New House

We closed on the house Friday afternoon and the owner got out by 6 p.m. yesterday. We went to dinner with Martha and Bill to celebrate and then went over the house to show them around and for us to explore all the nooks and crannies that are now ours. Linus gleefully ran from room to room, hiding in closets and calling out for us to find him. What will soon be my craft room has French doors and he likes to close the doors and peek at us by smooshing his face up against the glass.  I'm currently contemplating what color to paint his room.  Nursery Green?  Chesapeake?Douglas Fern? Once Upon A Time is a beautiful, rich green, but it is too dark for his room.  I'm also admiring Paddington Blue, but it is also too dark.  

Yesterday it was 74 degrees and today it is 30 degrees and snowing.  I've been told that these wide fluctuations are pretty normal for here.

Here we are at our back door.  It was too dark on the front porch to get a picture of us up front. The other picture is of Linus doing a happy dance. Or else he is just twirling around being an energetic toddler.

Story Time Promotion

I decided to move Linus up to the next level of story time at the library because he wasn't really getting anything out of Book Babies any more. We attended Tales for Two on Monday.  He had so much fun.  In between reading three books, the librarian led the group in doing the hokey pokey (Linus' first time), jingling bells to a song about bells, and several songs with movement involved. He stayed sitting by me while other kids sat up front together.  Before I know it, he'll prefer sitting with other kids over me.  When we got home, he pulled himself onto the couch to read the penguin book he checked out while I made lunch.  He also got a book about whales and one about puffins.  He now knows how baleen whales use their baleens to catch krill. I gloss over the page that addresses whale hunting.  I narrate that page by saying that the men are out in a boat to look at whales.  I'm not ready to introduce him to the practice of hunting.

To see a whole bunch of pictures depicting his visit to the library this day, visit the album.

Golden Moments

There are times each and every day when I'm dazzled by Linus' cuteness, intelligence, sweetness, or wit.  Some examples include:

* The bright, exuberant smile that bursts from his face when he first sees me each morning.  Wow! I get such a rush from it.

*Listening to his chatter when we are in separate rooms and he is talking to his toys or himself.  Charming.

*His sensitive soul is revealed by his constant awareness of togetherness.  When we eat an afternoon snack together across from one another at the table he says, "Eating snack. Together."  Or when we snuggle up next to each other under a quilt on the couch to read books he points out, "Reading together."  Togetherness with him is pure joy.

*The genuine appreciation he expresses when he effuses, "Thank you!" for some small thing I've done for him, like bring him a cup of water.

*The other day at the park he fell down and scraped his forehead on pavement. I scooped him up and attempted to soothe him with hugs and kisses. He kept crying and saying, "Hug.  Kiss." When I replied, "I am giving you hugs and kisses sweetheart," he said, "No, goose." He wanted one of the geese to comfort him!

Here he is having a blast at Barrett's birthday party. The kids were popping bubbles that the adults blew for them.

Toddler Crafting

Linus made a birthday card for his friend, Barrett. She turns two this Saturday.  I started by giving him a piece of paper folded in half. I showed him some pictures and he chose the ones he wanted me to cut out for him.  Then I showed him how to use a glue stick.  Ooooh, he loved this part! I quickly ran and grabbed his play dough place mat to work on so glue wouldn't get on the table.  After he stuck down a few pictures, I asked if he wanted to try cutting.  This was pretty interesting to watch. I sipped coffee and watched him make a go at it.  Then we held the scissors together to cut.  He glued pictures of flowers and butterflies on both the front and the back.  Then I instructed him to write or draw for her on the inside.  I told him he would give her the card and present (a book) at her party on Saturday. He said she would say thank you.  I don't know about that, but it is okay if she doesn't because Linus will probably say thank you for her.  I let him pick out the wrapping paper and I let him put some tape on the present, even though it didn't end up being anywhere that it was holding the paper closed.  He was very proud of it all. I asked him where we should put it to keep it safe until Saturday.  He ran and put it in his treasure box (the shoe box with stickers).

Back to the topic of thank you. A woman at the store yesterday commented on how polite Linus was.  Be still my mothering heart.

Outdoor Fun

We've had some nice weather and been able to play outside with our light-weight jackets on.  (Sorry Wisconsin folks who keep getting blasted by winter.)  Linus likes to play with this ear of Indian corn and pretend that he is a squirrel eating it.  As we walk up the block, he stops at Anna's and rides on her porch swing.  Then we tend to encounter Bennett mowing the lawn with his toy mower.  Linus is always excited to see Bennett, but Bennett doesn't play well with Linus. He tries to run him down with the mower.  Then we head over to Lucero's yard and Linus plays on her Little Tykes playset out front. If they are home, Anna Louiza and Lucero come out. The kids play and Anna Louiza and I talk about craft projects, thrift store finds, books, the kids, etc. Sometimes we sip wine -- if it has been a hard day and it is getting close to 5.  

