Catching Up

Now that the birthday and travel posts have tapered out, I thought I'd get everyone current with the many milestones that we've experienced recently.

First, there's Shea. Although she seems to be in a perpetual state of teething, she only has two teeth so far, which she got just after Christmas. (No kidding, she got her two front teeth for Christmas. I couldn't make this stuff up.) As she's often cranky and almost always trying to shove things into her mouth, we're expecting the arrival of the upper two any day now for a matched set.

Shea ponied up with a number of "firsts" during our trip, but since then she has learned to clap her hands together and even pull herself up to standing position. Things are surely moving quick these days; it seems like we're noticing something new each week. I'm expecting her to ask me to borrow the car keys and my favorite purse any day now.

Then there's Finney, who wrote his name for the first time on Valentine's Day. Watching him pen his nickname letter by letter -- F ... I ... N ... N ... -- was like watching him paint a picture, both in terms of the suspense of watching something artful unfold and of the time it took to complete it, and when he finished the second N it took my breath away with pride. Sometimes these reactions take me by surprise, but there it is.

It was beautiful. I was proud. He beamed. So amazed were we both that he had written out FINN for the first time that we shared an ecstatic, squealing hug to celebrate.