Language Update

Linus' vocabulary is growing rapidly. For example: I was getting dressed this morning and I asked him what I should put on next. He held up my bra and said "bra." Then he pointed at my chest and said "breasts." (He will be embarrassed when he reads this in 12 years.) He has also started catching on to the furnace operation. He was intrigued by the heat coming out of one vent and cooler air moving by another. I explained that the furnace sucks air in from one vent and blows warm air out another. Now, when the furnace kicks in, he says "heater."

Linus wants very much for me to partake in whatever he has or is doing. Last night I was done eating my dinner, but he was having seconds of stewed apples. He was upset that I wasn't eating any apples and he put one of his apple pieces in my bowl. Then he resumed eating with a satisfied face. When he was having his morning snack today he wanted me to also have apple cider and cheddar bunny crackers. I was leaning against the counter while drinking my cider and he brought his cup over and stood next to me, also leaning against the counter. It is little moments like these that make parenting great.

Last night Linus was all about doing the boogie woogie. You should hear him say boogie. He puts the emphasis on the second syllable -- boo GEE. The three of us were putting away clean laundry and he bounced around on our bed saying, "Boogie, boogie," and laughing up a storm.

Mountain Hike

Yesterday afternoon we went on an impromptu hike at Gennessee Park. This is one of the mountain parks owned by Denver. It was the first one purchased back in 1913. Great foresight! Matthew said let's go to the mountains and I googled for a place to go and within a few minutes we were on our way. We saw bison in an enclosure there, but they were pretty far away. We spent our time walking a one-mile trail. It took quite a while because Linus mostly wanted to pick up rocks to toss down the embankment on one side of the trail and up the embankment on the other. It was pretty amusing to watch him. At the trailhead there were signs warning of bears and mountain lions. Then Matthew reminded me we had to watch out for rattlesnakes. I'd forgotten about that. We got out without any predator sightings. We did see deer on our way out of the park.

Major Developmental Leap

Since turning 18 months, Linus has become a new kid. It seems as though he is always doing or saying something new. For example, on Monday I ran out of room to write down his new things on the calendar. He pointed to the cd player and wanted me to turn on music. That is the first time he requested music. He said sticker for the first time. The sticker game goes like this: I pull out a sheet of stickers I'm willing to share. He points to the stickers he wants, I pull them off the sheet, and he puts the stickers on a shoe box that I gave him. We call it his treasure box. His treasures are buttons from my button stash, a little glass jar, and sea shells. He also started saying "peep peep" for little bird sounds. I say peep, peep and cheep, cheep for chicks and other little birds.

On Wednesday he did imaginative play with his stuffed bear from Peter and Betsy. He brought it into the kitchen and showed it the trash can, the pictures on the refrigerator, and gave it a pretend drink of water from his cup. Linus started dancing and I asked if the bear could dance. He bounced it around. This morning he was stacking his stuffed animals on his shelf and decided they all needed to lay down and sleep. He only just recently started playing with the stuffed animals that live on the shelf. I guess he thought they weren't for playing with until one evening I spread a blanket on the floor and pulled all of the animals down on top of it. I showed Linus how to pull up the corners of the blanket over them. Since this impromptu game he has played with the animals in different ways. Yesterday he pulled them all down onto his lap and wanted me to read books to all of them.

Linus' most recent skill is twirling. He twirls around to music and says "twirl." The first time he did it he invited me to join him.

My Little Helper

I've been giving Linus more little jobs to do because it makes him so happy to do "big people" tasks and because it will teach him to help out around the house. He likes putting his dishes in the dishwasher and putting his laundry away. The dishes are sometimes put in diagonally and the clothes become unfolded, but he has done his part and feels important.

When I gave Linus his bath one night last week he proceeded to scoot around the tub, washing down the sides of the tub and the faucet. Then he wanted me to put my feet in so he could wash those, too. Good training, huh?

Here he is enjoying my birthday cake and wearing the apron I sewed for him.

Spaghetti

We had spaghetti for dinner recently, which is a rarity in our household. I don't know why; I just don't make it very often. While eating, it suddenly occurred to me to teach Linus how to slurp spaghetti. He thought it was hysterical and dinner quickly turned into a giggle fest by all of us.

I had a wonderful birthday yesterday. The sweetest moment was when Linus came into our bedroom saying, "Carrrd, carrrrd." I rolled over in bed and he handed me a card. When I pulled him up onto the bed, he grabbed the card and said, "Open." So sweet. Matthew had sent him in with the card, but even so, it was adorable and touching.

