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.