definitely using two syllables). And he's working on the "ABC" song. He's got "p" down pat. So cute! We would sing "LMNO" and pause, and he'd get a twinkle in his eye, and smile, and say, "p." And we'd celebrate! And he'd laugh at our crazy antics. (Man, it's easy to make these people happy.) And once, when he was building blocks, and got to a celebratory point, and expressed joy and clapped, and I also expressed joy... he reached over, grabbed hold of each of my hands, and put them together. Apparently my celebration was missing the obligatory hand clap.

He's doing this new thing (to me) where he spins these plastic half-balls, like tops. He's amazing. He should be on Oprah. He gets one going, and then another one, and then another... sliding across the patio to keep them all spinning in sync... I tried it. I wasn't very good. They just landed flat on the ground. No spin. Finally I got one going. His face lit up, he clapped (of course!) and then - I swear he said - "All right, Beth!" (ah ri Be!)

I did pull out an old favorite. I'd forgotten, but - ahem - I can speak like Donald Duck. Not very well (my brother does a much better imitation) but well enough to get my nephew smiling and laughing. He laughed at Donald Duck counting... Donald Duck sleeping... Donald Duck sneezing... he just laughed. I love to make him laugh, to hear that sound when he really gets the giggles. Like I've said before, he sounds just like a waterfall when he laughs like that. What happier sound can there be than that?