Childhood explorations

At some point, nearly every child in America does that most American-childhood-like thing, basking in the American childhoodishness while reveling in the joy of being an American child.

We refer, of course, to the innocent poking of furry creatures. We got to witness it firsthand this weekend with boydog, girldog and Cousin Marcus, who got along pretty darned well. girldog was a little bit freaked at first, but when Cousin Marcus tried sharing his Cheerios they bonded, and closely.

Here's one of the little lad's first interactions with boydog:


Cousin Marcus got so excited he's since gone home ... but continues to bark.

With Lil' Genghis, mom and dad have been so excited those times her eyes just get incredibly wide open and she seems to suck in the world around her, exploring, learning, curious. It's the same deal with Cousin Marcus, now 14 months, shown here with his dad, Uncle Chris:


Cool stuff, eh?

Yeah, but now we're going to change tracks a bit and talk about something even cooler but less childlike.

dad went to grad school with Aunt Donna, the only one of his friends who is actually graduating. (He told her to stay the hell away for fear of bad luck, but she wasn't listening.) Well, Aunt Donna's having one heck of a great year -- even just the past two months. In rough chronological order:

• Got engaged to Uncle Ed;
• Told off her sister-in-law;
• Told off her brother;
• Graduated!
• and, today, got published as the banner article on the front page of the Boston Globe!.

Now she just needs a job, but in the meantime, let's all offer our congratulations! =)