Mother's Day Fun

For Mother's Day, we gathered at Mama's mom's house - the sisters and significant others, the grandparents and great-grandparents, a herd of cousins and their children. It was grand. In addition to a rippin' game of Bocce Ball (spelling, anyone?), we enjoyed the high-fallutin' entertainment of toddlers in the water feature.

Poor Benjamin...he starts out as such an observer. He was not too keen on the splurting water.

It's a good thing Auntie Rosie was willing to help him adjust.

Amal and Judah jumped right in. They had nutty fun while Little P peered on.

But Auntie Rosie worked her magic and he approached the fray.

"So, Amal, what technique do you suggest for playing in this thing?"

"Erch-in-blurgin-war-been-splat!"

"C'mon, dude. I speak English!"

Not bad. Not bad at all.

This is the face that could launch a thousand ships in Mama's heart. The best present a Mama could ask for!

Will the real Baby Einstein please stand up?

BenSpeak: Mid-May Vocab

For those of you who are interested in what a fifteen-month-old might say, here are some examples from the life of Little P:

Speaking of Food
wahdoh - water
miw - milk
manana - banana
eggs
cheese
appo - apple
peas
mango
cup
hunkry - hungry
boon - spoon
foak - fork
bahdoh - bottle
done - All done.

Or Salutations
heh-yo - hello (said while talking on his fake "foe")
howdodo - How are you?
moanie - Good morning!
bye-bye
doin' - What are you doin'?

How about household items?
sic - music
diapo - diaper
doggie
fowa - flower
ningna - necklace
watch - watch
cock - clock
bock - block
wayo - wheel
art - painted/batik pieces hanging on the wall
toys
copper - helicopter (they fly overhead all the time)
munny - monkey
dars - stars
pants

Or body parts?
singah - finger
eye
nose
teef - teeth
ha - hair (said while trying to clip Mama's clip into the back of his hair)

Things with noises
The cow says "mooooo."
The dog says "buck, buck."
The cat says "mee-ow." (in a very sing-songy voice)
The birds say "caw, caw." (notice we have lots of crows around here)
The train says "choo, choo."

Can't forget people...
Emma (his birthmother)
Becca - Auntie Rebekah
Miiiiike - Uncle Mike
Mana - Grandma

Object Pronouns and Questions
dat - What's that?
tiss - What's this?
does - What are those?

________________________________

Little P Lessons in Logic

Given A:
We visited Great Grandma's house. GG paints. Little P pointed to one of her large paintings on the wall - an outdoor mountain scene and said, "Pritty." When I asked him what it was he replied, "Art."

And B:
Aunt Kelly's house, he was sucking on his bottle. He looked up at the wall and pulled the bottle from his mouth with a loud slurp, pointed at the red and blue abstract painting on the wall, and declared, "Pritty." Then he stuck the bottle back in his mouth as though he had made an important pronouncement.

And C:
Looking out the window as we drove down the freeway, all he could see was eucalyptus trees and a few white clouds in the blue sky. He kept saying, over and over, "Pritty."

We can safely conclude that he finds art and nature attractive. He also calls flowers, women, and sparkly jewelry "pritty."

In Other News:

He has learned to shake his head back and forth to indicate "no."

He is finally learning to eat out of a bowl. He puts stray food back into the bowl and attempts to use both a fork and a spoon. He is working on the use of a cup, but still feels compelled to turn it upside down and to watch the liquid run out. This is fun until it fills his lap and then he cries angrily.

He identified the moon in the sky after only seeing it in pictures in a book.

He is now stacking blocks and attempting to sort shapes and letters. He's not quite getting the puzzle concept, but he's started playing with them.

He loves to role around on the floor and rub his face on soft things.

______________________________

Mama apologizes for the length of time between posts recently. The P-Pod has been quite thoroughly committed to other activities of late.

Sick, Rashy, and 98 Degrees

This is what happens when Mama is sick.

This is what happens when Little P has a righteous diaper rash on his precious bum and his bum needs to breathe.

This is what happens when it is 98 stinkin' degrees outside.

When Mama feels as rotten as she did three weeks ago, Mama goes the easy route.

Outdoor play.

Pantless.

Little P gets his exercise, and Mama doesn't have to do anything. Sort of.

Little P gets to pull dirt from the strawberry planter that has no strawberries because Mama can't get it together.

Little P gets to eat, I mean, push the dirt around on the cement because that's good dirty fun.

Little P gets to examine things like a garden hose.

And he gets to discover what comes out of a garden hose.

Little P gets very wet which cools him off from the 98 degree heat.

And, in the end, Little P thinks he had a great time, diaper rash and all, and Mama only has to intervene in the dirt-eating routine about a dozen times.

Basura

The wooden fox knows it. Dr. Seuss's ABC book knows it, too.

The inside of a wire basket trash can.

Dirty, clean, and trash are the words and concepts filling Little P's mind these days. He knows when his diaper is dirty. He is learning that the straw on the floor of the coffee shop or the sucker stick in the mulch at the playground are dirty, trash, in fact, and we aren't supposed to stick them in our mouths (although he occasionally tests this out in his own personal experiment). He knows that when we "clean, clean" we put away our toys or we wipe down the high chair tray. He sings "clean, clean" with me.

But sometimes dear Little P gets a little confused. Or maybe it's his sense of humor (which is actually quite plausible).

Maybe it was the sheer joy of cleaning up that landed the fox in the trash can. It is a place to put things, after all. Things that should not be laying around waiting to be stepped on. I get that.

Maybe the ABC book was boring.

I really don't know. But I know I will be checking the trash cans now before taking them out.