Bubbles

While there are many things to love about taking baths, one of the best things are the bubbles. Lately, Daddy has been bathing me, so I've got to train him in the routine. I get into the tub while the water is still running and splash around for a bit. Once I'm acclimated, it's time for the bubbles. "Bubbles?" I say. He then provides bubbles and they start to foam up as the water is running. Once the water stops, the bubbles settle down and disappear quite quickly. I'm a bit sad when this happens and I anticipate it. As soon as the water stops I say, "Bye bye bubbles." This way the bubbles know I'm saying goodbye to them before they disappear.

Booze

This morning Daddy was watching me while Mommy went out to sign me up for another program of learning and enrichment. After we were playing for a while, I ran over to the kitchen gate and started pointing to the kitchen and saying "booze, booze!" Daddy was confused. He didn't know what booze was (or rather he did, but didn't think this was an appropriate request.) He tried some alternatives:

Him: "Milk?"

Me: "No"

Him: "Juice"

Me: "No. Booze"

Finally he gave up and let me show him. I ran down to the Christmas tree and scooped up a couple of bows. "Booze!" I cried. Finally, the light bulb went on an Daddy understood. "Booze" are "bows".

Unwrapping Gifts

As I mentioned, Christmas comes early in California. I got up Sunday morning dressed in my Christmas jammies. The house was quiet and only Daddy was up with me at the time. Anyway, we came into the living room and I asked for the little tree to be turned on. "On, on," I said while pointing at the tree. Mommy tells me that she got the little tree from her Mommy while she was sick just before I was born. Anyway, Mommy came out and we all went down to light the big tree. I was shocked and delighted to find a whole load of presents under the tree. Apparently, Santa had come the night before. (Daddy says that this staggered Christmas schedule in Cali is due to all the traffic on the roads here. Santa has to go out early to avoid the congestion.)

I quickly hit upon the biggest box I could find and tore it open. Fortunately, nearly all of the boxes were for me, so choosing randomly, I was still likely to get one of my presents. Last year, I had a hard time tearing through all the wrapping paper. Not this year. I have a method to unwrapping gifts---here it is. When you first see a present, you have to find the spot on the box where the bow is located. Then you exclaim "bow, bow!" This is followed by disemboweling the bow. Then it's on to ripping the wrapping paper off of the present. In the case of the first gift, this revealed a Fisher-Price farm! Now comes the part where Mommy and Daddy have to help. There job is to get the gift out of its box and assembled as quickly as possible. "Off, off" I say as they open the box. They got out all the animals including my favorite, the piggy. Then they put the farm together for me. After that, it's time to play.

One of the best things about the farm is the dance area. There's a little spot on the floor of the barn where, if the little people step on it, it plays some great songs. I like to have the little people dance to the music. Sometimes I ask Mommy and Daddy to make them dance so tat I can be free to stand up and dance along with the music too.

Christmas is great!

Apocalypse Now

This past weekend I got to open many of my Christmas gifts. Christmas comes early in California apparently. Mommy tells me that this is first Christmas and that I'll get to enjoy another one when we fly back east. Anyway, I got many great toys but some of my favorites are my two Fisher-Price helicopters. One of the helicopters came with my Fisher-Price Airport. When this helicopter flies near the control tower of the airport, there are sounds of whirring rotors and radio cross-chat. The other helicopter came separately. It's also Fisher-Price. With this one, if you press the little trigger mechanism, the rotors rotate and make sounds. Lights also light up.

Last night, Daddy taught me a new game---Apocalypse Now. In this game, the helicopters fly round and round the little people's town. Of course, there are lots of rotor noises, but, in addition, Daddy sings the melody from Ride of the Valkyries. Occasionally, the helicopters sweep low over the frightened little people as they scurry away. Daddy says that flying low helps to "win the hearts and minds" of the little people. He says that if we buzz them often enough they'll stop following someone named "Uncle Ho". I don't know what he's talking about, but I sure like the music and the helicopters.

