I'm beginning to appreciate how Han Solo felt in Jedi.

I went to a conference for university web professionals (webmasters, editors, marketing wonks and such) this week, leaving on Sunday morning and coming back Tuesday night. During that time, Jordan didn't grow two inches, but by the time I got back, my 15-month-old was babbling in sentences.

She's done this occasionally before, but now she's vehement about it. She gets in your face and babbles like a Klingon. "Pah! Dah! Ah! No Nil-ta! Doy-doy!" Ok, that last bit is more like a droid from the Phantom Menace. Occasionally actual words -- door, dog, duck, turtle -- will emerge from this toddler cacophony.

It's stunning. And it happened in just a handful of days. It's amazing and to be honest I felt a little bad about missing part of it.

But now I'm home, and I'm getting to see her do all kinds of other new things ... like blowing her nose in a tissue (we'd gotten her to blow her nose while we held a tissue, but now she'll grab a tissue and blow). Or crossing her legs while sitting on the sofa, mimicking what I was doing while we both watched Babylon 5.

Yeah, it's fun to be a dad.