Daddy's Work

On Sunday, John and I went to see Tony at the Warehouse Theater in Greenville, because Tony was gone before John got up and wouldn't be home until after bedtime...

Here are some pics and video.

Oft heard phrases at the Penna house

"I not cry, Mommy."
"I don't say 'No,' Mommy."
"I don't want ..." cookie, milk, watch Thomas, anything we try to limit... (he tries REALLY hard to cooperate!)
"Fay trains, Daddy." (along with this are requests for "supa-bridge" and "supa tunna.")
"Do dat 'gin."
"After I wake up ..." [this is when he gets to do fun stuff]
"I watch Thomas?"
"Read arfur book" (Arthur the Aardvark books)
"Dat's better, Mommy."
"No, mommy, dat not right."
"My bee makes me fee bedda."
"Whey-er?" (Where?) and "Mee-ilk" (milk) [these reveal his South Carolina accent]
"Not time for..." (bed, bath, dinnner, putting toys away, etc.)
"Dood dog, Keats"
"Wut you doing, Mommy?"
"Fees" and "Tanku."
"I wuv you."

Hoppin' John

John is going to sleep well tonight! We went swimming at the rec center today and John re-discovered not only his love for jumping into the pool, but also his love for having an audience. After his first jump, a man and his wife clapped and cheered for him and he ate it up. He immediately reached for the side of the pool, climbed out, and jumped in again to even more applause. We must have done this about 15 times in a row! I made him take a break, mostly because my arms were tired from lifting him back up onto the edge of the pool. All told, he must have jumped in the pool 25-30 times today. He was in a very good mood the rest of the day. After dinner we were playing with his trains and he suddenly told me that it was time to put the trains away and take a bath.

Oh, and from the tooting-my-own-horn department (no intended reference to Juliet's family), while we were swimming I heard something that made me feel really good. John and I were playing a game where I stick out my tongue, he moves his finger close to it, and I pretend to bite his finger off. This game always makes him squeal with laughter, by the way. While we were playing this game in the pool, I heard a little girl near us say, "I want daddy to do that to me!" What can I say, I'm a trendsetter.

The Amazing "Bee"

These past couple of days, as we have all been struggling on how to negotiate John's growing independence (i.e., the terrible twos), we have discovered a new power of the Bee [his blue blanket]. It can help him calm down when nothing else can! He's been having lots of meltdowns (and they are pretty instantaneous sometimes) and once, he had his Bee with him while he was calming down (which normally takes about a five-minute time out). Now, I just help him find his Bee and say "Your Bee can help you calm down" and it does!!! We will enjoy using this technique until it no longer works.

Tony and I are both amazed and proud that John understands the difference between calm and upset. If we have to put him in time-out or "bee-out," he works through the tantrum, then calls "Mommy, I'm calm, I not cry." Now I am working on the same technique for myself!

(PS: I know you've seen this picture before, but I don't have another recent "Bee" shot!)

Life is fun!