Elmo-spotting

My Mommy is amazed at my powers of observation when it comes to my favorite Muppet, Elmo. We visited a mall a couple of days ago and, as we walked around the stores, I would point excitedly and cry "Elmo." Many times Mommy thought I was hallucinating since, in her field of vision, there were no Elmos to be seen. But, on closer inspection, she would see what I was seeing--a small Elmo icon here, a picture there. In short, if there were Elmos to be seen, I saw them, and commented excitedly on the fact. Daddy thinks he should put little Elmo pictures on his golf balls and take me out with him when he plays. That way, he reasons, he'll never lose a ball in the woods again.

Picture Time

I've posted a bunch of pictures from a pumpkin carving party, my trip to Habitot, and, most importantly, my second birthday. To see them, click here. Enjoy!

Party!

Today was my 2nd birthday party. My actual birthday is on December 30, but I had a kids' party today so that my friends could celebrate with me (since many will be elsewhere celebrating the winter holidays later this month). I've been watching an Elmo's World video featuring birthday parties lately to get myself ready for today. Daddy's birthday in November was also a good practice run. The big take-aways from Daddy's birthday and my Elmo video are that people give you nice things that often have bows attached and that candles and cake are involved. Last night, when Mommy reminded me that I would have a party today, I told her, "bow" and "Elmo" to let her know that I was ready.

Anyway, I was in excellent spirits for my party. We talked about my friends coming over and I was excited to show them my ball pit. I enjoy the ballpit immensely myself. I had 5 friends come to my party: Jaren, Chloe, Sophie, Emmersen, and McKenna. (Sam called in sick this morning, unfortunately!) Chloe's baby brother was there too, as were all the mommies and my Daddy. We played in my ballpit and with my other toys. Mommy also led us all in circle time with some songs about balls as we rolled the balls around. Then we had lunch. Spinach quiche (baked by Daddy!), fruit salad, cheese and crackers, and pita bread dipped in hummus. (I skipped the hummus myself.) After lunch, everyone sang "Happy Birthday" while I blew out the candles on my platter of cupcakes (iced to look like baseballs). Then we all ate our cupcakes and did some more playing before opening gifts. I got some great books and Wiggles' stuff, all of which I took into my room so that it could "rest" in the chair while I napped in my crib. Birthday parties are fun, but they sure do tire a guy out!

A little night music

Last night was not a fun one for me. Daddy put me to bed, which is never as good as when Mommy does it. Initially, I was quite distraught over the prospect, but after many pages of The Cat in the Hat, I settled down. In fact, I was so tired that I requested that Daddy turn off the light so I could sleep. This all went well until around 9:30pm, when I awoke again. I was not happy to still be in my crib and wanted to get up and play. Mommy kept telling me it was sleepytime as I called to her. She would pick me up from time to time and even change me, but still I was unhappy. I continued to call out increasingly unhappy until around 11pm. Then Daddy came in the room and picked me up. I didn't want him to pick me up, but decided after a short while it was okay. We went into the kitchen for a glass of warm milk. I liked watching the microwave turn round and round. "Ding" went the microwave. "Ding" I said back to it. After I got back into the crib with my milk, I was much happier. I took a few sips and went straight to sleep.

Bye Bye Nainnie

Sadly, my Nainnie had to go back to her house yesterday. I was very sad to see her go since she's lots of fun to be around. She even managed to figure out a way to wash my hair without my noticing it. I appreciate that since, when I notice, I hate to have my hair washed. After she had gone yesterday evening, I would call for her, "Nainnie, Nainnie," from time to time to see if she would reapprear. Sadly, she didn't.

On the plus side, Mommy gave me the best toy ever yesterday: A ball pit. Mommy filled up an inflatable swimming pool with 300 (!!) plastic balls. I love t roll around in the ball pit, to throw the balls around, to be buried in balls, and so on. During dinner, I just kept saying "ball, ball, ball" and hoping it would be over so I could get back to the ball pit. It's super!

