Toddler Tracks IV

• E the Toddler has sent his first text messages. He sent Sean “Zkqbb”, “Dearer set” (the iPhone even translates baby typing sometimes), “Mnnnnjjjmm Mmllel”, and “HalzxErZzkqwqatmb”. Then he sent my friend “U W c. Ymmjolllpl”.
• He is really trying to give kisses to the cats. They don’t want them, but it’s still cute to see him lean toward them, going “Mmmm…” as they cringe away but stand their ground, gradually building up tolerance as he (even more gradually) learns to be gentle.
• E can recognize a ladybug, but calls it “blog”.
• He is obsessed with pumpkins, and wants to personally visit every pumpkin on our street.
• Our babysitter, Marcia, has four pumpkins by her front walkway, which greatly increases her cachet.
• This is how we figured out he’s learned how to use plurals. I mentioned Marcia one morning while E was on the change table, and he said, “Marcia. Pumpkins,” very clearly. (He also says “horses,” “shoes”, “peas”, and so on.)
• The other day, he blew kisses to Marcia as he was leaving. It made her day. (She taught him that. It’s pretty charming.)
• He is getting quite bossy. “Read it”, “Turn it”, “Touch it”, and especially, “Do dis!” when he wants you to do whatever he said.
• Also, he is going through an ornery phase where he is apt to cry or whine as soon as things don’t go his way, or even just to ask for things. We feel that we are finally getting a bit of payback for all the easy times we’ve had. It’s a delicate thing, trying to give limitless love at the same time as not encouraging whining; right now, we’re working on finding other ways to express needs. If you’ve got words, ya might as well use ’em.
• If you ever hear him use the word “Coke,” don’t think the wrong thing. We don’t give him Coke. Somehow, we had in our pantry a bottle of Diet Coke from a Christmas party three years ago, and when we told him it was Coke (he thought it was water, ha), he liked the word very much. The next time he saw the bottle, he remembered the word, of all things to log away in the indelible file…
• He’s lately been trying to feed corn puffs to his rubber duck. Between kisses, of course.
• He has developed a love-hate relationship with our broom. He really, really wants it… and then when he gets it, he spends a few happy moments pretending to sweep, and then it starts to frustrate him (usually when he tries to use it on the carpet) and he cries. Then you take it away and he cries harder.
• We have exposed him to the true joys of the park. Now, he not only knows about swings, he can do stairs, the slide, and best of all, gravel (or should I say “grabble”). It is awesome watching him get all squealy and spazzy as he gets ready to go down the slide. Another perk of the park is all the girls he’s been getting to meet; from 15 months to twelve years old, he is fascinated by them all.

Here are some cute photos Sean took at the park. (In case you’re wondering why some of them look so… hip, it’s because Sean has an iPhone app called Hipstamatic that can add effects to your photos to make them look like either epic movie stills or like Polaroids stuck to your grandma’s fridge for two decades.) Plus… there’s one gratuitous bath shot, just ‘cuz it’s cute.

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