For Grandpa

This post is dedicated first and foremost to Linus' grandpa, and then to his uncle and great uncles that are car freaks, and lastly to the relatives in the Boston area.

Linus now says car. He points to them and says, "Cah." When he says it he could pass for having a Boston accent. He touches my car tires and says, "Cah." He also likes to pull on the door handle and say, "Cah." Sometimes he says, "Cah, cah, cah." I admit that I'm a bit miffed because he says car over and over, but doesn't say mama much at all.

Alongside this new interest came his first foray into the street without an adult. I was upset about this, but not as frightened as I might have been because our street was closed for the most part due to road construction. He stepped off the curb and strolled into the street behind my parked car. I leapt after him, scooped him up and put him on the sidewalk. Then I launched into a repeat of what I'd read somewhere along the way. Rather than scolding him, I acted frightened and said something along the lines of, "Oh! I'm so scared! I was afraid you would get hurt by a car. We never play in the street because we could get hurt!" He then went about his business like nothing had happened and I shifted gears into the next phase of parenting; the one where I have to worry about his getting run over. (Heavy sigh.)

As Requested

BryAnn requested a photo showing Linus with kewpie baby in his overalls pocket. Shortly after this photo was taken, I put his zip up sweatshirt on him and we went outside to play. Boy was he ever an adorable sight, walking around with kewpie peeking out of his sweatshirt above the zipper!!

Pockets

Linus has discovered pockets! He liked putting pebbles in the pants pockets of our duplex neighbor before she moved away. Then I showed him the pockets on his overalls and right away he put a tissue and his kewpie baby in the top pocket. Another day he put acorns in his sweatshirt pockets. Acorns also end up being stored in the satin pocket on his lovey. They spill out in random places as he carries lovey around the house. This morning I found an acorn in our bed. It was like an autumn fairy had visited! Matthew showed Linus how to put things in the middle of lovey and then pull up the corners to make a little sack. He put the training to the test with crabapples in our front yard.

Art Week

Last week was Art Week for Linus. After talking to the neighbors, I learned that some of their kids have gotten to paint. Now Linus did have that very brief experience with painting by number at the art museum, but he hadn't yet had the freedom to paint one of his own creations. Charlotte got to use finger paints at her day care, but Annalouiza said she had Lucero use watercolors because they aren't so messy. When we went to Target I picked up some watercolors and chunky crayons that Crayola designed for Linus' age. He got into the watercolors more. He liked playing in the water. He mostly put the paint brush in the water, then into the paint, and then back into the water. He also tried putting the bristles in his mouth. His preferred colors were brown and black. Another day he also tried out scribbling with a pencil all over my list I was making of his winter clothes.

In the one picture you can see his lovey and Kewpie doll. He has taken to carrying lovey everywhere. I guess we should have expected that from a child named Linus! He also likes carrying around another small toy. Some days it is the bunny that used to be in the pocket of lovey. Other days it is the Kewpie doll. I refer to her as his baby. For a few days he carried around the small stuffed cow I brought back for him from Wisconsin.

Chef Linus

I involve Linus in the preparation of dinner as much as I can so that I can actually get dinner made. If I didn't keep him occupied with simple tasks like pouring the vegetables into the pot, he'd pull me away to another room to play and we wouldn't have any thing to eat. He is especially interested in stirring whatever is cooking on the stove, which requires vigilance on my part to keep him from burning himself. I put my apron on him the other night and he really got a kick out of it. I'll have to make him one of his own.

Independence

Linus is showing signs of having a mind of his own and the will to have his way. There are more times when he won't stop doing something or won't do something I want. After briefly explaining my reasoning, if he doesn't comply, then I intervene by taking an object away or picking him up and taking him somewhere else. Sometimes this elicits angry crying and other times he is compliant and moves on to something else.

Here is a picture of him running around the house after his bath. Matthew has a harder time drying him off because he wants to run away. I was talking to Matthew and snapping shots of "nakey" Linus. What a cute little fanny the child has.

First Real Separation

I went away for a weekend on my own. I went to visit Lyz and to see Timon of Athens at American Players Theatre. I wasn't sure how each member of our little family would do with me being gone. We were all fine. The toughest parts for Linus were when he and Matthew drove away, leaving me at the airport. I could see Linus was sobbing. I had to work to keep that image out of my head. Matthew says that Linus was upset when he woke up from his naps and I wasn't around. I was only gone 48 hours, so it wasn't that big of a deal for Matthew to have Linus on his own. When they picked me up at the airport, Linus was more interested in watching the fountain than looking at me. Figures!

Linus likes pushing Lucero's doll stroller around. I'm tempted to get him one, but each time I buy something he likes playing with at someone's house, he has little or no interest in it. He'll just have to play with hers.

