Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Whoa, What a July! Motor-Mouth!

Well, I've filled in the new words I've mentioned in the last few entries, and I'm adding your new ones from the past two weeks. Then I'll tell you about the 'holiday' we took.

You will copy any words that we want you to say, so it's impossible to write all those down. However, I've almost been able to keep track of the words that you are saying and signing.
Here are the words you say now (or at least as many as I can remember). Now, I'm not saying that you pronounce all these perfectly or anything.

New in the past two weeks or so.
chicken
balloon
Toboo (It sounds more like boot-boo. It's pretty darn cute.)
bike
lion
fish
got it
hello (you already said and signed 'hi', but you've started saying 'hello' on your phone)
stroller (many details to follow on that)
bathtub
all done (like when a DVD is over or a book ends)

Older Words, or ones I've already mentioned in the last few entries.
colours (crayons)
no
bum
poo poo
bird
train
marble
buttons
up/down (for the teeter totter and 'the kids on the bus')
baby
flower
book
game
play
apple
orange
shoes
toast
help
Paul
bye bye
hi Daddy
bye daddy
cookie
car
that's all
truck
good bye (really you say 'good good')
thank you (sounds more like kay-q)
Papa (for Grandpa - Ken)
Gampa (for Grand-Dan)
garbage
hat
ball
buh bye
hi
up
down
bubbles
Mum ana Mamaaaaa (very Italian-like)
Dada
Jack
cat
bath
toothbrush
cracker
tractor

Here are the animal sounds you currently say.
Cow - brooo
Cat - mow
Dog - woof woof
Monkey - uh uh (instead of ooh ooh)
Elephant - pfhhh (like a trunk noise, hard to explain)
Chicken - cluck cluck (you actually click your tongue)
Sheep - baaa
Rooster - cock doo
Bear - Raa
Lion - Raa
Rabbit - it's like a kissing/eating sound KWIM?
***you refuse to say quack or oink****

You are signing lots more now too. You are also stringing signs together like 'more milk please'. You think this is pretty neato. You'll copy a whole bunch of the signs of the signing DVDs when the kids are doing them, but here are some of the ones you'll initiate and do on your own.

Newer Signs in the last two weeks or so
cracker
bike
potty
tickle (you made this one up)
-A bunch of others you've made up to try and tell me specifically which DVD you'd like, but darned if I can figure them out. This is frustrating.

Older Signs, or signs I've already mentioned in the last few posts.
bird
train
sorry
want
baby
ball
game
play
flower
book
finished
fruit
cereal
dvd / sign
monkey
play
help
bib (made this one up yourself)
thank you
cookie
cereal
bath
sleep
mum
Dad
hat
Hi
Bubbles
Please/like
More
Finished
Gone
Milk
Water
Eat
Change (you'll sign change if you're poopy or just on the change table if I ask you to)
Dog

More AJ Updates

You are enjoying your books even more than before. You like to point at different items and name them whether I'm with you or not. You also like to point to things when I ask you something like "Where are the eyes?" or "Where are the socks?"

Last weekend we went to Penticton and Kelowna. Penticton was for Daddy's work, and Kelowna was because the car didn't want to come home on the Coquilhala. You caught a cold. You got to go to the beach. You are tanning very nicely. You had some good naps in the car. You got to stay up late on Friday night. You DID NOT want to sleep in your playpen, so you slept on the couch the first night and on the big queen size bed the second night. You naughty thing. I think we need to buy a portable DVD player for long car rides.

You like to talk on the phone by wedging it between your ear and your shoulder.

Okay, so for quite some time you've been saying this word in reference to cars/trucks/vans, etc. "Goyuhhhhhh". Well, I finally figured it out. You are calling them all 'strollers'. Here's the breakdown....
two wheels = bike
more than two wheels = stroller (but you can say car and truck, and will repeat 'van')
more than four wheels or very long like a big rig = train

Oh, you were really testing me with that one!

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

My Boy, Reading a Book! Well, Not Really.

A Proud Mommy moment...
-Tonight, after your normal bedtime stories, you brought me one of your mini-colour-board-books. This one was "Green". We've probably read it once a day this particular week.
-Anyhow, I turn to the first page and say, "What's that?"
You say, "Appo" (that wasn't the impressive part because you say "appo" all the time.)
I say, "Yes, it's a green apple!"
I turn to the next page and say, "What's that?"
You say, "Coluuur".
I say, "Yes, it's colours! It's green crayons!"
Next page.
You say, "Maa bow".
I say, "Yes, it's green marbles!"
Next page.
You say, "bupbuh".
I say, "Yes, it's buttons!"
You didn't say, "socks" on the next page though.