Zoo Class

Halloween morning I took Linus to Miss Spider's Tea Party at the zoo. Each kid got a name tag that was a die cut spider made out of orange paper. It was Linus' first name tag! There were hunks of orange play-doh at the tables and kids were instructed to play with it until class started. Linus was more interested in playing with the stuffed zoo animals on a zoo themed rug. He would grab one, run it over to me, then run back for another. He said hippo for the first time when he brought me the hippo one.

Once we got underway, we all gathered on the rug that featured zoo animals reading books. The instructor handed out two laminated bug pictures to each kid. As she read through Miss Spider's Tea Party, the kids with the bug on that page got to run up and stick their bug on the fuzzy board (there was velcro on the backs of the bugs). Linus had one of the bug that got called first. I sent him up on his own with it, figuring the instructor could guide him. She wasn't needed because after seeing what the other kid did, Linus confidently stuck his beetle up there. Then he bent down, grabbed something, and ran back to me. He had a bee puppet. Linus had the second bug that was called up, a lightning bug. After he was done with this task he wasn't interested in the book any longer. There was too much text for him. Instead, we went to the back of the room and played with the stuffed animals and he crawled on and off of the little kid chairs at the tables.

Then there was what was labeled a "take home craft," which turned out to be making a spider out of an Oreo and little red licorice sticks. He gobbled up the cookie as soon as he got it. Curious about how he ate his first Oreo? He separated the halves, ate the one without the filling, then licked off the filling, and ate the other half.

Lastly, the kids got to see a tarantula up close in a little cage. This was the point of my signing Linus up for this. I wanted him to get a good look at a spider. He couldn't see it very well because 2, 3, and 4 year olds were in front of him. As soon as the instructor set the cage down, Linus ran up behind her and plopped down in front of the cage to check out the spider. I was impressed at his confidence to pursue his desire.

I was feeling sad for Stephanie that bee has taken Winthrop-Linus'-Monkey's place and so I asked Linus if he could say Stephanie. He said it two differerent ways: Stemp-hee and Stemp-nee. Stephanie, I hope this makes up for it!

Halloween

Linus was an owl for Halloween and what a full day it was! I took Linus in to Matthew's work to parade him around a bit in his costume. Then we went to Miss Spider's Tea Party at the Zoo, sans costume. Immediately following Linus' nap, we went to a Halloween party at the home of the organizer for the Congress Park play group. There were two monkeys, a cheerleader, cow, bananna, football player, train conductor, and a dinosaur in attendance. Linus gobbled up a cookie and some mulled cider. Then we rushed home and met up with Matthew to commence with trick-or-treating. Our neighbor, Anna, gave Linus his very first trick-or-treat experience. It was here that he figured out the point of carrying around the pumpkin bucket. After this, he wanted to reach into candy bowls multiple times at each house. We took Linus to our friends' houses, so he visited ten houses in about an hour and a half. We spent time visiting at most of the stops.

When we got home, Linus grabbed out the homemade popcorn ball he got at Bennett's house. We let him eat that and then had dinner. We stashed the candy on top of the refrigerator. Matthew and I are in disagreement about how much candy Linus should get to have. I say one piece. Matthew whined that "how would he know what kind of candy he likes?" I retorted, "An 18-month old doesn't need to know what candy he likes." I'm not a sugar nazi in this household, but would rather Linus had home baked goods.

The smallest pumpkin is Linus'. I carved it for him. Matthew's is the bee. Linus' favorite stuffed animal is his bee from Grandma and Grandpa, so that is what inspired Matthew this year. New words in Linus' vocabulary as a result of the holiday:
Ha-WEEN for Halloween, pu-kin for pumpkin, and cos-TOOOM for costume. He was a good sport and tolerated wearing his costume, which I'd sewn from fleece. I made it big enough to go over his jacket so he would be warm enough. When we could get him to flap his wings, he waved them in front of his body.

Sharing is Caring

I've begun the lessons on sharing. Well, I like to think I started those from the start by modeling my generosity. Even so, we are in the early stages of, "Oh, please don't take the toy away from her. You play with her toys and she can play with your toys." Linus isn't an agressive non-sharer, but is right where he should be developmentally in terms of thinking the world revolves around him and that if he wants something, of course he should have it right this second. He is very good about sharing with me.

Last week I caught Linus and Lucero sharing milk without any intervention from me. They were having milk, crackers, and raisins while I was cleaning up in the kitchen. I turned around to see them giving each other drinks of milk! So adorable. The camera is nearly always nearby (helps to live in a smaller abode) and so I was able to snap some shots. I LOVE the expression on Linus' face when Lucero is offering him a drink.

