The big news, of course, is that Julia turned three yesterday. As usual, we have pictures. They’re just not posted yet.

Grandma Flack was in town for the occasion, which made the event all the more exciting: whenever she and Julia were in separate rooms for more than five minutes at a time, Julia asked, “Where’s Grandma Flack?” Never just “Grandma,” mind you, but always “Grandma Flack.”

Julia must have been a particularly good girl this past year, because she received an awe-inspiring array of gifts, including, among others, a Cinderella gown and magic wand from Grandma Flack; doll clothes and books from Grandma and Grandpa Wong; assorted doodads from Mommy and Daddy; and even a very nice card from Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Wong.

The other good news is that Julia seems to be more or less potty-trained at last. Since we took her out of diapers full-time—including overnight—a couple weeks ago, she’s only had a couple real accidents. And she’s reliably getting up on her own in the night to let us know that she needs to use the potty, usually right around 6:45 or 7:00. Oddly, she seems to have chosen me as the designated Potty Chaperone, as she consistently wanders over to my side of the bed and says, “Daddy, I need to go potty.” This is generally a pretty fair arrangement, especially considering that I really ought to be up by then anyway, except on the infrequent occasions (like this morning) when she decides she needs to use the bathroom at 5:00. Even she was a little disoriented by the early hour: she actually stood, whimpering, at the side of the bed for a couple minutes until I asked her what she needed.

We’ll see how she does on the long drive out to Yosemite in a couple weeks. This may be one car trip for which she doesn’t get a sippy cup; I’m not sure that would fly if Joseph had one, though.

After all that, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say something about Joseph. We’re hoping he’ll have three words he can use consistently by his fifteen-month checkup next week. So far, the leading candidates look like:

• Maaa…ma (for Mommy, generally when something has been taken from him; also milk)
• Da! (for Daddy, only when I first come in the door after an extended absence)
• Buh (variously, for book, ball and balustrade)
• Kizghssy (for kitty)

On the one hand, those don’t look spectacularly promising from a quantitative (or, for that matter, qualitative) standpoint, especially given that we’re still a little paranoid about the whole meningitis thing.

On the other hand, he’s got a number of animal noises and sound effects down pat: woof, moo, quack, boom, and a weird oinking sound that, as far as I know, he and I are the only humans capable of producing. He’s got a good handle on what’s going on around him and can wave goodbye, give out kisses on demand, and do the signs for “more”, “eat”, and “please”, which pretty cover everything he really needs to say. And he loves to be read to: he’ll wander the house carrying a book (usually saying “buh” all the while) and plant himself in the lap of the nearest parent.

So I’m not too worried.