I'm just impressed that you learned those words from me naming them a few times this week. It makes me feel like I should be reading to you even more. Uggg, I should get off the computer more.

Not sure if I mentioned in the last post, but you also say, "Shoe" now.

AJ Meets Charlie!

Yesterday, we went to see Auntie Ryan and her new baby daughter, Charlie. You loved the baby. You were beaming. The smiles wouldn't stop! You thought baby Charlie was very neat.

You are also saying, "Shoe".

And the word 'no' is really starting to get on my nerves.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

No No No No No More Starbucks!!!

Well, there was some new word you were saying and for the life of me, I can't remember. Oh well. I've been having a really good time taking you to the park lately and watching you play at Toddler Town. You can go up and down the steps by yourself and down the slides by yourself. You like to go down on your butt now instead of your tummy.

You've been using your pretend baby bottles to feed 'baby' and Monkey. It's pretty cute.

You are stringing signs together over this past week and a bit. You will sign things like...
more, milk, please
or
please, more, DVD

Also, you say, "bum". You spank the bum of the character in one of your potty books and say, "Bum!!!!"

Here's the big news though...

You finally say, "No!"

Not that I've been looking forward to you saying this, but more like, waiting. You say it now, and it is the cutest sounding thing you say. It's even cuter than when you sign and say, "Help".

Auntie Jen and I are slowly realising that we just can't take you and Makenna to Starbucks anymore. You two are just way too loud and excited. We just feel too badly for all the people who are in there trying to 'get away from it all'. I wish there was a baby-friendly coffee shop.

You are back into driving your ride on cars around the house. You just go all over the place and have a great time. Also, you've finally discovered your bouncing zebra. You had a blast on it yesterday.

Monday, July 16, 2007

ACK! More Signing!

When are you going to stop!? Today at the park, you signed 'bird' for the geese, and you used the 'train' sign when you saw a big rig B train!

Also, you turfed back up Monkey (Trunk Monkey) out of the stroller! He's lost!

And, you're sleeping in your big boy bed for your nap today!

Another Night in the Big Boy Bed!

Well, last night, I didn't even get to ask you if you'd rather sleep in your crib or your big boy bed. You right away pointed to your big boy bed and giggled.

You went to bed at 7:40pm, like usual, and fell asleep about 10 minutes later. But this time, instead of sleeping your normal 11 hours, you slept for 12! You don't normally do that. We'll see if your nap is shorter because of that. Hmmmm.

I think I already mentioned in the last post that you say 'auntie' now and you say and sign 'train', but just in case I didn't, I thought I should write it again.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Another Word or Two!

After a fun overnight trip to Gram and Papa's house with Auntie Kim and Uncle Paul too, you came back being able to say, "Auntie"


You also can say and sign, 'train'.

Sonja C

Friday, July 13, 2007

Just a Mini Update

You can now also sign 'sorry' and 'want'. You are also saying 'poo poo' and 'bum' (from potty training).

Last night you slept in your big boy bed all night.

Monday, July 09, 2007

I Can't Keep Up With All Of Your Words! And Some Big Brother News!

I literally can't keep up anymore!

You will copy any words that we want you to say, so it's impossible to write all those down. However, I've almost been able to keep track of the words that you are saying and signing.
Here are the words you say now (or at least as many as I can remember).

Newer Words
baby
flower
book
game
play
apple
orange
shoes
toast
help
Paul
bye bye
hi Daddy
bye daddy
cookie
car
that's all
truck

Old Words
good bye (really you say 'good good')
thank you (sounds more like kay-q)
Papa (for Grandpa - Ken)
Gampa (for Grand-Dan)
garbage
hat
ball
buh bye
hi
up
down
bubbles
Mum
Dada
Jack
cat
bath
toothbrush
cracker
tractor

Here are the animal sounds you currently say.
Cow - brooo
Cat - mow
Dog - woof woof
Monkey - uh uh (instead of ooh ooh)
Elephant - pfhhh (like a trunk noise, hard to explain)
Chicken - cluck cluck (you actually click your tongue)
Sheep - baaa
Rooster - cock doo
Bear - Raa

You are signing lots more now too. You'll copy a whole bunch of the signs of the signing DVDs when the kids are doing them, but here are some of the ones you'll initiate and do on your own.

