A Dad Looks at 33

This is late being posted, but I wanted to record it. So here we go.

For my birthday, Katy and John made cinnamon rolls for breakfast - a special treat. Then, I got to open my present, which was the 25th anniversary reissue Optimus Prime. Yes, I got a toy for my 33rd birthday. Don't laugh, because you might tick off Optimus - and Optimus always wins. Anyway, this is the reproduction of my favorite Transformer I had back when I was a kid. In fact, I still have my original Generation 1 Optimus Prime. Of course, John wanted to play with it right away. When I got home from work, we opened it up and I showed him (carefully) how he transforms from truck to robot and back. I think, though, that new Optimus may need to join old Optimus in safe keeping, until John is a little older. I thought it was a pretty cool gift. Thanks, family.

Then Aunt Nan came over and played with John and Ellie while Katy and I went out to eat. It was our first outing in a long while. We went to Pyro, which was pretty good and I'm looking forward to going back.

Since it's been a while, here are some pictures. The kids playing with John and Ellie are Allen and Emily from next door.

Updates
Ellie:

• Can crawl pretty proficiently now. Hardly ever reverts to dragging herself along.
• Pulls herself up on everything. At least she's getting better at getting back down.
• Is getting pretty good at picking up food and feeding herself.
• At times (when not distracted) can do the "How big is Ellie? - So big" routine. I need to get that on video.
• I thought I had her saying dada, but I guess it was a fluke.
  

John:

• Likes me to do the voices for his stuffed animals and likes to "read" to them.
• Has two toy laptop computers. I think they may actually be helping him learn the letters. He seems to know where they are on the little keyboard. He also "sends me email" from them.