Books and Reading

Checking out some books while in costume on Halloween

While we were out doing some grocery shopping today, the Boy decided he'd have a look at a Cars (you know, the Disney/Pixar movie) book. It's one with several different stories, rather thick, and has PAPER pages, rather than those board books he usually gets to read. He was entranced with this book for hours. All through Costco. Carried it into the grocery store. And we read one story out of it before bedtime.

He just looks so much OLDER "reading" such a big book! He has a lot of the stories memorized, I would guess, since he can almost always finish the line you're reading. Recently he's actually been mistaken for an older child quite often. At the My Gym Halloween party, one mother thought he was close in age to her own child - who is FOUR. Seriously? Four? I don't think so. Others have thought he's got to be at least three. It's true he's rather tall for a two-year-old, but he still uses his pacifier, and has been known to throw tantrums in check-out lines. Not that older kids don't do that. A woman at the garden said she'd thought he was older because he speaks so well.

Well, that may be the case, but, honestly, I don't understand half of what the little dude says! I'm really amused that he's started introducing himself to everyone at stores - "I sa shude and this is elmo." Sometimes he'll tell them that "this is mommy," too. Nobody understands "Isa Shude." Probably just as well.

Friday at the Garden

Boy Friday was not being especially photogenic yesterday. Mostly he just grimaced, squinted, and refused to remove his sucky.



Who can blame him, though? It was hot, sunny, and he was tired. He does enjoy flowers, though, and his word for flower now resembles "flowee" rather than "sha-ee" - what he used to say.

Friday is getting really good at colors, too. Poo-pie (purple), yay-why (yellow), gwee, oofta (that's orange), boo, why (red, I think). He says both one and two, but isn't too clear on other numbers. And he even knows some letters! I bought some alphabet pasta soup thing from Target, and it was a noisy meal. He kept picking up the letters and telling me what they were. Especially "W" - not sure why he likes that letter so much. He can identify E, P, W, O (but he often calls it "eye" because, you know, it's a circle, so it must be an eye). Daduee is vitamin - he really enjoys getting gummy vitamins after dinner. mukum is milk. seewee is cereal. And today (actually, yesterday too) he insisted on the pik bowl (pink). Not sure why he needs his seewee and mukum in a pink bowl, but hey, that's ok with me.

This kid is weird, though - he likes strong flavors. Like see saw (soy sauce) - if you give him rice, he'll insist on seesaw with it. And he enjoys ju (juice) - grapefruit juice! The kind without any added sugar, too! Vinegar? sure! Why not? So, you really can't assume he won't like something just because it's a bizarre and strong flavor. In fact, he won't eat lightly flavored cheeses. They have to be strong - he's not overly fond of mild cheddar. Sharp is ok, but he'd prefer parmesan.

Oh, and now that his yellow duck bath deflated, we went through a couple of days where he'd stand and cry "all done!" over and over. That was short lived, though, and now after dinner he says "bat!" for bath. Really enjoying throwing water EVERYWHERE. I think some hit the ceiling yesterday.

I just pulled the crayons out again (he ate a piece the last time I had them out), and he's really enjoying coloring! He does color on the tile, too - but it cleans up easily. He is also majorly obsessed with choo choos. He can say Toby and Thomas (these both sound like slight variations of "too-be")and Gordon (gordo). Of course, he doesn't have Toby or Gordon (we have Percy and Victor in the wooden set). When Friday wakes up in the morning he runs to his room and says "choo choo! choo choo!" until I turn on the DVD. I would like to change how much he watches...

Spring is Rather Chilly

We made it out to the park again the other day, but it really was a bit on the cold side. Like, oh, 40's. And windy. Right now it's 30's. I'm not planning on wearing that down coat again! Nope.

So, what has Boy Friday been up to these days? He says "cool" and "duh" and "pretty" (pipi). I think he might even kind of understand cool and pretty. Everything is blue (boooo). Generally, there are also two of everything (he tries counting the coffee scoops with me, which is quite distracting, actually). He still carries around stuffed animals - these days he loves bunny. I almost forgot! He says "mama" - but it means edamame. I know, it's weird.

Oh, and he can open doors now. The front door is rather easy, so that needs to stay locked! And the bathroom door, which is a lever handle (and he can lock it, too, which I suppose could result in him locking himself INSIDE the bathroom by himself).

On the sleeping front, we're down to one 45 minute nap a day.

19 Months Old

A couple of images from today. I suspect I should be taking Boy Friday to the doctor soon for some checkup or other... but I forgot to make his next appointment at the end of his last one. He must be getting bigger (he seems plenty tall and quite heavy), but I'm not sure of his height or weight. He has only his 2nd molars to come in before this summer, as far as I know.

We took the rail off of Friday's crib two weeks ago, and he seems to be ok with the change. Of course, he won't stay in the bed. But then, we weren't having much luck with that anyhow.

What he loves saying: yeah, car, daddy, mo (more), pee (please), gogo (grover), coffee, papa (pasta? popcorn? pretzels? whatever, he thinks it's hilarious. always makes him laugh). He started saying "bye" just yesterday, but it's still hard to get him to say it on command. Friday also has words for bunny and Pooh bear (both of whom he carries around with his beloved Grover). It's a bit unfortunate that he absolutely has to carry around THREE animals, as he only has two hands. Every so often he'll start running through the house yelling "gogogogogogoGOGOGOGO!" because he has no idea where that Grover has got himself.

Alright then, I should go see whether there is any food for dinner!