Reptile and Human Friends

We took Linus to a reptile program at the library yesterday.  He was very excited about getting to pet a gecko. We also pet a large snake. He wanted to pet the tarantula and didn't understand that one can hold it but not pet it.  (It would release some of its hairs into his skin and it would itch.)  We ran into my friend Cheryl and her kids, Lena and Gabriel. Gabriel is four and Linus thinks the world of him.  He watches his every move.  Lena is just a couple of weeks older than Linus. When we saw them enter the presentation room, Linus got very excited and started running toward them. About halfway to them, he turned around and ran back to me to breathlessly exclaim, "Friends!"  and then he ran back to them.

Here he is petting a snake, showing Lena the dump truck on his shirt, and the kids climbing around in front of the library.  I just love the tulle under Lena's skirt!

Neighborliness

Wednesday it was in the 60's here and all the neighbor kids were out playing together in the afternoon.  Then it started snowing overnight and we ended up with a couple of inches of snow by mid-day on Thursday. We bundled up and went out to shovel.  Linus tried out the big snow shovel, but gave up on that pretty quickly.  I explained to him that I was shoveling Anna's sidewalk because she is out of town for work and can't do it herself. He proceeded to use his mittened hands to brush the snow off of her porch steps, railing, and porch swing. I tried to capture this gesture of kindness with the camera, but the camera battery gave out in the cold.

Valentines

Last year Linus mostly played with his Valentines and this year he has been excited to receive them.  Thank you to everyone who sent him one.  Here he is all excited about getting one in the mail from Aunt Sara and Uncle Billy.  They got an extra squeal out of him because there was a sheet of stickers inside the card.

Stickers

Linus likes playing with stickers. Up until fairly recently he has been good about only sticking his stickers on his shoe box treasure box.  He learned to stick them to his shirt from the bank and the caucus.  Our credit union always gives him a sticker and I planted an Obama sticker on him at the caucus.  One day last week I was working in the kitchen and he was quiet. I knew to go check on him and found that he was applying sticker after sticker to his sweater. I didn't stop him; instead, I took some pictures and went back to making dinner.

Bill (Matthew's uncle) watched Linus today while I was at the house inspection.  Leading up to it Linus told me he was going to share his cars and books with him.  Both were happy when I returned four hours later.

Cupcakes

A cupcake and cereal bar opened up near us. We visited it on Saturday when it felt really good to be outside.  We let Linus choose his own cupcake and he pointed into the case and said, "Sprinkles."  They were served on cute little plates.  Here is how Linus ate his.

Toddler Bed

As I write this, Linus is napping for the first time in his toddler bed.  We set it up for him this morning and he helped take apart his crib.  We are borrowing the bed frame from our neighbors, Juliana and George, parents to Alex and Max.  

I leaned into his room and snapped a couple of pictures. I'm feeling weepy about this change.  As Matthew started taking apart the crib, I reminded him of how I had to go to the bathroom every three minutes as we set it up for Linus' arrival.  And I still remember how I felt about moving Linus from the bassinet to the crib.  Anna Louiza marvels at my sentimentality when it comes to Linus.  Words can't convey how I feel about him growing up.

Cat Sitting

Linus has been feeding Lucero's kitties while she and her family are on vacation.  He takes this responsibility quite seriously.  Each day when I say it is time to look in on the cats, he marches himself to the door and is ready for business.  When the kitties start to eat the food he gives them, he says thank you on their behalf.  He relishes the opportunity to scoop the food into their dishes.  Since Matthew is allergic to animals and we can't have any furry pets, I'm glad our neighborhood has numerous cats and dogs for Linus to play with and learn about.

Super Tuesday

Yesterday morning, some of the other stay-at-home moms and I were emailing one another letting each other know that it was fine to bring our children to the caucus and that many of would be there.  The crowded gym overwhelmed Linus a bit at first, but then he got his bearings and got into it.  Whenever the crowd cheered and applauded, he clapped.  When we broke out into our precincts, he was pretty well behaved. Towards the end he got tired and we barely got to participate in the very last part of business.  The second I was counted for the congressional race, we got out of there. 

Linus has heard the Yes We Can song so many times that when I sing parts of it he says, "Computer."

To see more pictures from the caucus visit this album.

Got Milk?

