A Nice Weekend (despite the date)

This weekend was a sad anniversary for my family. So, not wanting to be alone, we gathered at Aunty Belle's. Despite the date, our gathering was mostly joyous--largely because of Istra and Emeth and their uncanny powers of distraction.

Istra entertained with a never-ending round of ABC's, while Emeth seems to have learned yet another skill overnight. He is now making noises which sound a lot more like human speech; he rolled over this morning and said something that sounded a lot like "Hey, Dada!" and hasn't really stopped with these developmentally appropriate consonant-vowel combinations. He also seems, all of a sudden, to be almost crawling. He doesn't quite have the traditional crawl down, but he does a pretty good improvised bunny hop to get where he wants to go (mostly to plugs and cords and other wires we'd prefer him to avoid).

The weekend was beautiful--unseasonably sunny and warm. Very unlike that weekend three years ago. It seems a small mercy when nature directs us to reflect on what we had and enjoyed and loved, rather than what we've lost.