There are common things about being a parent that seem to become uncommon fairly quickly, what with the growing up and aging sort of thing, so I have to chronicle all these little things that happen in case I ever forgot that my son ever did that in the first place.

So right now, my little boy has been saying "Ba" for the past week or so, and he's starting to venture into other words like "Da" and other mumblings. It's all really cute, especially when that sweet little boy voice that he has. And usually when you start saying that to him, he'll carry along, "Ba ba ba"-ing as real as any conversation could be. I'm a little happy that he's saying "Da Da", but in a way it's not really that huge for me. Being that he's just saying whatever he picks up, and that I've never been referred to as Dad, or Da Da, it's more so a coincidence than a Hallmark moment. Or maybe I'm just cynical.

The other thing about that is that in Cantonese, "Pa Pa" was what I used to call my Dad, except without the strong "P" emphasis and with more of an Asian twist. Which kinda made it sound like "Ba ba" anyway. So there you have it.

The other great thing that he's been doing, and this is actually pretty cool, is that his mommy, my wife, has taught him the awesome game. She would say, "How big's the baby?" And then exclaim, "Sooooo Big!" and raise her arms. Well, Alex has learned to raise him arms when you say, "How Big's the baby?" now, with about a 60/40 success rate. And for that 40 percent when he does raise his little arms over his little head, it's the most amazing and wonderful and sweet thing in the world.

Tonight, we also discovered that he's a puppetphile. We have a froggie wash mitt and I was playing with him, mostly just amusing myself with the dexterity that I have in my fingers, and he seems to really dig it. Just laughing and screaming at the top of his lungs. My wife took on the Froggie duty when we were watching, "American Splendor", and Alex was just having a ball with the Froggie.

So anyway, today I called in sick. Actually, I told that that my wife, with her broken leg, was having a hard time today and I had decided to stay home and watch Alex. Which was a blatant lie, but then again, it was true. Except it was a lie. But I stayed home all day and did a little house cleaning, vaccumming and shampooing the carpets for my mom's arrival on Friday. It was the first shampoo for 4 years and the water was disgustingly satisfying. It made me quite proud to see that much dirt go down the toilet. Thanks to B and M for letting us borrow their Dirt Devil. Hmm. I wonder if it would sell as well if they called it Dirt Satan?

So, played hooky today to do some cleaning. I guess that's what happens when you get older. You take days off to do ordinary days, and it ain't that bad.