Up, Beep, Uh Oh

Linus has picked up saying uh oh and he says it all of the time. Any time he drops something, the blocks tip over, or he spills water, I hear his little voice say, "Uh oh." He doesn't emphasize either syllable. He says "up" to mean up or down. If he is on a chair and wants help getting down, he says up. If he wants lifted up onto something, he says up. I find it quite charming. Beep continues to be one of the main words in his lexicon.

Here is a picture of Linus playing the piano at the museum. They are closing the Discovery Zone for two weeks and I'm excited to see what new things they'll have for us to play with. Matthew joked that maybe they are just giving the staff two weeks of vacation.

Cup Transition

The other night during dinner, Linus wanted my glass. I decided to give it to him to see how he would do and he did a good job of drinking without spilling it down the front of him. We told him, "Yay!" After every drink he would put the glass down and clap. He associates clapping with "yay." At lunch yesterday I gave him the silver cup we got engraved for him. He did a great job with it. Today, however, he put his food in it and stirred it around. Which isn't a bad job necessarily, but I had intended for him to drink from it.

This morning we met Cheryl at the coffee shop and went and joined her play group at Congress park. Cheryl has Lena, who is a few weeks older than Linus, and Gabriel, who is four. We met some other kids, like Daniel and Matthew. So many kids' and moms' names to remember! Linus has a way of meeting kids every where we go.

At the coffee shop, Linus and Lena played cute little chase and peekaboo games. At the park, they mostly each did their own thing. A boy had stowed his ball under the play equipment and Linus crawled under there to get it. The boy ran over and said in a very snotty way, "No! That's mine." I explained that Linus is little and just wanted to see the ball. The boy yelled again and I said, "Come here Linus. We'll go find someone who is willing to share." Linus was fine with it and ran off to play. On the walk home, Lena sang in a very cute little voice.

I'm starting to hear more about area preschools and some of what I hear is worrisome. In addition to being expensive, one of them asks strange questions on their application, such as whether the child was breast fed and how was he delivered at birth. And that is relevent how, exactly? I didn't think I had to worry about this yet, but apparently all the good preschools have waiting lists.

Corn, Again

We had corn on the cob again and Linus insisted on eating it with his fork. It kept falling off and he was becoming frustrated, so I jabbed the fork into the end of the cob, like a corn skewer. Then dinner went on quite peacefully, except that Linus only ate corn and nothing else.

We played at a new park today with Linus' new friend that he met at the library. Her name is Chase and she is only a couple of weeks older than Linus. Her parents just moved back to the States after being in China and Switzerland for work. I've been trying to help answer Langley's questions about where to go for different things. The babies play nicely together and it was fun to visit a new park. Langley calls it Turtle Park because there is a cement turtle in the play ground. Nearby is a coffee shop and bakery with the most gorgeous looking baked goods.

Berry Picking

Today Annalouiza and I took the babies to Berry Patch Farm in Brighton, which is about 25 minutes north of Denver. We had such a fun time and Linus was talking up a storm the rest of the day. I always interpret that as a sign that something made a big impression on him. When we first entered the grounds, Linus became very excited to see hens and roosters walking around. (I admit, I was also excited. I love chickens.) There were also turkeys in a pen and cute little banty chickens walking around. And numerous barn cats. Needless to say, Linus was in heaven. First we picked raspberries, which is depicted here. Annalouiza was instructing Linus and Lucero on picking red, not green, berries. The two kids couldn't shove the berries into their mouths fast enough. I only ended up with one basketful to bring home. Then we rode out on the wagon to the strawberry patch. Linus thought the tractor and wagon were very cool. The kids were pretty filled up with raspberries, so we were each able to bring home two baskets of strawberries. I had fun cutting my own flowers while Annalouiza watched the kids. Then we took turns watching the kids play while the other shopped in the farm market in the barn. Linus played on the wagon while it was between trips and Lucero played on a bale of straw.

It was the kind of experience that left me with a glow that persists even now, right before bed. For dinner I cooked up the patty pan squash and used an onion that we got at the farm and it felt so good knowing exactly where they came from. I've forgotten what that is like, since I haven't grown my own food since 2002. Linus "helped" me make dinner and when I was cutting up the onion, he grabbed some to eat. I watched to see his response and he proceeded to finish the slice he'd taken. It made me think of my mother, who likes to munch on raw onions.

Spectacular Sliding

Here is a picture of Linus on the big slide. Sliding is his favorite thing to do at the play ground.

Over the weekend we went to the main branch of the library downtown. The children's department is incredible. It has tons of books and is set up with lots of stuffed animals, a table-sized checkers game, big pillows, and whimsical paint colors on the walls. Linus got four books that we've had to read over, and over, and over again. We read so many books together each day and some get read probably 8 times. One book we got that I really like to read out loud is Baby Danced the Polka. Johanna (in Wisconsin) has this book. Linus likes it, but I think I enjoy it more. Matthew and I played with Linus a lot and the two went to the museum while I sewed yesterday afternoon. It was a pretty mellow holiday weekend for us.