Last night Linus was sitting in my seat at the table having milk before dinner.  I came in and saw that he had his monkey's hand through one of the cup's handles and he was helping it drink.  It was pretend, so all was well and good, until I came by again and Linus said, "Monkey. Wet." I looked and saw that Linus had put the monkey's mouth in the milk and it came out with a milk mustache and beard. I took it into the kitchen to clean it up and tried to laugh silently so that my laughter wouldn't encourage Linus to continue dunking the monkey.  Matthew gently explained to Linus that the monkey could only pretend to drink.

Yesterday Linus strung together three words on two occasions.  He said, "Mama do it," and "See you later."  This morning he said, "Mama reach it."  

Linus is also trying out the objective personal pronoun "her."  At the grocery store he kept pointing to women and saying, "Her." I can tell he is thinking about gender from the way we have discussions like this: Linus pointed to me and said "girl." I said, "Yes, I was a girl. I grew up and became a woman."  He said, "Woman." Then he pointed to himself and said, "Boy."  I said, "Yes, and Matthew is a man."  He pointed to my mug and said, "Girl." Then he pointed to his cup and said, "Boy."

Opinions

Opinions -- Linus has them.  I took him shoe shopping today because I was having a hard time cramming his onto him.  The Stride Rite outlet didn't have any brown leather ones, which meant he got sneakers.  There were only three pairs that had shoelaces.  I eliminated one choice, showed him the remaining options, and he chose tan suede with trendy orange stripes on the sides. They do look cute.

On the way home I sang songs.  My repertoire included Old MacDonald, Twinkle Twinkle, ABC, and The Wheels on the Bus.  He joined in on Old MacDonald and ABC.  He started getting ahead of me at parts of ABC. It is adorable how he says v and y.  Once he gets better at it, I'll get some video in front of the computer for you.

Here is Linus helping me pin my current quilt project.

This Just In

Toucan Craze

Linus continues to plague me with requests to make a toucan sound.  Once again, we listened to a toucan online at the National Geographic site.  We listened to it a few times in a row and I tried to figure out how to make the sound.  I just can't get the right sound to come out of my mouth.  He persists in asking for a giraffe "noise," but the most I can find online is a description that once in a while a giraffe will make a bleating sound. 

One day last week I was reading the mail and tuning Linus out.  When I looked up, he had this large stack of books on the chair.  We put this bookcase in the living room for him because when we added his Christmas present books, there were just way too many piles of books in the living room.  We read together on the chair, covered up in the "cozy", and I can put books back on the shelf as we read them.  

As you can see, he has graduated from board books to regular hardcover picture books. He treats his books with care.

Growth

Yesterday Linus demonstrated new skills and signs of maturation, mostly to my delight.  Firstly, he pretended to be a tree.  He frequently pretends to be a rabbit, horse, fox, fish, or egret, but never a plant.  He stood on my legs, pointed down to them and said, "Dirt." He stood up tall and I asked if he was a plant. He said yes, but then changed his mind and said, "No. Tree."  I was so excited to call Matthew at work to tell him. He cheered and his coworkers came running to find out what was going on.

Secondly, he correctly identified his first letter of the alphabet.  He received an alphabet magnetic board from Sara and Billy for Christmas. The letters are on magnet squares in a fabric pouch.  He pulled one out and I asked him what letter he had. He said, "V."  I asked if there was a vase on it and he said yes. I leaned over and, sure enough, he was correct. He did it again today, so it wasn't just a fluke.

The third big thing to happen took place at lunch. I offered to help him get the cottage cheese off of his hands and he said, "No. Self."  I said okay and kept on eating, while on the inside I was freaking out that my little one is now very obviously moving on to be an independent person.  When I gave him seconds on peaches, he didn't want me to cut them for him. He said, "Self," and then successfully cut them with his fork.  

Where did my baby go?  I think he has quietly disappeared and left a growing and changing toddler in his place.

Here are some pictures of Linus with animals at the stock show.  When I bought the feed for the animals, the woman said Linus was too young to feed them. I disagreed, but politely answered that I was buying it for me to feed the animals.  Then first thing I did was show Linus how to feed the goats. He showed no fear whatsoever.  He was so comfortable around the animals.  I was so proud of him and pleased that his comfort level came from me.

A Chat with Linus

Teddy Bear Pal

Linus treats his teddy bear as a buddy and his bee as his security object.  He was getting the crayons out yesterday and suddenly ran out of the room. He returned with Teddy and diligently tried to put a crayon in Teddy's hand.  At snack time he "fed" Teddy a slice of pear.  He has also used his toy stethoscope to listen to Teddy's heart.  Teddy bears make great pals.  I'm already planning a teddy bear's picnic for this summer. I can't wait!

