December 2

Hamilton loves the wagon at Mimi and Pops's house. Sometimes he rides, sometimes he pushes, or sometimes he pulls. I love all the leaves on the ground. As a kid I spent lots of time raking leaves, though not usually to clear the yard of leaves. Travis and I would spend hours raking them into piles and wrestle in them, or we'd make trails and create an obstacle course. So much outdoor fun that quickly turned into work when it was time to rake the leaves into the woods and out of the yard.

Papa Joe's House

While it took Hamilton until Grandma Judy's second day with us last month to begin saying her name, we'd been with Papa Joe just a few hours before he was saying, "Puh Joe." Today Hamilton's added his familiar, indefinite article to form "Uh-PUH Joe," which we hear with gusto every time Papa Joe walks into the room. (Since Hamilton continues to advance with his speech, noticeable nearly daily, "Joo" has been replaced by "Joo-dee" most of the time now for Grandma Judy.)

Hamilton has spent lots of time with Papa Joe feeding his three, big dogs. They've also spent lots of time walking around the yard and extensive sidewalks while Hamilton pulls the wagon.

On our dog walk this morning, Mr. Morgan took Hamilton for a fun ride in the wagon on the steep hills in the neighborhood. Hamilton was giddy with delight.

This afternoon Joe put clean water in the little pool, so Hamilton enjoyed an impromptu swimming time.