Boy Meets Cat

Two males.  Four females.  One house.  Ya gotta stick together.

Jem isn't Oliver, certainly, but there is some affection and a lot of tolerance here.

Valentine's Day 2011

or, "Experiments in Mixed Media."

Fingerpaint, with fingers and brushes.  Crayon, marker, sticker.  (He can stick a sticker almost as well as an adult.  I mean, seriously - when did that happen?)

Glitter fingerpaint is awesome.  Washable glitter fingerpaint, even more so.  Until you don't wipe up fast enough.

And suddenly your 18-month-old son looks like he got into a bad brawl with Tinkerbell.

(And when the laundry's done, I'll tell you the pros and cons of throwing the washcloth - with which one cleaned up the washable glitter fingerpaint - into the washer with the diapers.  Fairy poo, anyone?)

Cabin Fever

When the snow is too deep to go outside to play, sometimes you have to bring the outside in.



Complete with static electricity.

The Best Toys Aren't Toys

Language Explosion

It started in the bathtub a couple of days ago.

Bath toys disappear under bubbles, of course.  So I only put a few in with him - Nemo and Dory (thank you, uncles Jeremie and James), duckie, and a ball.  He played and splashed and had fun, and at some point couldn't find Nemo.  (Insert bad joke here.)

him: Mummy?  Where Nemo?
me: huh?
him: Where Nemo?
me: uhhhh... I'm not sure, honey.  under the bubbles somewhere.
him: Neeeeeemo.... Neeeeemo....
me: is that him over there?  in the corner?
him, looking in the correct direction and searching under the bubbles: Nemo!

It took me about 10 minutes to pick my jaw up off the bathroom floor.

Since then, he's asked for strawberries ("bawberry?") and blueberries ("booberry?").  He parrots certain foods that we give him - peas and beans especially, although he'll also say "tomato", "apple", and "pear".  He recognizes "cheese", even out of context on the page of a book.  He's putting words to the things he used to sign - please, milk and more, especially.  He asks for "book" and "juice" all the time.  He can name the cats, although they become Nina (Luna), Dem (Jem) and Ca (Scout - diphthongs are difficult).  He can also name characters from books and videos: "Cookie", "Grover", "Kermit", "Nemo" and "Dory" (of course); on the other hand, Luke Skywalker was identified as "Joey!", repeatedly and insistently.

Finally, he asked specifically for a bath this morning: "Bath, Mummy?"  Sure, honey.  "Honey?"  Yes.  Yes you are.

Impatience Rewarded

All I had to do was give up and blog about how I couldn't get video of Asa doing anything cool, when he so very kindly obliged me.  "Ring around the Rosy" is one of his favorite games - either alone or holding hands with one or both of us.  He's not so good at the falling down, but he makes up for it.



And he did Mad Scientist!  Just for you guys.

No More Waiting

Because I have been waiting.  Waiting to get pictures or video of some of Asa's new tricks, his cuteness... But Asa is bound and determined to thwart all my hopes and plans.  (Apparently, he turned two several months early.)  So: written descriptions will have to do.

Mad Scientist
Asa holds his breath, tenses all the muscles in his jaw, neck and arms, juts his lower jaw out and holds his arms up or out... and looks for all the world like a mad scientist calling down the lightning onto a newly-created monster.  I keep waiting for him to cry "It's ALIVE!!"

Wink
Most of the little kids I've known, when they were learning to wink, would close both eyes.  Not Asa, who taught himself this trick: he closes one eye most of the way.  True to form, he is most likely to do this when there is either a teenaged girl present, or someone who is completely fawning over him.

Words
He is turning into a real little parrot.  There are words that he knows well and uses appropriately: animal noises, "Mommy", "Mummy", "Joey" and various other names; "down" (usually from his high chair); "cookie", "duck", "baby" and, of course, "no", complete with scolding finger.  But suddenly he's repeating words that we've said.  In the past few days, he's said (usually only once or twice) "teacher", "apple", "pasta", "chair", "I love you" (to Mommy, as we watched her pulling out of the driveway on her way to work), "bye-bye", and several others.

Choices
See above, "turning two early" and "no".  We watch the wheels turn in his head as we ask him to do things, watch him consider what he wants to do.  He is very specific when he wants someone to read to him - he chooses both the book and the person.  He chooses his toys and will not be distracted.  He loves being able to choose what he eats for lunch, usually between two or three healthy options.  The beautiful part is that he's more likely to do what we ask him, like help clean up his toys, if he's been able to make his own choices about other things during the day.  (Yes, he helps clean up.  Especially when it involves putting objects in a container.)

Feeding Himself
With a spork.  Usually.  Fingers are still easier, and now that he's learned to lick them after, they're also way more fun.  In other motor control news, (and still talking about choices) he now loves crayons, and not just for munching.  He is careful in his color selection, and often does more than just move the crayon back and forth in the arc of his arm.  Which is particularly helpful right now, because...

We all, in this house, admit to a little cabin fever.  Today is M.'s fifth snow day since Christmas break, and it's sleeting/freezing raining onto the accumulated and packed 30" of snow that had been on the ground.  We haven't left the apartment in 24 hours, and aren't likely to be before tomorrow morning.  I like snow.  I like New England.  I'm not usually fed up with winter until early March.  This year... I was so done with all of this last week.  And there's still more snow in the forecast.

So we'll be here, running around the dining table, drawing with crayons, and looking (for the millionth time) at Asa's baby pictures, which he begs to do at least three times a day.

And I'll continue to try to get pictures or video of all the abovementioned developments... something better than this:

Blurry Mad Scientist.  Kinda how the snow makes us all feel.