2012 Intercontinental G1 Tribute Buzz-A-Thon

As a means of paying tribute to Emmett's great Uncle Doug and great Aunt Jac who are scrapping with cancer at the moment, Emmett's dad, a couple of uncles, and a bunch of cousins significantly reduce the R-value in their respective attics... just in time for Valentine's Day.

Here they are, age before beauty:

Emmett's new ball

Uncle John goes on a river salvage mission this week and yields a Spider-Man ball to which Emmett develops an unnatural attachment. He plays with it constantly, insists on bringing it to bed and, today, introduces Ball as his new essential dining companion.

A bit of facial hair, and Emmett becomes a dead ringer for Tom Hanks in Castaway.

Another rack of firsts

As she watched Emmett's dad successfully deliver the first bottle feeding, Emmett's mom pumped her arms triumphantly skyward, danced a dance of joy, and screamed from the balcony, "SWEET FREEDOM!"

Emmett also got his first look at a real, live uncle. Uncle John stopped in to meet his new nephew en route to a conference on the west coast.

And, perhaps most importantly, Emmett acknowledged for the first time -- amid an awesome case of the hiccups -- that the shoes do, in fact, make the man.