Two posts in one day??

I know no one is coming here for my witty prose, so here's some eye (and ear) candy for you: Sidamo and One-Eyed Elmo talking about feelings.

So much to say

Sidamo's language is exploding lately. He understands so, so much, and he has started producing a lot of words, too. He had is first meeting with a speech therapist on Wednesday, and she's amazed by how well he's doing. She asked us to start a list of his words or word approximations, and off the top of my head I came up with more than 40. Of course, "juh" counts for "giraffe," so it's not as though these are perfectly formed words.

This morning we had a very exciting development, though: He strung two (sort of) words together. He goes to my friend Jessica's house two mornings a week, and her 5-month-old son Max comes to our house two mornings a week.

As we were getting ready this morning, I said, "Do you want to go see baby Max?"

He responded, "Yah!"

"Do you want to go to Jessica's?"

And he said, "Jeh how?" Translation: "Jessica's house?"

It was crazy! All of a sudden I had a flash-ahead to the not-so-distant future when he and I will have actual conversations as he's getting dressed, he'll be telling me things he thinks and feels and wants instead of just answering yes and no to my desperate guesses. It was like I had a quick glimpse at the fun and verbal little personality hiding inside our fun and babbling little boy.

Side note: I haven't downloaded any photos from the camera in a while, but I promise I will soon.

Are YOU my daddy?

Let me start by saying that Sidamo is very clear on who mommy and daddy are—in person, at least. Photographs are another matter. A couple weeks ago, Sidamo started to really miss his daddy when Greg was at work, so we'd go looking around the house for photos of him. He'd hold them and point and say, "Dada? Uh?" Which basically means, "Where did daddy go?"

In his daddy-finding zeal, Sid recently started pointing to pretty much any photo of a slender white guy and screaming, "Dada!" The plumber on the magnet on the fridge, the cover model on the Men's Health at the supermarket, etc. The people usually don't look a whole lot like Greg, but they're usually young, tallish white guys with dark hair, so, you know, close enough.

Sometimes he branches out, though, and dada can be an old white-haired farmer …

an incredibly happy, middle-aged Asian guy…


or even (and I'm surprised Greg is still talking to him after this one), a not-so-popular president …


So far he's only found one substitute mommy in a photograph, and it was Brooke Siler, a super-hot Pilates teacher whose book, The Pilates Body, is on my bookshelf.


So my kid sees me through rose-colored glasses. I'll take that over G-Dub any day.

A Boy and His Dog

Sidamo was absolutely terrified by dogs when we first came home, which of course broke my heart—as everyone knows I love my dogs a little too much (just look at the name of this blog). I was so sad to think that I might have to keep Daisy and Saffron separated from the new baby—and therefore me, since he was constantly attached to me. But after a few days Sidamo began to warm up to the pups and now they're getting to be pretty good buddies. He likes to tickle them, and they like to stare at me with a look that says, "Remember when it used to be quiet around here?"

On another note, you might notice that our travel slideshows have been deleted. We had a technical issue and hope to get it resolved soon so we can repost the photos.

Driving Hats

Grandma's hat—the first one he's ever allowed on his head.

Impaired vision did not improve his driving, unfortunately.

A hat his own size.

This is giving me hope that he'll actually allow us to put him in his Halloween costume, which has a head-covering component. I can't reveal what it is yet, but I can tell you that it's beyond ridiculously cute. Stay tuned.