Ballf

Daddy and I share a passion for Ballf. In fact, it's my favorite sport. The funny thing is that Daddy keeps calling it "golf" rather than the more sensible name ballf. After all, it's played with a wonderful little ball; hence it seems sensible that ball should be somewhere in the name--ballf.

While I have my own set of clubs, I prefer Daddy's clubs. In fact, my favorite club is the putter, which also happens to be a word I can actually say, "puddah". We get out Daddy's putting green and line the balls up about 3 feet from the hole. Then I take the putter (I choke up on it a lot) and Daddy helps to guide my stroke to putt the balls into the hole. I love it when I sink these three footers. I like to make a little jump for joy with the putter in my hand.

In addition to putting, the other great thing about ballf is organizing the balls. Two days ago, I gout out my dump truck and loaded it with freight---golf balls. Then Daddy would help the truck back up to the unloading area, the hole on the putting green, and unload the freight into the hole. The balls would go into the hole and then slide along the return shoot back to the loading area where we would take the dump truck to get another haul of golf balls.

I'm also getting pretty good at counting the balls. The highest I've gotten up to is to count four golf balls, though there seem to be a lot more than that.

Ballf is a truly great sport. A feast for the mind and the body.

Habitot

Yesterday we went to a place called Habitot in Berkeley. This is a cool, hands-on "museum" built especially for guys my size. I was immediately impressed with the Brio train table at the entrance to the place. I liked to turn the rotating bridge around and around. Occasionally, other children would try to drive a train over the bridge. I liked to set the bridge sideways so the trains would derail. Boom!

Next, we visited the store, where I picked up all manner of pretend fruit and other items. My favorite was something called a matzo, which looked like a giant cracker. Mmmm.

Then we headed for the water play area. Unfortunately, Mommy and Daddy made me wear a plastic smock so I wouldn't get too wet. I did not like the smock at all. It seemed scary the way it tied around me. Water play was lots of fun though. I got to pour water down a homemade waterfall and let my friend, a plastic fishy, swim in the current.

Next, we headed for the art area. I made a lovely piece---it's a piece of cardboard covered with aluminum foil. On it, I painted using glittery glue. Then I stuck some sequins and other sparkly things on the glue. Finally, and best of all, I got to stick lots of feathers on it. I loved the feathers and wanted to put all of them on my piece, but there wasn't enough glue or space to fit them. Still, it's a really nice piece. Maybe I'll get Daddy to scan it and put it up on my website.

I like Habitot!

Organizing

My plastic pail has many uses. I can play with it in the sand on the beach. I can throw it into my little pool at home and watch it float around. But it's even very useful indoors as well. One of my favorite things to do with my plastic pail is to turn it upside down and press it into the carpet. This makes a lovely circular indentation in the carpet in the shape of my favorite letter, "o". Another thing the pail is really useful for is holding golf balls. Lately, I've enjoyed getting out all of Daddy's golf balls (we just bought a dozen over the weekend to make an even 16) and then placing them in the pail. When all the ball are in the pail, I lift it up and spill them out all down my front. This activity is even better when Mommy and Daddy help to count the golf balls as I put them in. 1, 2, 3, ...

Santa Barbara

This past weekend, we all went for a visit to Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara is a city about 100 miles north of LA. It's a long car ride from Walnut Creek. On the way down, we drove at night but I had (and still have) a head cold and found sleeping difficult. By the time we were about 40 miles away, I was ready to stop being in my car seat. I kept saying "off, off" but to no avail.

Happily, there was a good reward when I got there. We stayed with the Bergstroms, who I like very much. They have a granddaughter who is about 7 months old, and they were well equipped for my visit. When I arrived, at about 12:30 at night, they stayed up to greet us and presented me with a toy ambulance which I enjoyed driving around the house. They also had a big, red ball, which I enjoyed playing with. They have lots of other good stuff too, especially books. I got to read a book called "10 Minutes to Bedtime," which was fabulous. Mommy and Daddy seemed to like it too since it featured many hamsters (they like hamsters...a lot!) The best book of all in my opinion, however, was "Chugga Chugga Choo Choo." I liked this book so much that I got to take it home with me.