The next day Linus came down with a cold and I had to call Annalouiza and warn her that Lucero might come down with it. Fortunately, she didn't.

Lucero and her parents are in Texas this week and I can feel a void in our neighborhood. The night before they left, Annalouiza was discussing the trip with Lucero, who asked if Linus was coming with them.

As a side note: We have a picture of Linus' cousin Junie up on the fridge. I asked him who it was and he said, "Noony." I'm still working on how to spell his pronunciation of Brandon. We need some pictures of the Cole cousins to hang up so Linus can learn their names, too.

Prelude to Halloween, Part 3

Our neighbor, Anna, invited a bunch of us from the neighborhood to come over and carve pumpkins together. Eighteen people showed up! She served sparkling apple cider and caramel apples. Some other folks brought tamales and amazing cupcakes. Linus wasn't interested in helping me pull the guts out of his pumpkin, but he did like stirring the guts around in a bowl. He also had fun going between me, Matthew, and another guest for bites of the food. I love the fact that we live in such a fun-loving neighborhood where people enjoy one another. It is also great to have Linus surrounded by wonderful people.

Learning

I made whipped cream for the first time the other night. I learned that it is really easy to do and Linus learned how yummy it is. (Nearly all of the whipped cream he has consumed came from the top of my mochas at Kavarna.)

At Linus' 18-month appointment, the doctor told me that he was behind a bit with his speech development. I wasn't particularly concerned because we read a lot every day and I figured he'd catch up verbally. Two or three days later it was like someone flipped his verbal switch and he started repeating me and saying words on his own. We are amazed over and over again as words come out of his mouth. He handed me a puzzle piece the other day and said goldfish. We drove by construction equipment and he said digger. We cuddle up together under his quilt after breakfast each day and before we start reading I say, "Now we're cozy," and he says cozy. Words, words, words all of the time

Last week he pointed at the large print on the cover of a book and wanted me to identify the letters. That was a huge moment. I was blown away by the first real sign of his developing literacy. That lead me to print a full-color alphabet poster off the internet. We have it hanging on the side of the refrigerator next to his little table.

Witnessing his language and future reading skills develop is such a beautiful thing.

Corn Maze

Saturday it was warm and sunny and we joined Martha and Bill at Chatfield for the Gardens corn maze and other activities. We checked out the scarecrows the staff had made and played a bit in the corn maze designed for younger kids. Linus investigated some of the ears of corn. We all succumbed to sharing a funnel cake. It was Linus' first taste of one. He loved it. We all did! My favorite part was when we went to check out the animals on the historic farm. They were in the barn and I really wanted to see them, so I climbed into the pen and went into the barn to get them out. The goats came out and Linus got to pet them. Linus had fun climbing on vintage farm equipment and visiting the chickens. He also liked gathering rocks from the driveway, some of which made it home in his pocket.

In the one picture you catch a glimpse of his belt. Some of his pants have been slipping off of him, so I bought a skinny woman's belt at Goodwill, cut it down to the right length, hammered in some holes, and voila; he had a belt!

Prelude to Halloween, Part 2

Last Friday Linus and I visited the Garden to see the staff unload a Uhaul truck filled with pumpkins. Their pumpkin fest got rained out the weekend before, so they were trucking the pumpkins into the city to try to sell at the Garden. Linus' favorite part was sitting on the golf cart while the pumpkins were loaded. He got lots of attention from Matthew's co-workers.

In the picture of Linus on the golf cart, he is saying, "Uh, oh!" because his shoe is untied. In the pumpkin photo, you can see the word "go." Go Rockies is spelled out in pumpkins because, yes, the Rockies are going to the World Series. I don't like watching baseball, but the city is very excited. And our Boston relatives are excited because the Red Sox are also going to the World Series.

Prelude to Halloween, Part 1

Here is Linus enjoying his first lolli pop. We were at the post office mailing out portraits to friends and family and the postal worker asked if Linus could have a sucker. I paused and said, "He's never had one before; but sure!" Linus reached in and pulled one out, not knowing what it was. He carried it around while we were out and about, but I let him eat it when we were home and I could ensure he consumed it safely. What cracked me up was that as soon as I told him not to touch things with it because it was sticky, he touched his alphabet poster with it.

In case you care, it was a banana dum dum sucker.

Zoo Field Trip

We joined the Congress Park Play Group this morning on a trip to the zoo. I'll preface this by explaining the intricacies of our relationships with kids, moms, and neighborhoods.

