Uh-oh, the Bus!

No new pictures today, but we wanted to report a big step in James's vocal development. Yesterday, he used his first multi-word phrase: "uh-oh, the bus!" He was playing a "wheels on the bus" game on Grandma's iphone, something he learned to do on the long car rides at Christmas. Apparently he hit a button that exited the game and returned to the main menu, which caused him to exclaim the above phrase. Mommy and Grandma, who were there to hear him, were quite impressed. Next week we're going to try to get him to say, "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy."

Sniffles

James has a bit of a cold. It's not too bad, but he's got a constantly runny nose and he can't sleep very well. Nonetheless, he has enjoyed the warmer weather this week, and has played outside as often as possible. We have been cooped up in the house for too long; it's nice to be able to use our yard and go to the playground.

The above pictures were taken inside, however, because keeping up with James in the yard is now quite difficult. James has learned to run pretty fast, and Daddy can't chase him and work a camera at the same time.

Another wonderful skill James has developed is the ability to work a doorknob. Last week he reached up and grabbed the knob on Mommy and Daddy's bedroom door, and opened it on his own. Shortly thereafter, he opened the pantry and got himself some pretzels. So now we have these big doorknob covers all over the place, making it impossible for anyone to open a door without a fight. Quite exciting when one has to go to the bathroom.

We got some encouraging news from the cardiologist on Friday: James's QT interval was within normal range on his EKG. The doctor is unwilling to say that James no longer has Long QT Syndrome, but he said that it's possible that James can grow out of it. We still have to give James medication, and he still can't play competitive sports (not a big problem at 17 months), but if future EKGs show a normal QT interval, then the cabal of cardiologists might think about getting together and rescinding the diagnosis. Of course, that's a long way down the road. But it was nice to get some encouraging news from the doctor, and it gives us hope that maybe James will eventually not have to worry about a heart condition. Either way, he's learning to throw a left-handed curveball.

More James movies

Okay, the movies don't always work, but we're going to try anyway. Hopefully you can see these; they're fun.

James is playing "whisper whisper BOO" with Mommy; a delightful game that he created.

This is his new slide/climb/dunk apparatus that Meme got him. It can go outside, but the weather has been such that it is more useful in the living room. James spends much of his day playing on it now, especially since it will never stop raining. Here we see one of his favorite parts, the basketball hoop. No one showed him how to do this; he just grabbed a ball and dunked it. Who knew basketball was written into our DNA.