On Friday, while Daddy did his thing at the university, Mommy and I went to the Child's Place Zoo, also known as the Santa Barbara Zoo. We saw lots of animals. I especially enjoyed the giraffes, the otters, the monkeys, the sea lions, and the capybara. The capybara was eating a pumpkin and reminded me of a big version of my friend, Licorice the guinea pig. I tried to gently pet the capybara through the fence, but he was too far away. I also rode a fun train with Mommy at the zoo.

The weather on Saturday was pretty dreary in the morning and very rainy in the afternoon. We all went shopping on State Street in the morning. I got some new shoes and some other nice stuff, including a mini version of my good friend, Piggy! I napped most of the afternoon.

At the end of my visit to the Bergstroms's, I made a little regatta with some fallen flowers. They have lots of nice flowers in their backyard. I picked a couple up and deposited them in a big puddle. Thanks to the breeze, the flowers would glide across the puddle like little boats. I picked up several more and had a little sailing race across the puddle. Finally, it was time to go. I waved bye bye to the Bergstroms and blew them kisses (a new trick) to show that I really liked staying with them. I hope we get to go back soon.

Big Red Car

Christmas came a bit early for me. I found one of my gifts, the Wiggles Big Red Car, in the office. Realizing this was mine, I indicated in the strongest possible terms my desire to have it---now. Happily, I got to open it and played with it almost exclusively this evening. For those who don't know, the Big Red Car is the vehicle of choice for the Wiggles. It looks a bit like a convertible VW Beetle. In the version I have, the 4 Wiggles are in the car with their bodies apparently welded together. If you push down on their collective heads and then release, they break out into song and the car rolls along for a short distance. While they're singing and the car is rolling, their bodies move up and down in the car in perfect unison. By the end of the day, I had played with the toy so much that the Wiggles song, which had started out at a jaunty presto temp was more like a largo by the end.

Hooray for Halloween

Last Friday, I went trick or treating for the second time in my life. When I went last year, dressed as a tiger, it was kind of a desultory effort. This year was more ambitious, we covered two full blocks of houses and I ended up with a bag full of sweets (none of which I want). This year, I was dressed as a lion. (Link to pictures coming soon). Initially, I was a bit hesitant about the whole trick or treating ritual, but I soon warmed to the task. When the door of the house I was visiting would open, I would immediately point at whatever objects looked interesting and try to make my way inside. Surprisingly, even though the door was open, the people on the other side didn't always want me to come in and explore. Next, they would offer me some choices from a bowl of candy. I love the sensory experience of the bowl of candy more than the candy itself. I would let me hand linger in the bowl, feeling the smooth plastic covering the candy and listening as the plastic crinkled when my hand moved. Finally, Mommy and Daddy would urge me to choose something and we would put these items in my bag. Then it was time to say goodbye. I would take a few steps ways and then, in my demure way, wave bye-bye to the people inside the door. This tactic was very successful in eliciting the desired "Ah, he's so cute reaction" I was after.

Halloween is lots of fun!

Pumpkin Carving

Last night we went to a pumpkin carving party. Sadly, the knife wielding involved in carving pumpkins excluded me from this aspect of the festivities. Still, I did get to see lots of my friends from Kinder-Gym and other classes. Mommy carved a cat face in her pumpkin while Daddy made something he called "evil skull dude". Daddy was impressed at how well-behaved I was. I still have some problems with sharing stuff with others (since they don't seem to realize that everything is mine!), but I was mostly a sweet and charming little guy. I had no "meltdowns" as they say during the time of the party.

Hats

Having on a nice hat is hard to beat. I like to wear hats anytime and anywhere. Lately, I've decided that an excellent time to enjoy a hat is at bedtime. I make sure to get my Dorothy the Dinosaur/Wiggles hat out and see to it that Mommy puts it on my head at bedtime. When I wake up, it's also the first thing that I put on--even before I put on bedroom slippers. I have strong preferences over hats too. Sometimes Mommy tries to give me a beret that looks like a pumpkin. While it's fun to pretend to eat this hat, it's not as fun to wear as my stylish Dorothy the Dinosaur hat.

