The Cannon Hackett Chronicle: Grandparents-a-la-paloosa

Grrrrrrrrrrrandpa!!!

Ben and I just got back from a fantastic four-day visit with my parents in El Paso. We had fun visiting Old Mesilla In New Mexico, introducing Ben to (cooked) sushi, going to playgrounds, and running about town. It's fun to see how much Ben has changed every time we go see my parents (the last time we visited was 3 months ago). We definitely face different interesting challenges each time making things baby-safe (he has now learned to pull down boxes, etc and then stand on them to try to reach fun things put "safely" away). He was also more aware (although still wary) of my parents' dogs, and he got a huge thrill out of looking out the sliding glass door at their bird feeders. I really want to figure out how to install a squirrel-safe one here in our windows so he can enjoy more bird watching.

One real bright spot in our flying-to-El-Paso experience this visit was when we got our boarding passes, the lady at the Southwest counter asked Clay if he would like to go to the gate with me to "assist". Man, was that welcome! So instead of me being ready to collapse before the flight even began, Clay chased Ben up and down and up and down the San Antonio airport while I sat and relaxed pre-flight. Three cheers for Daddy!

Ben has also blossomed a bit more in his speaking lately. Although the most common word out of his mouth is "dawk" or "guck" (which sometimes means dog and sometimes definitely means duck), he has now started to say "dat?" (we think he means "that") and point to things. So now we are naming things for him a million times a day. He especially likes hanging ceiling lights and anything that might look like a cat.

Another good development is that sometimes Ben will actually allow us to put a hat on his head (& let it stay there more than four seconds!). A small victory, but a victory none-the-less.