From the Mouths of (Our) Babes

I think it's learned. Feel free... ...to weigh in... ...on the issue.

Avery asked to go out for breakfast today. He doesn't want to eat at home. And he wants to go to "a new store." He asked, "What's the new store's name? Let's go there." He said he wants to order Charlie pancakes, with syrup. Yum.

Yesterday, Avery reported, "I have successfully pooped." Also yesterday, he was lying on my stomach and said, "Mommy is digesting macaroni." Then he said, "Mommy loves Avery SO much." Yay! In an effort to join his friend Jacob early at the Please Touch Museum, he asked, "Drop Avery off at Moosum?" He clearly articulated, "I DID NOT do that." this morning. I don't even remember what he was talking about, but he DID NOT do it. It seems we are experiencing our second language explosion. This one includes multi-syllabic words, proper grammar, and full sentences.

Avery reported this morning, "Hi, Mommy. Cars are zooming very well today!" Avery took this shot, which clearly shows how well they are zooming.

We took a long walk yesterday up to the Front St. Farmer's Market. We stopped for breakfast and yard sales only. Avery was on a mission, zooming to see Finn. When we arrived, Finn was there, with his cousin, Vegas. Vegas is an exuberant little guy, and very physical. At one point, he was playfully punching Finn. Avery stepped between them, looked up at Vegas and yelled, "NO DO THAT! NO HITTING FINN!" Then, he looked at me and said, "No like him. Avery NO LIKE HIM." First of all, aside from being double his age, Vegas is also double Avery's size. He's a really huge four year old (and Avery's looking large on all the scales). And he's the kind of kid who will be first to jump in the public fountain (he did so, fully clothes yesterday)... ...or show you the "trick" where he can swing his arm around really hard, and it seems like it'll fly out of the socket. So the scene---Avery, three feet tall, looking straight up at Veg...

We found a phone booth at the Standard Tap tonight, where we had dinner. It was a total novelty because..where do you see phone booths nowadays? So we got in. Of course, it didn't have a phone. So, on my cell phone, we called DADDY. Avery said, "Hi daddy! I am in a CABOOSE! I am eating here. In a CABOOSE! Up here! In the CABOOSE!" He was convinced it was a caboose. This brings up that very point---you never hear how things connect until children make those obvious connections. BOOSE & BOOTH sound very similar. Then, we met a little girl (16 months) named Sylvia. Avery and Sylvia danced together and hopped up and down in the middle of the room. They squealed and jumped and had fun. We didn't have the camera.

Conversation this morning: Avery: Avery see Sully today? Walker: Do you mean Sally? Avery: No, Sully. Avery want to see Sully. SULLY. Walker: Do you know a little kid named Sully? Avery: Yes, Sully. Walker: How old is he? Avery: Two. No, he's three. Walker: Where do you know him from? Avery: From Mexico. Walker: Avery, you were in Mexico? Avery: Yes, last week and yesterday. So our two year old is taking trips to Mexico and meeting little dudes named Sully without us. Having computer problems, so still no pics today.

Avery appears to be quite good at following conversations, enough to understand, for example, when there is a pause, how to reply or respond. He can predict what answers should come, and can really carry on a whole conversation (even if some of the information is made up) at this point. He knows, for example, when to answer YES or NO, he can respond correctly when asked where or what or who or why or when...something happened. And he knows how to choose from a list (do you want this OR that?)... Tonight, the following conversation took place in the car: Walker: Avery, what should we do with the 22nd Street house, refinance or sell it? Avery: Avery need to think of it. Walker: What, sweetie? Avery: Avery need to think about it. REALLY. He said he didn't want to give an answer just then, he needed to THINK ABOUT IT! And one other thing that has been happening lately---he usually refers to himself in the third person. This is actually something quite endearing and very, well, ...

I've been showing Avery pictures of cousin Jessica lately. She will be spending time with Avery this week, and I just thought he should be familiar. I joked that I showed him pictures of Jess when she was 5 or 6 or so, and thought Avery might expect her to be a kid who is coming over to play. But, I think Avery got it. I think he recognizes she is an adult, and is coming over to spend the day with him. I think this because today, he was looking at a little flip book we have with the Mona Lisa smiling. He looked at it and said, "Looks like Jessica!"

Avery's been getting up at night, or really early, for the past few days, so the Father's Day posting is a little belated. We think it's the heat---or the weekends of fun, after which he has a hard time winding down. Who knows? We are trying to have normal days, and even had a bike ride early in the AM. We realized at one point yesterday that we all had breakfast, loaded up the bikes, made a round trip ride past the boat houses and back, and went to the playground---all before 9am. But we are all tired. We hope everyone understands. A cute story-Avery pointed to the globe last night and said, "Philadelphia." His whole world IS Philadelphia right now, so that seems to make sense.

Instead of saying, "Bless you." after sneezes, this week at home, Avery's been saying, "Love you!" I am not correcting him. Avery got so excited yesterday at the mention that he and Charlie would be in school together in a few weeks, that he dropped all the toys in his hand, clapped and yelled, "Yay!" and ran over to hug Charlie. Fitting for flexible Charlie, he hugged back with enthusiasm. Avery looked at a little flip book of Mona Lisa the other day. He remarked, "Seems like shy. Seems like she's shy." Please note here---he might have said, "Seems like SMI..."...meaning SMILE. I just thought "shy" and it sounded profound? Still not sure exactly what he said. At a coffee house yesterday, Avery got a few books from a basket, and went to sit at another table, away from us, to read them. He opened one, "Hop on Pop", which we do not have, and said, "Hey, Hop on Pop!" He started acting like he...

