Nothing to Turn a Grumpy Evening Around
Like having your two-year-old wander into the room absently singing "Jesus Loves Me".

Labels: baby talk, Singing

- posted by Lenise @ 8:03 PM |

 
I Wub You, Ma
Oh, but the two-year-old can turn my insides to moosh :)

Labels: baby talk, boys

- posted by Lenise @ 8:07 PM |

 
He Talks!
Boy, does he! Daniel is rapidly catching up with his brothers' verbal prowess. He does his best to count (he can number 2 objects reliably, and has most of the way to 10 memorized- though he's stronger on 789 than 345), sings a reasonable facsimile of the alphabet song, and sings along with most of our They Might Be Giants (he calls them "gians" with a hard "g") and last year's VBS music, with a little bit of Chicago here & there.

Daniel's favorite conversation (monologue?) goes something like this: "I see 'mals zoo!" "What animals do you see at the zoo, Daniel?" "I see po' beyars. I see 'mingos. I see fwogs. I see seyuws. Zebwas, 'stwiches, g'affes atta zoo!"

Tonight, Daniel and I went to Dollar General for a couple of odds and ends. When we got back, I let him out of the stroller, and he kept saying, "He'p gosies". I couldn't for the life of me figure out what he wanted help with, until we got inside the front door- he wanted to help me with the "groceries". Awww :)

Daniel is the youngest and he's the smallest, but he is a force to be reckoned with, nonetheless!

Labels: baby talk, Singing

- posted by Lenise @ 10:52 PM |

 
The Better Part of Valor

Labels: baby talk, boys, sleep, sunshine

- posted by Lenise @ 9:04 PM |

 
Daniel's Birthday Gift

Labels: baby talk, birthdays, VeggieTales, video

- posted by Lenise @ 8:53 PM |

 
Did That Crack You Up?
The boys were discussing the various volumes at which people communicate the other week. There isn't enough caffeine on the earth to allow me to remember a whole conversation around here nowadays, but I do remember the conversation ending with Isaac making an observation that Jay wholeheartedly agreed with: Apples talk silently. Well, it was funny at the time.

Jay thinks it's just awesome when he makes me laugh. I wish I could remember what he said the other night, but it tickled my funnybone, and I told him he cracks me up, whereupon he launched into a series of crazy stunts designed for my entertainment, punctuated with "Did that crack you up, Mama?" Sadly, the answer was mostly no, and now and again, his antics looked slightly dangerous- not the way to promote mirth in one's Mama. Naturally he did eventually come up with a few more funnies, but the amount of effort he put in was eye-opening (he still didn't want to carry in a grocery bag for me the next day...).

Daniel, now, is really getting to the age of cracking me up. He still will say "no" when he means "yes", but when he means "no", he'll add "uh-uh" and shake his head vigorously. No mistaking that one! Tonight, he wanted to "play on the bed" (I'll bounce him on my stomach to the Wm Tell Overture in the key of bum-de-bum, or he'll raise his arms, smile, and say "Aaaaa" while falling on top of me, or he'll climb over me, run around the bed, and repeat, or...). He was in the mood for "Ta Tell!" (Wm Tell), so we did that once, at which point Daddy came up to commence bedtime operations. Daniel yelled "'Gain!", so I told him we could do it one more time, and I may have had to repeat once more before I pitched him over sideways onto the bed. This time when he said "'Gain", I told him he had to go find Daddy. Whew! Not a peep did he utter, but his face went from bouyant to aggrieved and suspicious in a split second. He even did that furrowed-brow glower out of the corner of his eyes. I haven't laughed so hard in quite a while! A few seconds later, the tot was cheerfully bidding me goodnight from his Daddy's arms. He may end up being more of a dramatist than Isaac. Heaven help us.

Labels: baby talk, boy talk, boys

- posted by Lenise @ 9:48 PM |

 
Daniel's Favorite
Daniel loooooves Bo'. We were wandering through Dollar General, spending some of the money Jonah's grandma gave the boys. John and Isaac had no shortage of items on their wish lists, but Daniel was a bit more inscrutable (given that the answer to every question is "no"...) Finally, something in the workbook/ giftwrap aisle caught his eye. "BO'! BO'!!". Daniel had spotted a VeggieTales workbook. I found a different, slightly pricier one ($2 vs $1) that included a poster & a growth chart, so that's the one we bought. Several times a day, Daniel will stop on his way through the living room to point out his favorite tomato. I didn't manage to capture the full measure of his enthusiasm, but this'll give you some idea!

