My sister has been retrieved and she and my mother are driving back home now. Last I checked, they were in Virginia somewhere. Virginia, you know, is for lovers. I can’t tell you how many bumper stickers I had when I was a kid. Every summer when we took our trip to Western New York we drove up through the entire East side of the United States. I saw a lot of mountains and waterfalls and cows and buffalo and hotel rooms. Oh, and hotel pools. When you’re a kid, that’s the best part.

Tomorrow, my brother in law will be driving a moving truck the opposite direction, to Chicago. His girlfriend managed to find a flight and is coming into town in about three hours from now.  It will be… interesting to meet her. More than anything, I just want to clean his room. Yeah, I’m channeling my inner Monica, ok?

Meanwhile, Elliot will be 10 months old on Sunday. TEN MONTHS! Somehow, I am convinced that time is being sucked into a mysterious wormhole and it can’t possibly be that ten months have already passed. That’s ridiculous. He’s starting to really become a boy now, a real interacting human. He cracks up at hair, being upside down, and tickles under his arms. He splashes in the tub and knows exactly what he’s doing when he gets us all wet. Bedtime remains simple and I feel like he should get some kind of recognition plaque that says, “Elliot Smith: Champion Sleeper three months running.” I’m so excited every day to see what new feats he will accomplish. He’s been doing this a lot lately:

He’ll pull up but only if he really wants to get at something. Otherwise, he doesn’t seem to care. It’s like all I want to see him do is cruise around the furniture. Sure, it’s actually kind of early for that but I torture myself by lurking on message boards where half the kids are starting to take actual steps by themselves now. Both Ash and I walked very early so we sort of put that pressure on him, in our heads anyway. You can’t make kids walk before they’re ready. I’m learning that. I’m learning a lot of patience from this whole affair, actually. Sometimes he really tries it though and I find myself just placing him on the floor and walking away for a second. Back away from the child, ma’am, my brain tells me. Before I get too agitated. But on the whole, this kid brings me nothing but joy. Pure and unadulterrated.

SO, Happy Friday! Hope everyone has a great weekend.