We live in what is called the South City Park Neighborhood. Our neighborhood is filled with friendly people, but doesn't appear to have an organized play group. Just to our south is the Congress Park neighborhood, in which lies our coffeeshop, Under the Umbrella. It is here that Linus ran up to a little girl to play, thus beginning our relationship with Cheryl and her two kids, Lena and Gabriel. Lena is nearly the same age as Linus. Cheryl works part-time, so we are able to connect now and then at the coffee shop. She invited me to join the Congress Park Play Group. Most Wednesdays they meet at Congress Park to play, but every fourth week the group goes on an outing.

Just northeast of us is the Park Hill Neighborhood. We got hooked up with their fledgling play group through Langley, whose daughter is Chase. We met the two of them when we were at the library in Park Hill and Linus went over to a little girl at a little table and joined her in reading. Thus began my friendship with Langley. Notice a trend here?

Now, back to the zoo outing. Imagine about seven moms and eight young children meeting at the front gates at 9:30. Oops! The zoo doesn't open until 10:00. The kids are fine for about ten minutes and then out pop the snacks to keep them occupied. Moms pass out cheddar bunnies, animal crackers, and zucchini bread. Moms discuss where the closest Stride Rite shoe outlet is and how it was supposed to be warmer out. Once we are all in the zoo and in front of exhibits, interests range from looking at the animals to looking at the school children running all over the place. The hyenas are a hit with the group. Off we toddle to see the snow leopards and we ask the kids to roar. Oh, look! There is the baby giraffe. (Super cute!) Linus likes watching a giraffe near the fence eating hay. We laugh as it sticks its tongue out. On to the polar bears, the most popular stop of the day. One is swimming, which delights everyone. The toddlers giggle and school kids exclaim loudly.

After a stop at the sea lion demonstration, we head to the indoor tropics exhibit. We are required to park the strollers outside. Signs warn that squirrels will eat snacks left behind, but a sign on the entrance says no food is allowed inside. Hmmm. Oh, well. I let Linus carry his baggy of cheddar bunnies and raisins. I show Linus snakes. He is mildly interested. I point out turtles. He isn't too interested. He looks at the fish, but doesn't show an outward response. And then we go into the part of the building with the Komoto dragons. He is intrigued. One that is sleeping suddenly wakes up and starts walking toward the glass, flicking its forked tongue as it approaches us. Linus starts flicking his tongue. He is amazed to watch the lizard and waves hello to it. When I can finally tear him away to join the group heading out of the building, he waves good bye to it.

As we join our group, one kid is crying and the mom says she's heading straight home. More and more kids start to fuss and we decide it is time to head out. Those with crying children head directly out and the others mosey toward the exit and discuss who irons their husband's shirts. Only one does. No, it isn't me. Matthew has shirts that don't need ironing, thank heavens.

Helmet Head

Here is Linus in his new bike helmet. Annalouiza can pull two little ones in her bike trailer, so we got Linus a helmet for bike excursions with her and Lucero. We want him to associate helmets with bicycles so that he never thinks twice about putting a helmet on.

Do you notice how his overalls look like shorts now, instead of capris like they did in May? It is one sign of his physical growth over the summer. Another sign is his ability to play on Lucero's little play set that is designed for climbing and has a small slide. At the beginning of the summer, he needed help to slide down and couldn't climb up it without a hand. Now he even has the courage and ability to jump off the side of it. Wow!

Linus' 18-month portraits are in. I was hoping that family and friends could view all of the shots online, but Target doesn't provide that option. Sorry folks. He looks super cute. The shoot didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked, but the photographer still got some nice shots. Lovey is in several shots because he was getting tired and fussy and wanted it. There are some shots with me in them because I was trying to stop his crying or get him to cooperate with the pose instead of turning around to touch the backdrop. I purchased an 8x10 that is a compilation of three shots involving the two of us: me reading to Linus with him on my lap, a close up of me holding him and comforting him while he is crying, and one of him hugging my legs. I bought it because there aren't many pictures of the two of us together. I'm the picture taker in the family, so that is what happens.

I got the pictures taken on October 3, the day he turned 18 months old. I was sentimental about the milestone. It feels like there is just a sliver of his babyhood left. I love every Linus that comes along, but I wish very hard I could keep every single one of them.

Play-Doh Pals

Linus first played with Play-Doh at Alex's and Max's birthday party. He put some in his mouth. As I was trying to pry it out, he made a face and spit it out voluntarily. So that first lesson about Play-Doh was learned. Last week Linus played with Play-Doh at his friend Chase's house. The two of them poked Gerber toddler table knives into it. Lucero came over to play on Tuesday and we introduced her to Play-Doh. She liked flattening it with her hands and really got into it. Linus kept handing her tools. We acquired our own little set of Play-Doh as our party favor at Alex's party. It included four containers of Play-Doh and some tools for cutting out a duck, pony, snowman, and bell.