Labels: baby talk, VeggieTales, video

- posted by Lenise @ 11:33 AM |

 
DOB!!!
Daniel was putting away blocks the other day, and so I commended him with a "Good job!" the first couple of times. He started yelling "DOB!!" every time a new block went in, looking at me expectantly. This is not a habit that dies easily ;)

Labels: baby talk, baby tricks

- posted by Lenise @ 10:50 AM |

 
Man Does Not Live by Blog Alone
OK, so I'm cheating on my blog with Facebook. That's one problem. Then there's my sister's wedding, preparations for which (mostly for the shower) have been consuming some of my time. Then I just haven't been at the computer all that much, as even my FB account will attest.

Anyway, life has been busy as usual. Daniel still isn't walking except occasionally. He does do more actual walking and less (p)lunging when I get down on the floor with him, and the other day, he stood up in the middle of the dining room (well, the middle of the edge- but not holding anything) and took 5-10 steps to me. He can do it; he's just not in much of a hurry! He has been adding words daily, though! That's a lot of fun- one of his recent acquisitions is "Hi"- complete with dipthong ;) He's already got "no" down, though at this point it's "nuh nuh nuh" with the corresponding head shake. And to think Jay didn't answer a question in the negative for years... =]

Jay decided he'd like a firetruck birthday cake (they had firetruck cake pans at the Transportation Museum), so we've got a theme for no. 5. So far, his guests are "the teachers from Sunday School". Kids, schmids. Maybe by September he'll decide he might want to invite some short folks, too... Jay is doing great with our very informal school work. He keeps asking for a new memory verse, so I think we're going to go with a new verse every week, even though I may not get through the "curriculum week" for two or three actual weeks. Paul and I are working out our own plan, so we can both know what the goals are and spend time on them.

Isaac likes learning the verses too, and we are actually ahead of the game with most subjects, it's just the activities we don't seem to complete. We did make boats out of tin foil yesterday and float them in a dish pan. That went over well, and then we took the dishpan outside to the porch so that the parts of the dining room that hadn't yet flooded would be spared. The boys had fun watering the garden/yard in the rain. Why not?

Isaac's poop is happy today for the first time in weeks. A couple of candy frogs had to help push it out, but it finally went straight from digestive tract to toilet with no soiled underwear in between. I made him sit on the toilet about 5 times today, because he was holding it back ALL DAY. It's kind of cruel, but still kind of funny, that when we were on the train today at the Transportation Museum, I asked him every time he got a focused look on his face what he was doing, because I really didn't want to have poopy pants on the train. I had taken him to the restroom and sat him down on the toilet before the train ride, but it would not have been the first time he had gotten down off the potty and made a mess right away. Ugh! I sure hope he is ready to carry through with this success, but we had gotten him to do his number 2 on the potty once before with no apparent continuing benefit. I won't miss the *Gru-uuu-unt* "Your turn, Isaac" or the "Here comes the poop train: Chugga chugga POOP POOP!!" or "We want happy poop! It wants to go in the potty!" I tried to speak his language. What can I say?

In more appetizing news, we had falafel from a box ("pom poms" in Isaac-speak) with yogurt dill sauce from our dearly departed downtown gourmet store and home made pita bread for dinner after we got home. I, for one, thought it was delicious, though it wasn't a whole lot of food. Daniel and Jay liked the pom poms. Isaac, on the other hand, wasn't terribly enthusiastic. Of course, he did have a very full gut until AFTER the meal!

Labels: baby talk, potty training

- posted by Lenise @ 10:00 PM |

 
Peep

Isaac: Mama, my HAYew peeps gwowing! And Jay's hayew peeps gwowing, too.
Mama: It does?
Isaac: Yeah, and youw hayew peeps gwowing!

(Next day)

Isaac: My [sun]gwasses peep fawwing down!

I thought he knew "keeps", but you can't make up stuff this cute, so I hate to disabuse him of the notion. And yes, I know he's got a duckie towel, not a chick towel, but still.

