It's official

• I am now Sara June Peters. It took four years of marriage to get my rear to the social security office to change my name. Treavor wonders if I was putting it off because secretly or subconsciously I didn't want to get rid of Bell, or what he finally did to prove himself fit to share a last name. I'm reassuring him that as great as my old last name is, I'm just plain bad at completing monotonous, dull, unrewarding, time-taking and very important tasks. In an effort to improve, I finally changed my last name. Isn't it strange that I could have changed my name to anything? after an hour of waiting in a small, cramped and stuffy little office with a myriad of people, ages, cultures, personalities and smells, my number was called from the crinkled receipt in Owen's pudgy paw to the little booth where the kind little man asked me what I wanted my name to be. This blog post could be me announcing my name is now Lois or Jill or Lashanda. I stuck with Sara, I'm quite fond of it.

• Owen is my pal. He recently stepped into that magical stage where he is no longer just my baby, but my friend. It has been so fun to have a companion who is learning to communicate. He loves expressing himself and I love, love, love watching it. It has been pure joy connecting with him in this new way. He is constantly signing please (the only sign language we've taught him). He's figured out the more he says please, the more he gets. It's become kid of tricky. How do you not give him his sixth cookie, when he's making that cute and polite gesture? I love that he laughs when we do. it's the funniest, delayed little chuckle. It cracks me up when it's in a big crowd, like when the Sunday school teacher tells a joke in church. He is able to show me things he wants, and does things I ask (like go get your shoes, put your toys away....) It is absolutely fascinating to me how fast a little toddler brain develops and such a phenomenon to watch and be a part of it every day.