Yagulm

In honor of Gollum, Snarf, and other onomatopoetically named creatures, we have decided to rechristen Andrew "Yagulm." It seems to be his favorite word of late. We have no idea what--if anything--it means. Other variations seem to include "Yakum" and "Ya-um." He repeates it at breakfast, lunch, dinner, and while he's trotting around the house. He said it repeatedly during Relief Society this morning. (After, of course, repeatedly attempting to empty a cabinet he providentially discovered at the front of the classroom, right behind the teacher where he was sure to cause the most distraction. Although the Relief Society president assured me that there wasn't anything there he could hurt, she did finally attempt to put a chair in front of the cabinet as buffer. Andrew scoffed at the thought that a mere chair could deter him. He tried--successfully--to alternately wedge himself between the chair and the cabinet and then open the cabinet door, and, when we switched the position of the chair, he just pushed it out of his way.)

As you can perhaps tell, we don't have much to report this week. The snow day, which I already recorded, was perhaps the most momentous occasion of the week. Although yesterday was a minor red-letter day for Andrew. He finally seems to have gotten over his fear of the vacuum--he didn't cry when I vacuumed the front room in the morning (although admittedly he spent most of that time on the far side of the room or in the kitchen or hallway). He also slept for nearly two and a half hours--something he rarely--if ever--does! So I made a little progress on my dissertation reading (not something I need to bore anyone with!).

In lieu of other substantive information we have--as we often do--opted for pictures of Andrew. Below, you can see our budding chef, Andrew in his snowsuit (we had a couple of requests for pictures). Like Ralphie's little brother in The Christmas Story, Andrew also had a hard time moving when he was in his snowsuit--in fact, he had a hard time getting up off the ground. When he could stand up (second picture), he had trouble maintaining his balance. And the last picture merely illustrates his watch fetish. He played with my watch for a little while, and then had a fit when we took it away from him because he was chewing on it.