Newer Signs
baby
ball
game
play
flower
book
finished (you already knew this one, but now, you're way more consistent)
fruit
cereal
dvd / sign
monkey
play
help
bib
thank you
cookie
cereal

Old Signs
Bath
sleep
mum
Dad
hat
Hi
Bubbles
Please/like
More
Finished
Gone
Milk
Water
Eat
Change (you'll sign change if you're poopy or just on the change table if I ask you to)
Dog

Other AJ Updates

You are nodding your head 'yes' and 'no' and you'll say no, but only if I'm asking you 'yes' or 'no', not to tell me 'no' to something, thank goodness.

You like to copy me when we count. We count things a lot. For instance, we count the items that you didn't eat as we throw them in the garbage. By the way, you are very good at throwing things in the garbage, if only I could get you to stop throwing your cup in there too! You help me clean up!

You think you are very funny!

Oh, yes, back to the counting thing. So you say 'two' along with me, and sometimes 'three', but then you don't say anything until I get to around 'seven'. At this point, you'll repeat all the numbers after I say them. It's so cute. You are very good at saying 'eighteen', but 'fifteen' sounds hilarious.

My favourite 'sign' that you do is 'help'. You get so frustrated with some of you moving toys when they get stuck on doorways. You'll yell out. I always say, "Do you need help?" and, of course, I sign it when I say it. Well, you've been saying, "help" for a while now, and it sounds more like 'hup'. But now you are signing it too and it's soooooo cute.

You are quite obsessed with your DVD's, namely your signing ones, which is the ony reason why it doesn't bother me so much. At least you're learning something, right?

You are absolutely LOVING our pool, thanks to Uncle Tarrie and Auntie Christine. You can actually stand up in it. You love to walk around and throw your ball. You love playing with your outdoor toys too. If only we had a fence. At least you aren't trying to leave the yard. Luckily, you don't really like our prickly grass too much! Finally, not mowing and watering has a good side!

Today, we went to Aldergrove Lake with Auntie Erica, Jack, Auntie Jen, Makenna, Dionne, Owen, Nadia, and Angela. You had a blast in the water getting me to lift you up and down to 'The Wheels on the Bus'. You also walked around a bit, and you tried Makenna's boat. You were making motor sounds and really enjoyed it. I let you drink juice today. Not watered down juice, but a WHOLE drink box. Not to mention, you shared my fries with me. Mmmmmmm. You were such a good boy even though I messed up your naps. It was all in the name of fun, though, so it was okay!

Mommy has a baby in her tummy again. Thank goodness! You have a little brother or sister on the way for January 23rd. I've been trying to teach you that there's a baby in my tummy. Now that you're signing 'baby', you'll use it for that soon.

You will still go to daycare at Dia's, but only once a week in September because Auntie Erica will watch you on Mondays now, and still every second Wednesday. I will watch Jack every second Wednesday, and every Friday. You love playing with Jack. Sometimes you cry when he leaves. He's your good buddy.

Potty training. Well, this is a story and a half....
I don't regret starting the 'early-start-potty-training' at 9 months because I like the the potty is an every day part of life and you don't hate it. Like before, you are almost consistently peeing in the potty after your nap and before your bath or shower. However, with not being able to take you to the potty while you were at daycare on my workdays, the consistency wasn't there. Now that work is over for me, I thought, 'Great! I can get back on top of this.' The problem now is that you know what pee and poop are all about. You are cheeky too. You've been holding it until I take you off the potty, and then you go in your diaper. Or you tap your potty to tell me to change you. Or you sign 'potty' to get me to change you. On one hand, I'm happy you know what's going on. On the other, I'm sick of you peeing in my bathroom doorway after you sign that you are 'finished' on the potty. You little buttmunch!!!

Well, I think that's about it. You are at a super-fun age right now. I can't believe I'm going to have another one running around a year and a half from now. Crazy! I think you're going to be a good big brother. You are very well behaved. I hope that doesn't mean that your brother or sister will be the opposite!

Two babies!!! Whoa!!!