Lots has been going on in our lives lately, but I’ll start this post by discussing one that many of you already have heard about.  My company is closing down their Charlotte office in six months.  A few people have been offered relocation to other offices in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and France, but not many.  A lot of people will be let go in two or three months.  And a few of us are fortunate enough to be offered jobs through the entire “transition period.”  I am in that last group, which means that if I stay through the end of March I will get a pretty substantial severance package (if I leave before then, the severance payment is much smaller).  I’m not sure what we will be doing from here, but I’ll try to keep everyone updated.

In more pleasant news, I thought I’d give some updates on Emma’s development.  She has turned into quite a giggler.  There are a few things that consistently trigger this giggling.  First and foremost, holding her in front of a mirror (especially while moving her forward and backward in front of it) will always make her stop crying and start smiling and laughing.  Another way of making her laugh it so simply let her see Punky.  It doesn’t matter what Punky is doing, she can even be sleeping.  When Emma sees her, she starts laughing.

A few days ago I spent most of the morning working from home, and I got to see Emma watch her Baby Galileo DVD.  This was very interesting.  Basically, random stuff comes by while classical music plays, and occasionally they show babies playing, or they’ll have a young kid say a word like “sun” or “moon”.  It reminded me a lot of A Clockwork Orange, when they brainwashed the guy by forcing him to vidie the ultraviolence while they played Ludwig Von.  I’m not sure if Baby Galileo is trying to brainwash viewers or not, but I had a strong urge to assassinate public officials after viewing it.

In other news, Emma learned to make the “d” sound about a week and a half ago.  This means that occasionally she sits there and says “da da da da da da da da!”  I’m trying to teach her that “da da” references me, by responding to her whenever she says the phrase.  I’m not sure how well its working, because she also says “da da da da da da” when she’s looking at Punky.  We’ll see.

As far as locomotive skills, Emma’s still not able to crawl and certainly not walk yet, but she has mastered rolling over.  She’s close to being able to sit up on her own, although she’ll tilt over to one side or the other after a minute or so.  She is also very aware, in that she’ll follow people around the room, and she can figure out where people’s voices are coming from.

I guess that’s enough updates for one post.  Until next time, keep on.. doing whatever it is that you do.. !