Smarty Pants

Linus has started driving me batty with asking me what sound every animal makes. For example, he has inquired about toucans, giraffes, gazelles, and sea horses.  I finally took him to the computer and looked up toucan sounds.  Sadly, I'm unable to imitate the sound, so he is still disappointed in me.  Today he pointed at every animal in his gigantic animal book (thank you, Stephanie!) and wanted to know what sound each animal made.  When I said I didn't know, he was dissatisfied.  When I made the same sound for leopards and cheetahs, he admonished me.  He is already getting too smart for his own good.  Or my own good.

On a recent relatively nice day, Linus insisted that Teddy accompany us on our walk. The moon became visible as we neared home and Linus was excited to hold up Teddy to see it.

Book Fiend

As you all know, Linus adores books.  I got these pictures yesterday and today.  Yesterday I read to him in the living room and then he took me into his room.  He pulled down all of his stuffed animals, put one cozy on me and one on himself, and then proceeded to look at every single book that was there.  He read them and I sat there and watched.  This morning I was reading with him in the living room and I had to go do some things, so I tucked him in with his choice of book.  

Linus is picking up a lot of knowledge from his books.  Last week he told Matthew, "Bird. Beak. Nectar."  I helped out and said, "Yes, the hummingbird uses its beak to drink nectar."  Smart little kid.  

We have been having some rough nights lately with him.  He wakes up asking for me and then has a tantrum when Matthew returns him to his crib.  Monday night he was up between 10 and 1.  We were all wiped out yesterday. I encountered our new duplex neighbors and asked if they heard Linus screaming in the night.  I was mortified to hear that they could. I apologized profusely.  They were nice about it, but I feel terrible.  I guess I'll be shoveling their sidewalk for the rest of winter to try to stay in their good graces.

Cute, and Smart, Too

Linus has completely charmed our two favorite cashiers at the grocery store. They both adore Linus to the point that when we walk into the store, one or the both of them call out to him. We got into Matt's line today because we've been in Deb's line each of the last four weeks and I didn't want him to feel left out. Linus showed off his smarts today as I quizzed him about each of the items I put on the belt.  Matt was blown away that Linus could identify seitan. Grocery shopping goes smoothly most times because Linus stays entertained and the staff are so nice.

Linus correctly counted yesterday for the first time, without any prompting from us.  He got his mittens out to wear for a walk and he counted out loud, "One. Two.  Two. Mittens."  Hooray!  He tried to count the buttons on my sweater, but only got as high as two.  He usually skips from two to four.

Linus went four days without a runny nose, but woke up with the beginning of a new cold.  The kid has had a virus since the weekend before Thanksgiving.  I'm so tired of looking at his snotty nose.

Here are Linus and Lucero having snack together last Friday. They had yogurt and cheddar bunnies.

First of the Birthday Parties

Today marked the beginning of the round of 2nd birthday parties.  Lucero's party started at 8:30 this morning because she naps around 11 and Annalouiza wanted it done by her nap time.  We munched on breakfast burritos, pumpkin bread, fresh fruit, coffee, tea, and juice.  We met some fun new people and I learned that one of my friends is pregnant with her second child.  (We've also entered that phase of life, where people are starting on their second kids.)  Linus fed Lucero pumpkin bread, drank water out of the same tea cup as Anna, colored, played with a balloon, banged on the piano, etc.  We sang happy birthday in Spanish and English and Lucero beamed when we all cheered after she blew out her candles.  

Oh!  She received delightful presents.  Like a bright blue recorder, a print from China, books, striped tights, and one of those long-ribbon-on-a-stick twirly things.  And yes; the homemade play dough was a hit.

Kitchen Creations

Here is Linus helping me mix the food coloring into the balls of homemade play dough for Lucero's 2nd birthday.  Some red coloring got on his hand and it bothered him that I couldn't wash it off. I showed him the blue on my hands and said not to worry, it will come off in a few days.

He is starting to get into pretending to cook.  He pulled out some pots and pans and I gave him a spoon, dried beans, and dried pasta to play with on his table.  I think a toy kitchen is in order for his birthday.

Today we baked cookies together and he insisted on putting sprinkles on some of them.  I've never seen oatmeal raisin cookies with sprinkles before; how cool!  Then we went on a long walk and had a blast watching some squirrels at someone's squirrel feeder. We got to see one munch on a peanut and Linus thought that was fun.  He kept saying, "Cute, cute," which I'm sure he picked up from me.  I'm always saying things are cute.  During lunch I cracked him up with my impression of the squirrel eating.

