A few weeks ago, Felicia finally uttered her first non-repeating, polysyllabic word: “Mommy,” followed a day or two later by “Daddy.” Since then she’s been adding words like this all the time, and has also been investing significant effort in repeating words that she hears.

This week, she’s begun experimenting with inflection … Thanks to her sister, she’s doing quite well. Whenever a conversation I have with Jocelyn lapses into gentle teasing or silliness, Jocelyn often retorts with an exaggerated emphasis on the last syllable in “Daddy.” An example:

Jocelyn: “Daddy, guess what’s inside this small box?”
Me: “A bowling ball?”
Jocelyn: “Daddddeeeeee, it’s too small to hold a bowling ball!”

Well, now Felicia has embraced this reponse, too. If I do something other than what she’s trying to tell me to do (a not uncommon occurrence), or if I drop something or fail to see a toy … she immitates her sister’s feigned contempt.

And earlier today, she responded with “Dadddeeeee” after I made a joke. There’s no way she understood the joke; I think she was responding to the sarcasm she had detected in my own inflection. It’s very funny and very cool.

This is a funny thing to blog about, Uncle Timmy. I laughed a lot. …

For Christmas this year, Felicia gave Nana & Papa a special treat while opening gifts at their Saratoga house: She figured out how to pronounce their names! And then, of course, she couldn’t stop practicing: “Papa Papa Papa” over and over again … and then “Nana Nana Nana” a few times in a row, too.

Grandpa and I have been working to improve our blog page but we weren’t getting anywhere fast. David, Jocelyn & Felicia were here for a day and while they were here, David helped figure out the ins and outs of our blog. We think it looks pretty nice. He had to have lots of patience! Then today, via the wonders of the internet, he helped me redesign the Vancouver Kellers blog page. Thanks David! We appreciate your perseverance and your contributions to improve our blog pages.

Merry Christmas to everyone!A few years ago, Jocelyn and I went on a gift-buying spree at a local dollar discount store, buying a few things that we thought Mommy might like. The result was a hastily thrown together version of “Twelve Days of Christmas” including such common items as “10 Random Greeting Cards,” “Seven Huge Trash Bags,” and a “Sweetie Goose in a Pear Tree.” Karen loved it! That accidental success has merged into a full-fledged family tradition. … every year, we give Karen a different Christmas Carol and commemorative ornament.

Entering the fourth year of the tradition, we are giving Karen “What Child Is This?” for Christmas 2005, sung to the tune of “Greensleeves” (which Karen and Felicia have enjoyed as part of their Music Together classes this Fall). The ornament is a cardboard shirt, itself styled with green raglan sleeves, and we’ve put a picture of the three of us wearing different shirts with a variety of different green sleeves.

I probably lost track of the eves there, but the Daytime Trio spent Wednesday night and all day Thursday in Roseville with Grandee & Grandpa. It was your usual trip, but without the snowboarding part for Daddy. But I did spend some time helping Grandee & Grandpa update their weblog using the same WordPress stuff I use.

I could tell you more about our trip, but let’s let Grandpa & Grandee tell it on their blog.

It’s really weird. Last year, I was snowboarding on Veterans Day. It’s almost Christmas this year, and the mountains are nearly bare; it’s been raining more than it’s been snowing in Tahoe. Terrible. This year for Christmas, I’ll take a snow credit. Please.

We hosted our annual Open House & Cookie Decorating Party over the weekend, and has lost of friends attend. it was great seeing everyone … friends, playmates, relatives! We hope you had a good time, too!

After the party, we often seem to find ourselves in the same predicament: What do we do with the leftover cookies? Jocelyn found a partial answer, in the form of my Rotary Club’s weekly meeting (read more on RotaryDad.com).