Always the Little Helper

This was short-lived. As you can see, Boy Friday already has his mittens off (I don't even have a photo of them on, he was that fast). Soon after this, he decided to feel the snow and I think his hands must've gone a bit numb. Didn't make him too happy, so we went back inside. You might notice his pink boots - I couldn't find any non-pink ones in his size. Next year he might be more interested in the snow anyhow. I'm not sure how much snow is out there, but it's enough that he would sink in to his waist. Enamored with snow? Um, not yet.



He loves standing on the back of the sofa and looking out the window. His new favorite word is "Hi!" which he exclaims vehemently at random intervals. Last week we discovered he says "so big!" when asked how big he is! I haven't played that game with him much recently, but he obviously remembered the answer.

He's tall enough to get nearly anything you put down anywhere. Earplugs, which are so brightly colored, are a favorite. He can't NOT look at them if they are in his view at all (minuh minuh minuh!). Oh, yes - he says MINE. But it sounds more like minuh. Everything is minuh. Especially mail. Paper of any kind. I have to hide anything I don't want him to snatch out of my hands (bills - not yours-uh). Favorite toys of late include cars, she-shes (choo-choo), clothes, and cardboard boxes.

Just about 18 months old...

Wow - I really can't believe it's already been a whole month since Christmas! We've actually been having some warm weather here in Chicago (um, 40F - so you still need gloves and hats...). Almost all of the snow had melted as of today (why, yes, it IS supposed to snow tomorrow, why do you ask?).

Boy Friday is just getting over a cold right now, and I really think that three colds in six months is just plenty. Yep. It's been quite overcast for most of the last month, despite the occasional warmth, and photos have been blurry at best. Here's one of Friday trying on his new Irish Sweater.



It's a wee bit too big yet. I'm guessing it should fit him in oh, two years or so. Plenty of time for me to misplace it.





Those two are from breakfast this morning. I know, fast, huh?

Sorry about the lack of videos, but I really hate cutting out the many minutes of boring (for some reason I have not gotten the hang of modifying videos while a small person smashes his hands into the keyboard and then runs away with the mouse). Yesterday I tried to get BF saying "baybee" and patting himself on the chest. So cute! He really has no interest in saying "mommy" or "mama." Daddy thought it would be funny to have him call me "Chaka" instead - and indeed, Friday repeated that one immediately! I'm not excited to have to explain to people why my son calls me "caca" though. Luckily, he's not at all sure what "chaka" means.

Terrible Twos?

Yikes, but little mr. Willful has arrived. The tantrums have increased in the last two days - screaming when I can't guess what he wants to eat (last night he wanted oatmeal right out of the container - yuck). Screaming if I'm not in his room when he wakes up (at 3am, no less). Screaming if I leave the room for a second. Now, I suppose it COULD be teething. You might be able to see his new canines coming in above. He was laughing at the camera (maybe at that funny red-eye light?). One of his happier moments today! I'm not sure that all four canines have arrived yet - but at least his right two are definitely in (both upper and lower).

He's now saying "hi" and "bye-bye" (maybe it's baby - not sure). He's also got a word for "flower" - but I have no clue what it is. In fact, it may be his first or second word - but it sounds nothing like flower. Sounds a little like his words for cheese or shoes. Both Thomas (the train) and Tyger are "tee." But, he hasn't quite gotten the hang of that sound yet. So, how many new words this week? Ten?

Merry Christmas!

Here is Boy Friday on Christmas morning with his first gift (he opened it while I wasn't looking, and it's one of only two gifts he opened on his own!). I was trying to get him to say "donkey" (bawh-key), which he only started saying after I brought out the Christmas nativity (the fisher price Little People set). He also says "Jesus" now, too. Sounds a lot like "cheese." He also just started saying "daddy!" I know, late bloomer this one. We're chopped liver apparently - Chester, cheese, shoes, and cars are all more important that saying mommy or daddy.

So this week he started saying - donkey, daddy (dee), anya (aaah-eee), Jesus, and I think he's working on a word for train (choo). Not too interested in saying mommy or mama (although I've heard it a few times). Loves to say "mee" which means "meow" or cat. Every time he sees a cat he says "mee!" Oh, and he'll snort if you ask him what the pig says.



I think it's so funny that he enjoys putting hats on! This crazy-colored one that I knit a couple years ago looks so cute on him. And definitely cuter on him than on me.



Friday seems to be enjoying all of his gifts... except the couple that MOVE on their own (Let's Go Thomas, and Lightning McQueen shake-n-go car). Those make him cry. He has two little wooden trains (Percy and Victor from the Thomas wooden set) that he really likes, and he loves hearing his Tonka trucks talk. Ok, he's not aware that he's received clothes - I think I opened all of those for him. I'm not sure what he thinks of his new stuffed toys, but I have to say the striped lion is so fun and colorful (and even machine washable)! Both he and the gingerbread man have been hugged and sat upon.

It actually rained all of Christmas day - all of the snow was melted by late afternoon! Not that we'd had much yet anyway. Today, however, it snowed all day and we now have a few inches of light, powdery snow.

Dancing Boy

Now that he's been walking for a couple of weeks, Friday's on to more difficult moves - dancing! Well, and he's still up to his old tricks of moving and stacking cans of food. Still having trouble getting video of words - but he says Chester, cheese ("shuh"), ball (all things that start with "b" are "Buh"), and shoes ('shus'). He tried to say grapes and banana today, but wouldn't repeat them. The other day he wanted a soda can - I try to keep these out of his reach since he will likely THROW them. Not a good idea. I handed him the can just to see what he might do. He picked at the tab, then pretended to drink out of the correct location! So funny! Obviously he had seen me do it and wanted to try, too. No, he didn't want to drink it - just to imitate.

All four molars are at least partially erupted - so now we're up to 12 teeth.

For your viewing pleasure...

Here's some babbling...



And some laughing, snorting, and sniffing...