More video from Hilton Head

This video was taken at the Sandbox Interactive Museum on HHI.
Three minutes of John's "work" life.

Communication Update

Most used phrases:

Daddy, wotch dis.
Wotch Bob or TeeVee Bob
Up. Mommy. Mommy. Up. (after he wakes up and is summoning me)
Nee-oh (for No).
Dis won. Dat won. Dis way. Dat way.
Eeee-doh, mommy (Thank you mommy and Here you go mommy)

Dapes! (Grapes! always with the exclamation point)
Pete-sa (pizza)

Pay choo-choo. (Play trains with me)
Wide horse! (I'm riding the horse!)
Babbies (batteries, as in this toy needs babbies)

Pat Teats. (pat Keats)
Teats, hush.
He practices the K sound by saying Kuh, kuh, kuh, teats.
See Teats. (I see Keats or I can't see Keats)

Noo die-pah.
No Daddy. and NO DADDEEE! No Mommy. and NO MOMMEEE! (accompanied by the back-arching limp technique; usually after we tell him he needs a noo die-pah)

Whay daddy dough? (where's daddy? where did Daddy go?)
Way home daddy. (Daddy is on his way home)
Work daddy. (Daddy has left for work)
Won. Twoooooo. (one two)
Ah Be SEEE. He can participate in the ABC song on G, P, Z, and sometimes X.
He can recognize the letter "O" pretty much anywhere, can sometimes pick out A, I, and P.

Truck and BEEEEG truck
Cat bus
Skoo bus
Mimmyvan (minivan)
Names (James, his BFF from down the block).
Names house. (where he wants to go when we walk Keats in that direction).
mis-nahmen (Miss Carmen, his morning teacher)
But (bert)
Eddy (ernie)
Soop (Scoop the bulldozer)
Nup truck (dump truck)
wolwee (roley the road roller).


Bahbah-dee; bahbah-dee. Hay, hay. Laif. Doughs. On. (Life goes on. Tony taught him this. It is hysterical when he chooses to sing it.)

He is starting to say "Eye yooo" for "I love you," but only if we request it.

Yesterday he said some semblance of "Bless you" when I sneezed but I can't remember exactly what he said.

He repeats everything, and about 75% of the time we can figure out what he means. It's great!

Baby Flashback

It is amazing how much John has changed already!
(I know it's silly of me to be so sentimental over baby pictures this soon!)

Little Old Man

These videos show John's impersonation of a little old man. He did this out of the blue once as we were walking from the car to the Growing Place. I laughed at him, which of course encouraged him to do it again. We got a recording of it, but it has since vanished into the mists of toddlerdom.

Tony's Ok

Tony was in a wreck in the Escort yesterday, the other guy's fault.
He was on his way to the Warehouse Theater in Greenville for a photo call and was hit about a mile from the theater, with the minivan turning left across his lane of traffic.
He rode to the hospital in the ambulance with the driver of the other car. Basically, he just had bruises from the seat belt and the air bag, and a couple of cuts on his face. He is sore today, but went to work.

We're very thankful it wasn't worse, that it was the Escort, which was dying anyway, and that John wasn't in the car!

Rocking on the horse

I don't know if you can tell from the video, but the horse's mouth moves when he is singing. John tried to feed his giraffe to the horse in another, undocumented event.

Beach pics, day 1

Beach video

Boring alert!
If you are not passionately interested in the minutiae of John's day to day activities, this will be three interminable minutes of some kid digging on the beach...

Where we are

We made it to Hilton Head Island today. It's 8:04pm, and Tony is on his way home from the theater. John is in his pack-n-play, and I'm on the couch. Tony's assistant Amy is in bed with a cough.

I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile, and I do have some nice pics and videos to put up, but it may be after Easter before I can. I'll do my best.

Anyway, here are some interesting facts about John to keep you entertained until I can post the good stuff.

His favorite bath toys are the big and little dinosaurs from Aunt Jenny, Naomi, and Uncle Jeff; and the letter "O" from Grandma Judy.

His favorite stuffed friend is a small giraffe ("Raff"); we can't remember who gave it to us. Let us know if it was you! It is now tied with the B's for highest ranking love object.

His most frequent requests are for "Bob on TV" (the Bob the Builder DVDs and videos we have; which he is only allowed to watch on non-school days); and for "cheechos" (Cheerios).

What occupied him in the car coming down here: the Sesame Street alphabet bus from Grandma Judy (for almost 45 minutes!!); Bob on the portable DVD player; and a couple Thomas the train board books.

His favorite play activities are "play choo choo" or "play waywode tack" (playing with the Ikea train set (train and "railroad track"); riding on his "big horse" (a stuffed rocking horse - a mommy consignment sale $5 special - I have footage; and "draw chock" (drawing with chalk on the front porch).

He's very proficient at putting two words together now, and is starting to move up to three at a time. We are now in the phase that he repeats everything, and you can understand him, so no more bad language or gossip! He's also very good at mimicking the tone we use when we say something. My favorites are "Oh no" and "I know," which are also, evidently, things I say very often.

He sleeps with a small pillow (peepo), his 2 big blankets (twooo bees), and his aforementioned "Raff." We usually recap the day and preview the next while Mommy and/or Daddy are rubbing his back and neck at his demand, er, request.

He's a joy and a bundle of energy everyday, and I try to focus on the fun he provides, and am mostly successful!!

You put your right hand in ... (Mind blowing, part 2)

Ok. We tested John on left-right again at dinner, and the kid's just lucky.
The first three times he was right, and then he just started holding up both hands, or pointing to his ear.

I know he's smart but I'm a little relieved he's not that smart. I don't want a 13-year-old Harvard graduate. Just a happy, well-adjusted kid.

Mind blowing

So. Tony, John and I are hanging out in the "big bed" (Mommy & Daddy's bed) on Saturday morning, playing the "Where's your ...?" game. We go through the usual list: hand, head, hair, elbow, shoulder, wrist, mouth, teeth, ears, belly, knees, feet. Then we go to "Where's your dog?" "Where's your mommy?" "Where's your Daddy?"

Then one of us asks "Where's your right hand?"
He holds up his right hand.
Tony and I look at each other.
"Where's your left hand?"
He holds up his left hand.
Tony and I look at each other again in disbelief.
"Ok, where's your left hand?"
He holds up his left hand.
"Where's your RIGHT hand?"
He holds up his right hand.
Tony and I stop to discuss this amazing show of perspicacity.

We then start asking him about his left foot, etc. to see if we can really establish he knows left from right. But by this time John has moved on and is not interested in the game anymore.
I still can't/don't really believe he knows his right from his left, but we haven't tested him again since then. Either way, he really blew us away.
Toddlers are so much fun!