Interdependent

I've been coping better with Linus' tantrums.  I adjusted my response to them and now I'm usually able to keep them from escalating.  Plus, I got him a used book called C is for Curious: An ABC of emotions.  He is learning some great words to express how he feels.  Such as angry, tearful, loving, and kind.  He is also learning xenophobic and zealous, but we haven't used those words with him in conversation.

We took a rare trip to the mall together on Monday and he played on the breakfast food.  The play area has waffles, banana slices, bacon, blueberries, and a bowl of cereal for young kids to climb on.  At times he ran off to play without paying attention to where I was.  I was proud of his courage, but then nearly freaked out when I couldn't see him in the bowl of cereal.  I think we are both going through a developmental phase. :)

Hugs and Kisses

At book club last night one of the neighbors told me it was very sweet how Linus was giving hugs and kisses to her boys on Sunday.  That is wonderful feedback to receive!  Saturday morning we visited the zoo because it was warm and sunny out and we hadn't been in a while.  As usual, Linus enjoyed people watching.  He also knows his stuff; when asked, he told me the zebras were eating hay.  We spent a long time watching turtles and fish swim around a tank.  Linus liked them so much, he planted a kiss on the glass when a turtle swam up to him.  He also put his arms on the glass to give it a hug.  

Here he is checking out the polar bear and admiring the water creatures.

Buddies

Here is a picture from the summer time of Linus with baby Max.  Everyone in our neighborhood fights to hold and snuggle Max because he is so chubby and cuddly.  A friend captured this picture of Max and Linus holding hands.

Linus received a gift in the mail today of a Fisher Price Elmo computer-like toy.  It is very cool and will help him learn his colors, numbers, letters, and shapes; but, boy is it loud.  My ears are still ringing from it.  It doesn't have a volume control, so I'm going to have to put tape over the speaker to deaden it a bit.

Linus and I are planning to put together a birthday present for Lucero of homemade play dough and cookie cutters in a cool Beatrix Potter tin we found.  Lucero will be turning two next week. We went to Goodwill in search of cookie cutters.  Linus seems to totally get it when I explain that something is a present for someone.  When we weren't able to find any cookie cutters, he was concerned about it and kept saying, "Cutters, cutters. Lucero."  

More Pretending

After dinner last night Linus had us laughing with his Squirt game.  He used the hose on the vacuum to squirt us.  We'd squeal and act like we'd gotten wet and then he'd hand us a pretend towel.  After numerous rounds of that, he added in that he was soaping us up, rinsing us off, and then drying us with a towel.  As he pretend squirts he emphatically says, "Squirt! Squirt!"  It sounds more like "flirt" and sometimes "furt."  

He is also having fun playing with his new toys in various ways.  The wood construction vehicles get to go down the plastic garage ramp, the Little People get to ride in the airplane toy, and he wore his back pack around for a while to be like the boy in the toy airplane.  He is really into his new books. We got him some non-fiction about birds and bugs.  Fortunately, a bug was strolling across the living room floor on Sunday and he got a good look at it.  He and Matthew took it outside when they went for a walk together.

Here he is in Matthew's childhood bedroom playing with Matthew's old matchbox cars. We brought this transport truck home.  (I'm finding I have to flesh out my vocabulary when it comes to vehicles.)

Imagination

Linus has a thriving imagination and I like to think it is so rich because of all of the books we have read together.  I can't help but compare him to the other little ones I know and think that he has a far superior imagination.  But I'm also conscious of the fact that young children tend to only reveal their true selves to those closest to them, so maybe that is why I haven't witnessed the vivid imaginations of anyone under the age of three.  Even so, I'm tickled pink with the fun games Linus dreams up for us.  

When we were out east for Christmas, he was sitting on my lap after dinner one evening and he started pretending to feed me with my spoon. When I asked him what he was feeding me, he said it was pie.  After each pretend bite, I'd say yum and name a different kind of pie.  It became a spontaneous game for Matthew and Jean to join in with pie suggestions.

On the airplane heading back home, Linus spread his lovey on my chest and said, "Apron."  Then he said, "Cook." When I asked him what I should cook, he said, "Sauce."  I proceeded to talk through the steps of making tomato sauce and then he declared it "yummy."  We played a few rounds of this game.

Here he is helping grandma make a coffee cake.

Meeting the Nieces

I got two new nieces in 2007 and it was wonderful getting to meet them when we were out east for Christmas.  Linus was very curious about Lorrie. He gently touched her after I told him it was okay.  He was out of sorts the day we met Junie.  Even so, he was willing to sit on the couch with her for us to take pictures.

He has been having quite a few tantrums lately.  He screams and throws things.  It made for an exhausting trip, for me anyway.