It’s been a while since I last updated.  Mostly, this is due to an all-consuming and relentless work schedule.  I teach and do research during the day.  Nighttime is my only opportunity to prepare my lectures.  Every night when I come home, I face a few hours of work after H is tucked into bed.  I hate it, and have decided that I absolutely am done with teaching college psychology courses.  Given the hours it requires, I get paid around $3/hour.  I am not even remotely lying.  And this is the 6th class I have taught.  It’s definitely time to move on.

I’ve been really missing H lately.  He is going through an explosive period of language development, and it is so fun to see what he is going to come up with next.  Some of his latest words are “moustache,” and “limousine.”  Yes, really.  He’s starting to speak in little sentences, some of which are more intelligible than others.  He has most of his books memorized, and tries to “read” along with me when we have story time together.  His favorite book currently is a board book entitled “The Wheels on the Bus.”  The book has actual plastic wheels affixed to its base, so the book is effectively two of Holden’s favorite things:  a book and a motor vehicle.  He loves the part that goes “The driver on the bus says ‘Move on back!'”  Holden screams this part of the story and gestures with his arms to instruct his imaginary passengers to move to the back of the bus.  It’s so adorable.

Another recent development in Holden-land is the display of empathy toward someone who may feel hurt.  If Holden screams “No!” at us or otherwise rejects us, we make a sad face and tell him that he has hurt our feelings.  When I do this, Holden stops what he is doing, says, “Mama…” as he walks towards me to pat me on the shoulder and place his head on my shoulder or chest to “comfort” me.  It’s enough to make me melt on the spot.

This last tidbit is a funny story from the other day.  Holden and I went on a walk around the neighborhood when we got home from daycare.  It was still semi-light outside and it was reasonably warm for this time of year.  We encountered one of our neighbors with her German Shepherd, Isabel.  When Holden spotted the dog, he grabbed my hand and leaned into me, asking with concern “Nice??  Nice??”  I said, “Yes, the puppy is nice,” to which Holden responded “Nice wallaby.”  He repeatedly called the dog a wallaby, presumably because the Shepherd’s ears look so similar to wallaby ears.  Holden is fascinated by animals—all of them.  His other recent animal obsession involves antlers.  Every time he sees antlers, he exclaims “Moose!”  Perhaps this spring we will actually see one—after all, they are rumored to venture through the neighborhood during mating season.  It’s an interesting neighborhood we live in—a habitat that can support both moose and wallaby is a varied habitat indeed.