Hey Jakey,

Gosh, here I am again, late as usual. Your nana and grandpa (my mom and dad) have been here for the past week or so, and they're running me ragged. They bought that 27-foot RV the last time they were here, and now they're camping up in Hope Valley, about 20 minutes up the road. So daddy and I are running back and forth between there and home, work and home, work and there, up, down, all around. Ostensibly, the RV was supposed to keep my folks from imposing when they came to stay, but it would be much easier on us all if they just stayed here at the house like always.

So I've spent my first night without you around. It was hard. I almost got up in the middle of the night to rush over to Hope Valley and bring you home. I got through it, though, and spent another night without you last night.

Spending time with your nana and grandpa (or it could be all the fresh air), has revved up your motor skills these past few days. You're learning a new trick every day. These are the cool new things that you've learned to do this week:

* Sit up with your hands on the floor in front of you, for quite a while before you fall over sideways

* Drink from a cup. Not a sippy cup, a regular ol' cup. You wrapped your arms around my glass of water, put your mouth on the rim of the glass and started gulping it down. Wow.

* Play peek-a-boo with nana. She holds a blanket in front of her and you hold a burp cloth up in front of you. She yells "PEEK-A-BOO!" and you laugh and hide behind the burp cloth.

* This is my favorite: you hold out your arms when someone comes at you to pick you up. Cute!

Daddy seems to really get along with my parents. Surprisingly well. Better than I get along with his folks. He's even out there spending the night in the RV with them when I'm not there. He took my dad to the rodeo this week. I'm glad to see this happening. I think my dad is more daddy-like to him than his stepdad or real dad have ever been to him.

I'll check in with you later. Not too long, though, or else you'll be walking and talking before the month is up!