A little off-topic

Things have been a little crazy around here lately. Perhaps the craziest is that Mike decided to tackle our chimney repair project himself after we were unsatisfied with the bids we received. He spent all of Saturday and Sunday up on a rented lift, cleaning out and repointing mortar joints and patching the spalled bricks. It looks pretty good, I have to say, though we still have to have it painted. Goodbye, bright-red painted bricks! (They're actually white.) I can't wait.

Only slightly less crazy is the fact that Dom and I were involved in a car accident on Friday morning. I guess after 16 years of driving, it was bound to happen at some point. It was the other driver's fault, which he freely admitted, thank goodness. Our car was damaged pretty badly along the entire right side, perhaps enough for it to be declared a total loss. We took it to the the repair shop this morning and are awaiting an estimate. In the meantime, we've got a Sebring. The insurance will also replace Dom's car seat, now that it's been in an accident. And yes, Dom and I are both fine.

With all this going on, I've still been trying to line up a new speech therapist. I gave Carol a couple of names today, and she is waiting to hear back from them. I hope it will be soon.

Dom's still doing very well with his speech, using lots of labeling and mimicking. He's started saying "bless you" when someone sneezes, and with my allergies, he has plenty of opportunities. Today he sneezed, so he said "bless you," then he sneezed again and said "other bless you." I thought that was remarkably cute. It's also funny how any triangle he sees is now a yield sign. We're still working to get him to say "I want ___," and sometimes he does, though he's still more likely to fill in the blank.

That's it for now. My champion napper has been replaced with a very uncooperative little boy. I knew it was too good to last.

PS. I just realized that Dominick is 2 1/2 today. How time flies.