Names, Signs, Smells, Walking & Laughing

For years Pam and I have called each other "Momma" and "Daddy." We started because we thought it was funny how couples who were married a long time always seemed to stop calling each other by name. My grandparents did at least. And it was kind of ironic because we were young, and at that time, not even married. Whenver we used them, it had to be with a country accent because that was the only way it worked. Me, I chose to channel Elvis, because you can never go wrong with the King.

Now The Boy is here and the whole "Momma" and "Daddy" thing has taken a new turn. And I understand why people probably stopped using each other's actual names. When talking to The Boy, pronoun usage has really dropped way off. And so has the first person. We are full-on rocking the self-referencing third person. To sit here and think and write about it really bugs me, but in the moment it just can't be helped. Mainly, I think we do it because we're trying to help get him talking. Nobody wants to hear a baby say "I" back to you. Everybody wants "Mama" or "Dada." We certainly do.

We've been using some basic sign language with Malcolm. It's taken several months but seems like it is beginning to pay off. He hasn't used any of the signs unsolicited by himself, but he does use a couple when we use them and say the word so I think it's only a matter of time. He knows "milk" (squeeze the hand like milking a cow) and "all done" (brush hands together like wiping off crumbs (not the true sign, I Stephen-ized it).

Fun fact: Malcolm ate enough blueberries this week that we smelled blueberry when we changed his diaper.

We're flying to San Diego on Wednesday to stay with our friends Kelley & Casey for Thanksgiving. And we'll also get to hang out with our friend Kyrsten. She's got a little girl, Annika, who's a few months older than Malcolm. We'll be 4 blocks from the beach and once the turkey (2 ways) dinner has been digested (hopefully by Friday) we'll hit the zoo. We've been looking forward to it for some time. The only thing to get past is the flight out there. Malcolm's a pretty happy little guy but he hasn't been trapped in a place filled with lots of people yet. So we're curious to see what happens. If we're lucky, we won't be the people on the plane hated by the rest of the people.

Since early October, Pam's been saying that Malcolm will be walking by himself thru the airports. Well, here comes trouble:

(Now in HD goodness.)