When I play with it with Linus, I make shapes and try teaching him how to roll some into a ball. He likes to poke and smell it. Today I said, "That is the smell of childhood. Just so you know."

My Cute Little Baker

Sadly, Matthew had to work Saturday afternoon. To perk me up a bit, I baked cookies with Linus. It was his first time helping with baking and he had so much fun. We tried a healthy oatmeal carrot raisin cookie recipe from the High Altitude Cooking book I got at the library. I chose it because Linus usually turns his nose up at yellow or orange vegetables, which means he's lacking in vitamin A. I thought this was a good way to sneak them into his diet. The dough was hard for him to mix and he got oatmeal on the floor, which elicited an "Uh oh!" from him. I reassured him that it was okay; we could sweep it up when we were done. I put the dough on one cookie sheet and let him do the other one. That was his favorite part. His whole body was giving off signs of glee. I had to work hard to repress my perfectionism and tendency to interfere. I succeeded for the most part and his little nuggets of cookies turned out just fine.

Impromptu Farm Visit

On our way up to see the elk, I pulled over for a pit stop at the first available place and it turned out to be a great farm market. There were gorgeous pumpkins, gourds, squash, and Indian corn. Linus picked out two tiny pumpkins and had a blast playing in this gigantic metal pumpkin. We also ran around the straw bale maze a bit. Matthew picked out some apples that smelled the way apples smelled in my orchard in Peshtigo. Such a great autumn smell. I got such a high being there. I loved hearing Linus giggle as he ran around and I enjoyed being surrounded by produce. I think I have farmer in my blood.

Grape Harvest

Our neighbor, Marie, sent out an email inviting the neighborhood to stop by and pick grapes in her back yard. I think we were the only ones to take advantage of her bounty. The three of us went over and had fun picking and eating the grapes. Linus choked on the first grape because of the seeds. I told him about spitting them out. And no, we didn't do a grape stomp. I'm still trying to locate some canning jars to make grape jelly.

Our other neighbor gave us a zucchini and as we walked home with it, Linus referred to it as "nee nee."

Today Matthew and Linus went in search of a bike helmet for Linus to wear when Annalouiza takes him and Lucero on bike rides. I went to a yard sale at an elementary school in search of a little table for Linus to use for crafts and such in the kitchen. We had great success! Linus is now the proud owner of a helmet with comical chicks and a table with two chairs. I got the table set for about a third what it would have gone for on Craig's List, so I'm pretty pleased with myself for being one of the first two people at the sale.

Treasured Backpack

Linus has fallen in love with his backpack. It is one that Lyz got him in Paris for his first birthday. Sometimes he wears it just to wear it. Other times we pack it with a few little toys and a book to take along when he will likely need a bit of entertainment, like at my doctor appointments. On our way back from our little road trip last Sunday he insisted on having it on his lap, even though I thought that might become uncomfortable. What do mothers know about such things?!

On Sunday we went up into the mountains to the Estes Elk Festival. The elk come hang out for rutting season. We took a little bus trip around town to see elk hanging out in people's yards and on a golf course. At the actual festival, Linus enjoyed seeing a turkey vulture up close at a talk on raptors. While we had our picnic lunch, the elk bugling contest was going on. People were competing to have the best elk noise renditions. Linus would mimic the sounds while eating his sandwich. I think we could have entered him in the contest and he would have won something.

I haven't been blogging because we've been so busy and Linus doesn't always nap very long. Plus, my fibromyalgia drags me down.

I read about making little kids some fun sacks, which are filled with interesting things to play with at boring appointments, like when mama is getting her car's oil change. I thought I'd make a couple of draw string bags with fabric from my stash and put things in them that would be fun. One thing I reserve for when I'm desperate to occupy him is giving him my wallet. He loves pulling out my debit card, coffee shop punch cards, business cards, etc. If anyone has an old wallet they aren't using anymore, can I have it for him? The idea is to rotate out the bags so each time you rely on one, the contents seem exciting.

Linus is saying some more words. On our walk the other day he pointed to a city bus and said, "Bus." Another time he pointed at my teapot necklace and said, "Teapot." He continues to adore books. As soon as he is done with breakfast, he pulls me away to read books, even if I'm still eating.

He had his 18-month well baby check up yesterday. I loved the clinic. Linus checked out as healthy. He has dropped down to being in the 20th percentile for weight. That explains why his pants fall down, even though they are the right size for the length.