Walter claims his name

Just a quick note to note that Walter started calling himself "Walter" this past Saturday.  I wish I'd written down the circumstances of the first time he did it.  He said it so clearly and precisely, and looked at me and Sean while he did to make sure he'd gotten it right.  Since then he's consistently and frequently referred to himself using his name, including his ongoing experiments with the possessive ("Walter shoe.")  My favorite so far: he likes to play with a puzzle piece of a bus and tell me who is on the bus.  This weekend when we got home from Umma and Baba's house he picked up the bus and said, "Mama!"
"Is Mama on the bus?" I said. "Who else is on the bus?"
"Dada."
"Who else?"
"Baba."
"Who else?"
"Umma?"
"Who else?"
"Walter."

That is one great bus.

He's not calling himself "Dadu," anymore, but we still use it sometimes as an endearment, and he doesn't seem to mind that.

Other weekend highlights: a visit with my Soul Sister, Heidi, her mom, her new baby ("Baby Anna!" says Walter.) and Bennett, Walter's Soul Brother.  Walter was so very alarmed when I was holding Anna and she started to cry.  Big eyes.  "Uppaday!" he said, trying to climb up on my lap to save the baby from me.  Later, Walter picked out a baby doll at the store and has since been practicing giving her bottles, giving her a pacifier, singing and reading to her and putting her in a shoe box to sleep.  He wants to call her "Sally," of course, but we're encouraging the name "baby" to avoid confusion down the road.  The doll came with a small stuffed animal, a dog, which Walter also wanted to name Sally.  This, too, we gently discouraged.

We had a nice video call on Monday evening with some of Sean's family members who were gathered at the shore for the holiday weekend.  Walt is quite taken with his cousin, Casey, who is five.  A couple of times since that call he's said, "Love you, Casey!" Pretty sweet.

It's thunderstorming tonight, but so far all dogs and small children in this house have slept through the rumbling and the worst of it seems to have passed.  Time for Mamas and Dadas to hit the hay, too.  Sally, on the other hand, just woke up.  Time for some womb snuggling, I think.