Labels: baby talk

- posted by Gary @ 8:19 PM |

 
Look Out, World, Here Comes Daniel

Our youngest is growing up fast. At 10 months old, he enjoys different kinds of meat, pasta, vegetables, fruit, and even the occasional piece of cardboard or dessicated Play-Do. Our inchworm will alternate between crawling on his hands and knees like a "proper" baby and that original style of perambulation he's perfected. He's pulling up on everything in sight and chatters like a monkey. Daniel's got a couple of words now, he's still using the Mamamam/mememem from time to time, and he seems to utter a particular grunt when he hears the train whistle. Mostly, though, he likes to talk about Vyera, or as he calls her, "ga" (usually with a short "a"). "Ga" also denotes Isaac, who's almost like a cat, except he lets you feel his hair.

Daniel's a very easygoing baby on his home turf (read: when not on extended car trips- sorry Grandmas and Grandpas) who loves attention and laughs at the slightest provocation. He just broke a third tooth on the bottom, which means the smile above is a thing of the past. Growing up much too fast!!

Labels: baby talk, photos

- posted by Lenise @ 9:17 PM |

 
Oldie But Goodie
I stumbled upon this video from last year and had a good laugh. It's AMAZING what difference 14 months has made.

Labels: baby talk, baby tricks, boys, reminiscing, video

- posted by Lenise @ 11:54 PM |

 
Bim Bam Boom
By the way, Daniel
- started crawling
- pulled up for the first time, and
- started using a real word (no doubt about it) within a couple of weeks.

And started stealing food from his brother- can't forget THAT milestone ;)

Labels: baby talk, baby tricks

- posted by Lenise @ 9:42 PM |

 
Quicker than Quick, Faster than Fast
Daniel's gotten to be a speedy little scooter over the past couple of days. He was still doing some flailing last evening for our Bible study group, but he remembered how to get places after a while, and today he's really traveling.

*PRODIGY ALERT* ;)
Maybe, just maybe, he's got his first real word down. He's been working on all kinds of different consonants, so there was a lot of da-da-da-ing and ga-ga-ga-ing, but these past couple of days, Daniel's been saying "Mama", not just when he's in a talkative mood, but when he's tired, hungry, whatever, he'll even cry, "Mamamamaaaa". Even Isaac didn't start calling me anything this early...

Labels: babies, baby talk, baby tricks

- posted by Lenise @ 8:33 PM |

 
First Word
Daniel gave Jay a big smile last week and said, crystal clear, "Geek!"

Labels: baby talk, boys

- posted by Lenise @ 9:37 PM |

 
Tooth Two
Daniel's second tooth appeared yesterday, right next to the first one. He still hasn't bitten anything other than my finger (which, let's face it, I deserved!).

He really sounds like he's saying "Hungry." Or "ugly". I think I'd better go!

Labels: baby talk, teeth

- posted by Lenise @ 3:29 PM |

 
For the Toddler With the Larger Appetite
We have some store-brand freezer waffles we like to eat for breakfast sometimes. Whenever I mention them, Isaac chimes in, "I want awfuls!"

Similarly, I had to crack up when I was preparing some fruit to serve as a side with lunch when Isaac yelled, "I want antelope!" Thankfully, he was satisfied with a slice of cantaloupe instead.

Labels: baby talk, eating

- posted by Lenise @ 8:59 AM |

 
Speaking of Precocity
Where did Isaac get the idea that my little stoneware votive holder was a coffee mug? Nobody in this house drinks coffee more than once in a blue moon!

Yesterday, he said he needed to use the phone to call a dinosaur. He wanted to use the kitchen phone, but I gave him the cordless. "He'o? Di'osor? Are you eating grass?" [Listens] "OK, bye bye di'osor!"

No, he does not crack me up at all ;)

Labels: baby talk, boys, imaginary friends

- posted by Lenise @ 9:43 PM |

 
Gender Confusion
Yesterday, my big boy told me "You don't want to go up there, big fella" when I was fetching Isaac post-nap (often the case when confronting a recently-napping Isaac, though yesterday he was in good spirits). Then last night, Isaac pleaded, "Come'ere, wittel Mama guy!" (interspersed with "come'ere Daddy" and "Com'ere, wittel Daddy guy!"s). I'm trying not to take it personally, though Jay informed me today that I am a "sir".

*Sigh*

Labels: baby talk, boys

- posted by Gary @ 7:51 PM |

 
Dabbling
Isaac's started trying out personal pronouns, echoing Jay's "Me, too!", among other things. Then tonight, while we're eating dinner, Isaac performed a flawless introduction. He looked at Paul and said, "Hi, I'm Isaac." "It's nice to meet you" was answered with "I know."

Labels: baby talk, boys

- posted by Gary @ 6:22 PM |