A Word Is Worth 1,000 Pictures

The other day, Katie wrote down all the words Sam says now, and it’s getting close to 100. His speaking ability is really taking off. It’s funny to hear him say “Bye-bye… Dad,” pausing as he tries to remember what to say next. It’s also a relief that now he can at least sometimes tell us what he wants, whether he needs a drink or wants to go outside on a walk.

Car Wars

We've had some interesting car trouble recently, after having virtually none for 3 years. One of our cars was rendered undriveable, and had to be towed to the shop. $500 and a few days later, they said it was fixed. We drove it home, and the next morning it wouldn’t start again. Another tow and 7 days later, they found that someone had poured sugar (or something similar) in our tank, which had worked itself up to the engine. Before you tout your knowledge of the show Mythbusters, let me assure you that in the right conditions it is possible to mess up a car with sugar. In any event, the repair bill was now estimated at about $2,000. Fortunately, our insurance has agreed to cover it as vandalism, and we are only out the $500 deductible, which we would have had to pay anyway for the first repair. But since the sugar was the cause of that too, the whole shebang will only be the $500. Now we have to take the other car in too, as it is also having some problems. We pray that it’s not the same cause…

Last night Sam figured out how to make a spit bubble when he opened his mouth. So for a while we sat there, popping each other's spit bubbles. It was a true father/son bonding experience.

All right, it’s been a while since I updated this blog. Needless to say, Sam has not ceased to be entertaining. He recently started speaking without prompting. He’ll now say “hi” to us pretty often. We frequently argue over whether he has a globe or a ball (to him, anything round is a ball). And his dancing skills are truly amazing. We were at a wedding reception last week, and when they were playing music he grabbed his mom’s hands and started dancing, without any prompting. The kid has natural rhythm.