James's future wife; other adventures

We had a great time at my tenth college reunion last weekend. James, in particular, had a great time meeting Hania and Ridley Liu, the daughters of our friends Robyn and Jonathan. (Shameless plug: Yes! That's Ridley as in my name! Hooray!) Robyn and I have decided that James and Hania will probably need to get married someday. So that's all settled! She's a slightly older woman (20 months to his 16), but we think the age difference will not be insurmountable.

Aside from meeting his future wife, James's other activities in the past week have included imaginary one-sided conversations with anything that can be used as a phone. This includes the dangling buckle of his high chair, a wire whisk he borrowed from the kitchen drawer, you name it. This is how his conversations typically go: "Alloh? Ah-ril-uh? [Oh, really?] Uh-oh. Wow! Ba-ba."

We also picked up an inflatable backyard wading pool. I cannot recommend this enough. James was a little apprehensive at first, but took to it quickly. While splashing around, he spied a bird on the other side of the yard. He correctly identified the bird as some form of animal and greeted it with a friendly growl. The bird took this in the spirit in which it was intended and hopped a little closer before turning back to its snack.