Waffles and Applesauce

One of my favorite food pairings these days are waffles and applesauce. While full-size waffles are too big for me, Mommy has found some delicious mini waffles that are perfect for holding in my hand. Part of what makes them great is that they're convenient scoops for picking up applesauce, which is made extra delicious by the liberal addition of cinnamon by Mommy. Waffles are also very stackable, so they're fun to play with too.

While these foods are great, they don't always come exactly as I like them. For instance, last week Daddy made me waffles and applesauce. He got the applesauce right but, in his attempts not to make the waffles too hot, he toasted them insufficiently and they were gooey doughballs. I don't like them that way. Yesterday, when we were at a party, Mommy brought me applesauce, which she had packed in her bag but she forgot to pack the waffles and the toaster. I kept telling her, "waffles, waffles, waffles" but somehow, she didn't get the message.

Katie

Just about every weekend, a woman named Katie comes over to visit, typically just before I go to bed. I like to play lots of different games with her--ball tossing, bead maze, and so on. Last night, we played an unusual game. I handed Katie my sand pail and a pair of shovels. She scooped from pretend sand into the pail and pressed the pail into the carpet to make a pretend sand castle. As there was obviously no real sand castle there, I was puzzled by her behavior. Then I realized what was really going on. In pressing the pail into the carpet, Katie had made one of my favorite letters, "O". The "O" seemed to come from the shape of the perimeter of the pail. I asked her to make lots and lots of O's. At one point, I was surrounded by O's. This was great---much better than the crazy pretend sand castle idea.

Mommy and Daddy tried to teach me Katie's name. They would patiently say Kay-Tee for me. I would listen carefully and then reply with a colorful nickname, "Hosel!". Again, they would try and again I would say, "Hosel!" Eventually, Daddy got me to say "Tee" in response to her name. This also fits with her nickname since a tee is another fun piece of golf equipment.

Daddy and Mommy apparently went out on a date after I was asleep, so I was being watched solely by my friend Katie/Hosel. Before I went to bed, Daddy told me to dream about golf. He didn't have to remind my since I do that anyway. Seems like whenever I wake up from naps or in the morning the first word out of my mouth is "ball" followed by "golf" shortly thereafter.

Fore!

Golf is becoming an evening ritual for me. Shortly after Daddy gets home from work, I start saying ball, ball, ball. Then I tug at his arm to get him to go to the guest bedroom where the golf stuff is kept. I open the door to the room, but I don't know how to open the closet so I point. Daddy opens up the closet and gets out some clubs and the backpack of golf balls. I get to carry the backpack. Next, it's off to the living room where I unpack the balls and well as the practice putting hole. I like to put the balls in the putting hole. Sometimes, I wait by the hold while Daddy putts some balls towards it. Daddy is a very successful putter this way in that when the ball gets close to the hole, I pick it up and put it in for him. He gets a hole in one every time!

My Trip East in September

I think that it's about time to tell you about my trip East in September. Last month, Mommy and I criss-crossed the U.S.-- first flying to Pennsylvania by way of Chicago, then flying to Orlando, Florida, and finally flying home to California. I am a seasoned traveler and I know that when the plane speeds up and takes off it is time to exclaim, "Whee!" along with Mommy. Unfortunately, I also know that plane travel also means long periods stuck in a confined space, so I am no longer a consistently good traveler. Let's just say that the flight attendents had to serve Mommy's snack and beverage on a tray across the aisle since my constant attempts at escape were pretty violent. Oh well.

Anyway, the times that I was not on a plane, I had a pretty good time. My Grammy took Mommy and Me to see "Bob the Builder Live!" at the Wachovia Arena. While I don't know much about Bob himself, I do love trucks, and there were many big, nifty, animatronic trucks in the show (their headlight-eyes and grill- mouths even moved!) as well as lots of lights around the arena. I found these to be very entertaining! I even got a big lightstick with Scoop the truck and Bob the Builder stuck on top. Cool!

