Pretty cool.

Our son, C.J., has been saying words for a while now.  A few months ago "mama" was a favorite, particularly when he was in distress. We don't hear it much anymore. "Da da da da da" has been a familiar chorus for quite some time, too, though it may be more of a sound preference than a declaration of affection for his father. There have been isolated incidents in which he's definitely very clearly said such words as "more," "light," "uh-oh," and allegedly even "C.J." (though I did not witness that last one). Apparently it's not uncommon for infants to repeat or blurt a word once and then bottle it up; this definitely seems to be our little guy's M.O. But, as of this weekend, there's one word that's stuck and it melts my heart.

Pretty.

He may have been saying it for a few days and I just didn't pick it up, but my mother figured it out on Saturday when we were out exploring our yard, its trees, bunnies, and flowers: My son enjoys pointing at things and calling them pretty. Although it's probably not technically his first word (I now know why so many parents find 'what was your child's first word?' such a difficult question to answer.), it's the first word he's really assertively using on his own and I think it's incredibly sweet.

He's used "pretty" to describe trees, flowers, autumn leaves, a glowing Halloween ghost decoration, a stained glass votive holder, a piece of artwork that hangs in our kitchen, the chimes of our grandfather clock, his stuffed Sesame Street toys, his sippy cup, and his grandfather's hat hair (okay, so maybe he doesn't really understand what he's saying).

But I think it's a pretty awesome first word for a pretty sweet guy.

Good stuff

We just made it through a week and a half that included serious work challenges, food poisoning, a depressing Cyclone offensive line performance, and news of more ear surgery for our little one. And now it's dreary and cold outside and I think it's high time we focus on some good stuff.

So. Good stuff:

1. Our little man is 13 months old today and he has been walking for about a week. So YES, everyone who asks as soon as he hears my son is over 1: HE IS WALKING! He sort of walks like a zombie with his arms extended out straight in front of him, but it is blissful, adorable, wonderful, extremely dangerous WALKING.

2. Sometimes it smacks me over the head how much a little music can improve my mood -- usually when I've gone too long without listening. My current mood-boosting tune of choice is Tavish Graham's "In My Soul" from the Rachel Getting Married soundtrack. (I know -- an uplifting song from a depressing movie!) It should also be noted that my favorite band of all time ever forever ever ever released its new album this week. So there's that.

3. On Sunday I am having breakfast with one of my favorite people in the world -- my high school chum and maid of honor, who annoyingly lives in Arizona and only visits about once a year and will never move back now because she will freeze to death on contact. (This is what happens to Midwesterners who move to Arizona, you know.) But yay! She's coming this weekend with her two daughters and there will be cute overload and hopefully pancakes.

4. I made a recipe I pinned to Pinterest and it was actually good. Thanks, Sally's Baking Addiction.

Happy weekend, sports fans.