What a Week!

We have had quite an eventful week at Casa Cook. Perhaps the most exciting thing that happened was that I got to talk to Chuncle, AKA Elder Steward, AKA my kid brother Matt. For those who don't understand all of those titles, let me explain:
Chuncle - derivation of the Portuguese "tia," pronounced "chia" (like the pet). Matt liked the sound of his sister Stephie's title (tia means aunt in Portuguese), but didn't like "tio," the word for uncle. So he hybridized the Portuguese and English and has become Chuncle.
Elder Steward - Matt recently joined the ranks of the 50,000 or so full-time Mormon missionaries. Not a designator of age, Elder is the title given all male missionaries.
Anyway, this week Matt travelled from the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT to his mission headquarters in Indianapolis. However, he was allowed to make a few phone calls while he was laid over in Chicago. To give you an idea of how rare (and awesome!) this is, he'll only get to call home four more times in the next two years - on Mother's Day and on Christmas Day. And we'll only get to talk to him if we're at the home of one of his parents.
So you can only imagine my elation when I recognized his familiar voice on my phone! We chatted for long enough that Stellan eventually woke up from his nap and participated in the conversation. Here he is in his crib, looking excited at the sound of his beloved Chuncle's voice on speakerphone:


It was great talking to you, Matt! We love you and miss you, and we're very proud of you.
Also this week, Stellan was lucky enough to get to cut some new teeth. Four, to be precise. Yes, in less than 24 hours, he went from toothless top gums to four razor sharp pieces of bone poking out. It's been a little rough on us all.
Stellan has gotten very good at tagging along with me. This week he went to the Museum with me (twice) on my supposed days off as I had a few things to take care of. He came with me to tour the camp we'll go going to this summer with the teenage girls I work with at church. He came to the Sea Center with me where I went to do a little shopping for an upcoming baby shower. None of these are a very tough sell; he's already got quite a fan club at both Museum sites (the Mission Canyon campus and the Sea Center), and the other ladies on our camp field trip were more than willing to entertain him as well.
He also seems to really enjoy youth group meetings on Wednesday night. This last week was game night, and the room was full of chairs and people, two of Stellan's most favorite things. So I set him down in the middle of the room, let him take off and hid myself so that he would forget Mommy was so close at hand. Sure enough, he sped to a chair, pulled himself to standing and had made some new friends, all within about 2 minutes. Not shy, this one.
He has been very busy around the house, too. He's been "helping" Daddy clean the bathroom and is love with the toilet. He is using his new standing powers during bath time to make sure his mom's blood pressure doesn't drop too low. Daddy is coaching Stellan in stair climbing (under close supervision). And he is now an expert at locating any electrical cord within a 15 meter proximity.
In Krissie and Kevin news, we got to go out on a hot date on Saturday night, thanks to Dad and Maggie, or Grandpa Craig and Grandma Maggie, depending on your point of view. We played tennis and got take-out from Natural Cafe. I must explain that this was a real treat for us - we use family babysitters pretty frequently, but usually for un-fun stuff like working late or on days off, or going on campus to work on a lab. As a result, we would hate to burn out our awesome family by asking for more than they are already giving and don't usually ask for extra time beyond the absolutely necessary. So Kev and I felt absolutely decadent spending hearly two hours away from home together and childless. Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!
OK, enough chit chat, here's what you really want!