Dude

This is what happens when you have a baby born in La Jolla, he starts saying "Dude" at a tender age. Actually we think Will picked up on the word much earlier than the other kids because it is what Bill usually says to John when he is in trouble such as, "Dude! Why are you wearing a toilet seat ?" Anyhow since "Dude" is such a versatile word it has greatly expanded Will's ability to communicate. Dude can mean so many things from: "Cool" to "What's up?," to "Did you see that?" to "See you later." It's all about the intonation and facial expression. But mainly Will just uses the exasperated form of dude either because that's what he hears all the time or because he's tired of sitting in the high chair or stroller being ignored. Other words in Will's repertoire include: mom and dad, Lizzy, balloon, ball, mine, no, hi and bye. Just this week he started saying please and thank you which is a nice substitution for a greedy growl and a satisfied growl. All of my kids are big growlers at this age, I'm not sure if this is typical or just my kids.

This photo was taken at the beach on the first day of school Sept. 6. We went there because Bill's brother and his family were visiting us. I don't have any good photos of their visit but fortunately Collette is an awesome blogger and you can read all about their California visit at nathanandcollette.com/2007California.html There are some nice photos and if you are thinking of visiting us in San Diego you might get some good ideas of things to see and places to go. Collette has a talent for planning vacations as well as blogging. So you better check it out, dude.

(In case you were wondering because you can't see my facial expression or hear my tone, "dude" here means "friend" but on another level it is a sorry attempt to be clever and funny and bring this whole piece full circle and if you could hear me and see me say it I dare say I'd look and sound a bit self-conscious since "dude" doesn't slip out of my mouth naturally.)