the artful dylan

We are heading out town this weekend in a convoluted plan that involves all of us going to Ithaca and time with all three sets of grandparents and then a side trip for me to a wedding in New Hampshire. I have been spending so much time working at my computer in the evenings that spending time packing tonight feels almost luxurious. And working on a talk I'm giving tomorrow. Also, moving out of my office at school. That feels less luxurious.

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Dylan says her name all the time now. It is indistinguishable from "dinner" so you have to be on your guard to catch it. It is used most often in the phrase "Dylan help." She actually is quite helpful because when she is helping she is occupying herself with an activity other than "clinging to my leg and whining." Actually she is so fastidious that assigning her repetitive boring tasks is usually a wild success. I often generate a never ending pile of her laundry that needs to be brought to her room, which she will shuttle over piece by piece. Last time I did this I went in her room to put it in her drawers and couldn't find it because she had already shoved it all in one of the open cubbies in her room. Today when she found an empty box that had had some snack food in it she broke it down unprompted and put it in the recycling. This morning I was looking for Snuffy's food dish and wondered aloud where it was. She was like Car? And she was right, we had had it in the car the night before when we went to the park. She remembers other stuff too--this morning I was reminiscing about a bike ride we had a full week ago where we had a picnic by the canal, and I figured she wasn't really following but it was still nice to talk about. But then she said Ducks!, which I hadn't mentioned but we had spent a while talking about them while we were there and haven't seen since. It still feels bizarre to have her be so...sentient.

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I am starting to notice a pattern here...