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Well, this weekend we went down to South Carolina to visit Baba and Grandpa. Uncle Matty and Aunt Carrie were visiting from Boston, so it was a mini-reunion. It was great to see everyone. Laura and I are suspicious that our visit wasn’t as important as someone who now measures 2 feet 10 inches.

And speaking of Ben, we just finished giving him his bath. Well, tonight as the water was draining and his bubbles were headed down the drain (he loves bubble bath), Ben stood up and started saying goodbye to the bubbles. I smiled because he often says adieu to material objects. When we turn off one of his TV shows, we say goodbye before the power cuts off. We’ve found that creating a transition is much more effective (and not as loud).

Tonight, after saying goodbye to the bubbles, Ben said, and I quote, “Mimi, bubbles. Mimi.” To the untrained observer, this sounds like baby gibberish, but we know this means “thank you”. When we give him something and gently chide, “What do you say?”, he responds by saying “Mimi”. How thank you made the transition to mimi, I do not know. In fact, thanks to Blue’s Clues, we know the sign language for thank you. In addition to saying mimi, Ben signed thank you. At that point, I broke out laughing.

Some other news, Laura was diagnosed with a bronchial infection today. Five days of antibiotics and she should be over that. In house news, there is no news. We thought one couple was likely, but we haven’t heard anything else. All is well with me. The job is still there and I’m still playing hockey. Until next time…

My great aunt Eleanor passed away last Tuesday night. I flew to New Jersey first thing Friday morning and attended the service. It was a quick, solemn occassion. The family got together and paid our last respects. Afterwards we went back to Mom’s house and sat around talking about Eleanor.

Throughout life she was a lightning rod and that was certainly reflected in the general conversation, but I believe everyone went home with a few positive remembrances.

I was able to spend time with my grandmother (who is doing much, much better), Aunt Esther and Uncle Billy. We spent over an hour talking about family that I knew nothing about. It was so interesting that I got out a pen and paper to write down what would have been forgotten otherwise. In the process, I got to hear more stories about Eleanor, the siblings, my great Grandma Josie, a famous cousin (Sidney Pollock), Billy’s Navy experience, and other family stories.

Despite the bad circumstances, I think the remaining siblings enjoyed that hour or so as much as I did.