What sound does a Panda make?

You see, we've got this ark (of the small stuffed variety), and it has animals. I've been trying to teach Kaden about animal sounds because it seems like the thing to do at this age. Lions, snakes, elephants, all good. But what's a creative and emotive way to make the sound of chewing bamboo?

And don't even get me started on what I've tried for giraffes.

Kaden is in a learning frenzy, and I have done a terrible job keeping you guys up to date on everything he is picking up. In the last month it feels like anything we expose him to he mimics back immediately.

Kaden now waves, claps, knows to back himself down stairs, and, get this, he WALKS. He's tromping all around the house falling and getting back up and falling again.

Actually Kaden (could he read) would likely take umbrage at that comment. He's a pretty darn good walker and mostly falls when he has either gotten excited or gotten a double-ear infection to throw off his balance.

Double-ear infections, by the way, pretty much throw off everything. By mid-week I actually had Kaden sleeping in his old baby car seat next to me because it was the only thing that he could actually fall asleep in. The double-ear infection made for a particularly horrible week that culminated in me having to leave my sick and crying kid in my sick and exhausted wife's hands while I went to Europe.

Sitting on the plane across from an adorable one year old kid while you leave your sick family for business causes a particular kind of deep grinding guilt. I had visions of my parents calling me to tell me that I am SO not the modern dad they raised and needed to take better care of their grandson.

"We didn't raise you to conduct yourself in this manner," they would say in an authoritarian tone usually reserved for pets. By the time my plane landed I was rapid dialing my cellphone to make sure Megan was still alive and not filing for divorce. And I'm not even Catholic.

Such is the attachment I'm starting to form with Kaden. I knew I would love him, but I miss him in a way I hadn't anticipated. It's no secret that when Kaden was first born neither of us had the kind of immediate attachment to this crying lump of flesh that other parents talk about. But as he has developed a personality, we've developed a really strong relationship.



When I walk in the door and he stumbles towards me, arms outstretched and walking like frankenstein with a toothy grin, it's a highlight of my day. That certainly doesn't mean I'm going to pull back on the throttle with my business - other than delusions at 20 thousand feet my life is actually very balanced - but the feeling is a bit of a surprise to me and could take a little getting used to.