If you ask Avery if he spilled juice all over the couch, if he has a bead in his mouth, or if he just hit another child, he will tell you. He tells the truth. He does not lie about these things. He might lie about some things, like whether or not he's tired and need to go to sleep or whether he really needs his diaper changed (he'll most always say no). But he'll tell the truth about other things---things that one might think he'd get 'in trouble' for doing. He hasn't quite learned that he should not (and that's true! he should tell the truth). So it's funny, sometimes, because you'll say, "Did you just draw on the table?" He'll reply nonchalantly, "Yup." Or you can ask if he just farted, he'll tell you. You can ask if he just stuck the plunger in his mouth. (No, just an example.) Here, he was asked if he had snuck tape in his mouth while sitting inside a box. The answer, a wholehearted, "Yah!"...

It was so hot tonight that we couldn't even make the walk over the pool to cool off. What to do when you can't even go outside? IDEA! Avery was sitting on the kitchen counter today and started asking if he could put water in various baking dishes. It seemed logical that from there that he should just strip down and get right into the sink. It was a perfect pre-bed activity. Avery bathed in the cool, purified water (well 1/2 was purified, just for fun!) and splashed around using muffin tins and the dish scrubber as his toys. Also this evening, I was telling Avery that, in a few weeks, he'd be going to school for a few hours a day, a few days a week. I told him that Charlie would be there, and there would be new toys, and Miss Barbara, the teacher who he met a few weeks ago. I said that Walker or I would drop him off and that we'd say goodbye, and we would leave. Then, Hopie or Sashee would pick him up. He thought for a minute and replied, "Seems like good...

Avery fell asleep in the car on Saturday, just when Moira's Dragon Boat race was starting. We successfully transferred him to the couch at home. This is Avery around 11:45am, after the successful move: Then, around 2pm: I don't know how to put the timestamp on the actual photo, or I would have. Seriously. He didn't move AT ALL for over two hours!

Avery enjoyed running around the house with his shirt halfway on Saturday morning. Luckily, he finally was convinced that pulling the shirt all the way over his head afforded him a lot more mobility.

Avery met a new friend named Dean at the pool. He calls him "Sardine." He's never had sardines. How does he know about sardines? It makes me laugh every time he says it. Avery was in the back seat of the car today saying, "Boobies. Boobies. Boobies." We stopped talking and turned around. He said, "Just talking about boobies!" That's going to be one we embarrass him with when he's a teenager. Going to bed tonight, Avery told Walker, "Do not touch! Mother Nature," referring to the leaves of a plant on the way up the stairs. And one sweet thing he said today...I was having a coughing fit, and he ran over and hugged my legs and asked, "Mommy ok? Ok, mommy? Mommy put hands in the air! Mommy need some juice? Have some juice." Too cute!

Avery walked around the room at Nan's opening last night, explaining to anyone that would listen, "Nan made this one. Nan made that one." He also learned how to say, "Gallery" correctly. He sat in the back seat on the way there, practicing the whole time, remarking astutely, "Hard to say!" The L and R sounds so close ARE, in fact, hard to say. So he practiced. And he GOT it. And he was SO pleased. In this video, he's relating the evening a bit.

For some reason, we are only able to post videos that are like 15 seconds long. We are capturing much more than this, of course, and I don't if we just have it on a high quality setting, but that's all we get. This means, you most likely will miss classic video footage like what I am about to try to post. Yay! I was wrong! Blogger fixed this little glitch, I guess...and here it is. In all it's glory. It makes me laugh every time I see it. Walker laughs in anticipation now, just because we look at it so much.

Cooking shows are our new evening activity this week. When I was little, I used to play cooking show by myself...(yes, a little strange.) I used to talk my way through making a dish, acting like I was on camera. Now, it's so much better! I have an audience! Avery is the best and most participatory audience member (of course, he's the only audience member at this time). He asks what everything is (What's thaaaaat?), what I am doing (What's mommy doing?"), wants to taste everything ("Avery taste that cucumber?"). He wants to help stir, and leans in to see what the mushrooms look like, or how to scramble up some eggs. And he's totally thrilled to eat whatever is the end result, like Daddy's masterpiece, Octopus Hot Dog on a Bed of Sea Peas (notice Avery's little nose peeking above the plate to see "what's on there!") Last evening, he even helped make our dinner of spinach, feta and mushroom omelettes. I love how he asks t...

Avery's learning to be more comfortable in the water with daddy.

Avery had such a great time in DC this weekend visiting Lisa and Nick. He learned about planes and fed baby ducks. He also got to spend lots of time with Lisa and Nick, and insisted last night that he "sleep in Lisa's bed!!!" He had to settle for his crib. On the ride to DC, we were not as prepared as we normally are, and had to resort to baby yoga. Then, we played the "Crazy Foot Game". This is a game in which you make your foot much, much bigger than your body. Avery's good at it. And, of course, the old favorite, "Everybody, everywhere, put your hands in the air."... under every tunnel or bridge. He left his hands in the air long after we emerged from the tunnels, so we altered the game slightly so that after each bridge or tunnel, we all clapped. There were no naps on the way, either way. Our timing was not great. But it was fun. When we arrived, we went to see the boats at the Marina near National Airport. Lisa pointed out...boats! ...

Here's how Avery entertains himself on long car rides.