From the Mouths of (Our) Babes

Avery pointed to his hip when I was changinghim last night, and told me, "My hips huts (hurts) just like Popi's hip huts (hurts)." aw. ((we confirmed that his hip actually does not hurt))

I was reading one of Avery's favorite selections with him last night before bed. It is called "First Words" and is a picture dictionary, with large photos and illustrations of various words. He's loved this book since he was very small, when all he could ask was, "What's this?" and, "What's thaaaaat?" So yesterday, he was pointing out all the words on the food page. There was a line of foods---popcorn, chips, spaghetti and rice. He named them all, and then I told him these were "carbohydrates". We sometimes just throw big words in here and there to see how he reacts. So Avery responded by pointing to french fries and asking, "Is this a carbohydrate?" I told him it was. Then, he pointed to the cheese and asked, "Is this a carbohydrate?" And I told him that generally, I think, cheese is pretty low carb (though I have honestly no idea). So Avery asked, "Is it a protein?" ??????

Avery said he wanted to meet with Santa. He's been talking about him lately, as someone appears to have told him that Santa will be bringing him some presents some time soon! He asked yesterday, "When Santa brings us presents, how do we send a thank you note?"

For some reason, whatever we are eating always looks a lot better than whatever Avery has in his bowl---even if it's the same thing.

We let Avery eat Cheesy Poofs for breakfast yesterday. I am pretty sure they don't fit into any of the major food groups.

I told Avery to go get a hat to go out in the cold this morning, and he came over in this: We decided this wouldn't keep him warm, so I asked him to get a hat that would be warmer. He came back in this: Finally, after some convincing, we settled for the practical.

Avery told me this morning that he wanted a baby. He said he wanted it to be named Milka or Lighta. He added that he understood that it wouldn't grow in his tummy, it would grow in mine, but made sure to let me know that he wants one in his. And he made sure I knew, "I won't give the baby any marbles. And I'll watch to make sure it doesn't get hurt." MARBLES! :)

Just have to mark the day. The official real start of potty training---by Avery's request. He had to go, requested use of his new pots, and got down to business. I think it was the lure of the new green pots from IKEA. Not quite old enough to request privacy at this point, but I thought I'd give him some. Of course, all the grandparents were called to celebrate the event! And we went to visit Popi tonight at the hospital, and he's doing better. We are sure he'll be delighted to learn the poop news, too, of course.

After eating oatmeal exuberantly, Avery forgot about the promised lollipop this morning.

It took a long time to get to school yesterday. Avery wanted to jump in every leaf pile. Luckily, after school, he met up with his friend, Max to do so. They built leaf towers in the park for almost three hours. He then came and crashed for more than that.

Avery has insisted on wearing his rainboots to sleep tonight. "So," he said, "I don't have to put shoes on in the morning." He's clearly preparing for college. He's also been using transitional words (conjunctions...?) lately. Things like 'so', 'but' and 'because'.

Avery wore his costume the entire day today. He wore it to Sashee's, then on the train, where he announced the whole time, "I'm excited! This is the R5!". He chatted with random other travelers and was generally thrilled, remarking frequently, "This is fun! I am happy." Reminder of the good stuff.

Avery's been trying to negotiate his way lately. He's making good arguments. Last night, in the tub, he was using his crayola bath crayons to draw a picture. He decided he wanted to bite off the tips of each and eat them. I told him that he should not eat crayons. He replied, "They are ok to eat, mommy, they are washable." Today, getting ready for school, he insisted on wearing rainboots. I told him it was not raining, to which he replied, "But there might be puddles!" Then, I said, "And also, you have yoga today at school. It would be hard to do yoga with rainboots on." Avery told me, "Everyone wears rainboots to yoga!" When I dropped him off, I told his teacher that he had revealed the truth---everyone wears boots to yoga. She said that he's really funny in yoga. Apparently, as a part of their routine, the yoga teacher asked everyone to, "Be a Butterfly." Avery replied, loudly & confidently, "I can...

Avery just said, "Look outside! The sunshine is beautiful. Everyone should sing a song." Walker put "product" in Avery's hair, and told Avery he looked like a tiny rock star. Avery replied, "You look like a daddy rock star!"

Avery was pointing out that Mommy was a "gurl" and Nan was a "gurl" and Avery was a "BOY!" the other day. I started to wonder, so asked, "Avery how do you know?" Of course, Nan went through the various body parts, asking if that was how he knew. He replied simply and cleverly, "No, I know because of your SHOES." We visited Popi last night, who is in the hospital. Avery touched his hip and said he was making him feel better. He also asked if he was thirsty, and got him water, helped move his bed, and got the nurse when he needed something.

Avery announced this morning, "We love each other." He was referring to himself and his papa.

While driving by the boat houses the other day, Avery remarked, "Those are the boat houses! Do you vote in there?" Vote/Boat====I can see where one might be confused. He joined me and then, later, Walker, to vote today. Once inside the polling place, he announced, "I am ready to vote! I am ready to vote, Mommy! I am ready to vote for Obama!" Then, he almost pressed the VOTE button before I had a chance to vote myself...which he also helped me do. He actually pressed the OBAMA button. So, officially, Avery was the one who voted for Obama today. Yay!

I asked Avery today why he thought we were voting for Obama. He replied, "Because he is a good person." He totally gets it. Oh, and he's been using "because" to offer explanations as to "why"...which is just one of those language related things I always find interesting (perhaps only me!)

Avery was asking tonight if we liked baseball. Then, he said, "We play tennisball a lot." He then went on to say that he was wearing pants to play tennisball, and socks, too. It's baseball, football, basketball---why not tennisball? Totally makes sense to me.

Avery woke up this morning and was singing in his bed. When I went to get him, he told me, "I didn't cry or anything." Then, he asked if he had a new blanket and sheets on his bed. I told him that yes, I had changed the sheets. He then said, "Thank you mommy, for changing the sheets." Then, he asked where we got each of his blankets, and wanted to thank each person for giving them to him.

We went on our first real candy expedition last evening with Avery. He stayed up past his bed time, ate too much candy, and ending the evening spitting water in the street with his friend Charlie. Good times! Here, Avery was explaining to Charlie, "You can get candy in here! People put it in your bag!" Charlie was duly excited by the prospect. So we set out. We ran into Avery's friends. First, there were Eva and Beatrix. They are twins, and I am not sure who this is (but Avery appears to be able to tell the difference and always seems to call them by the right names): Avery got a little rough with his papa after a lollipop. We were glad, though, because lollipops allow for some pacing. We then ran into his friend, Mateo. Finally, we ended the evening on Addison, where Charlie and Avery found it hilarious to drink water and then spit it out. This entertained them for a while, and made me feel like they were real little toddlers. When we arrived home at the end of t...