Good Company

Yesterday morning my friend Becky and her son Brandon came to visit us. Becky, her husband Michael, and Brandon live in Littleton, Colorado now but come back to town every summer. Kathy, Becky, and I were all in marching band and a lot of classes together throughout the years. All three of us were also pregnant at the same time with our kids. Brandon is only three weeks older than Erik. Erik really seemed to enjoy having Brandon around. The weather people here predicted it would be in the triple digits yesterday, so we went outside early to hit the swing set. Brian spent most of the day atop a tractor we rented with the neighbors and mowed down our crack house crop of noxious weeds so we aren't the scourge of the neighborhood any longer or a fire hazard. After Becky and Brandon left, Erik and I made a run to check on Kathy's cat (they are camping) and then later to the grocery store. I made a cool crab salad, and we had a pleasant dinner together. I told Brian how the morning went and that Erik did great with Brandon. Brandon could indeed do a lot of things Erik couldn't, but they didn't seem horribly different to me. I explained that I was a little jealous Brandon could point to his elbow and other body parts when asked. I then turned to Erik in his high chair and asked, "Erik, where's your nose?" I'm not sure why I did this. I suppose I like to torture myself. However, to my surprise, Erik promptly reached up and felt around for his nose. I almost fell over. Of course, I had to ask him to do it a couple more times to make sure I was not dreaming. I wasn't! So much for feeling sorry for myself! Erik has not ceased surprising me this weekend and continues his surge in language and activity.

Today Kathy and her family get back from a large family camping trip at one of the lakes, and all six of us adults and three kids will probably have dinner together. I am really looking forward to getting some pictures of the boys together. I took some yesterday, but Erik looks too slack-jawed and borderline comatose in them (it was nap time), so I will try again.