While in Wilkes-Barre, I also had fun playing in Auntie Max's yard, Kirby Park, as well as in Nainnie's and Grammy's houses. I also visited my friend Julia (age 3) and her parents in Mountaintop, grooved to live music at my Uncle Jack's place, and visited with Marguerite as well as my godmother, Jo Ann. (I surprised both my Nainnie and my Grammy by calling them by name on this trip! I'm still working on the others, although I still remember that Auntie Max is "Ant.") My social calendar is always full in Wilkes-Barre!

After Wilkes-Barre, Mommy and I went to Orlando to attend my cousin Emma's baptism. (Daddy and Nainnie also came too, but each flew in separately.) I had really been missing Daddy, and he arrived just in time to cheer me up.

Emma and I played at her house and at a really nifty playground a bunch of times. I also went to the Orlando Science Center with Mommy and Daddy one day. This was a lot of fun since part of the place is dedicated to toddler activities like water play with boats, building with huge lego-type blocks, and participating in an orange juice production assembly line (much more fun than it sounds!). I also went to Sea World one day with Mommy, Daddy and Nainnie. It was a sort of wet day, but we saw lots of sea animals. I especially liked the big windows looking into sealife exhibits where fish and manatees were right there on the other side of the glass and I could almost touch them. I also really liked watching the rays swim around and around. Mommy and Daddy learned that the rays really like belly rubs, so lots of rays came over to us although I could not reach them.

I also had a nice time playing with my Uncle Dave and Aunt Julie. One night we went to Downtown Disney along with Nainnie and I really had fun on the big slide at the Lego Imagination Center. I rode the carousel too, but while I like horses I was kind of nervous when they moved.

We also all went to Emma's baptism, where I lasted in the church service just long enough to see Emma hug the minister after he baptized her. Then Daddy took me to the church nursery for the rest of the service. Oddly, when Mommy and Daddy went to pick me up from the nursery, the caregivers asked what language I spoke since they didn't think it was English. Mommy and Daddy were perplexed at this. Then they said that I'd been calling out "Abba!" for some time. Unfortunately, they were not aware that "Abba" is my favorite nickname for Mommy!

After all of the excitement of my trip, I was really happy to get home and get back into my routine and greet my toys again. Home is a nice place to be.

Bye Bye Bottle and Hello Words!

I have switched to a sippy instead of a bottle before bed with no fuss, so, "Bye Bye, Bottles!"

I am also picking up more and more words. New today were "orange juice" and "love you." "All done" is another very useful phrase I like to use. "Yes" and "No" are in heavy usage now. I can also say, "I-did-it" and "I-want-those," but haven't put these phrases into heavy rotation yet. I like to say them really fast as one word. I also can say, "please" when prompted, and tell Mommy that I want a "waffle." In addition, I can also say "golf" and name an obscure part of a golf club, called a hosel, thanks to Daddy.

Two of my favorite names are "Elmo" and "Ernie." I often wake up in my crib exclaiming, "Elmo!" or "Ernie!" to tell my lazy parents to wake up so I can watch Sesame Street. (Elmo used to be called "Melmo" (see earlier post) but has informed me that he has dropped the "M" from the beginning of his name.) I also enjoy calling Grammy and Nainnie. I started saying both of their names last month when I visited them, and they seem delighted when I call them by name on the phone. (I can also say my cousin Emma's name and the names of several friends, but we aren't old enough to have many solo phone privileges.)

I am especially fond of my Tickle Me Elmo these days. (Grammy helped him find his way here several months ago.) I feel that I must always be vigilant as to Elmo's whereabouts since it is a hard, cold world and I must protect him. Mommy and Daddy always help me to locate him. Yesterday, Elmo accompanied me to the park and swung on a swing alongside me and went down two sliding boards. I also took him on a walk in my Elmo-sized (and doll-sized) stroller. My Elmo-sized stroller and at least one friend come along in the car almost every time we go out.

Today was a bit of a difficult day for me. I went to Music Together (Fun!), but at the end of class I got my finger pinched VERY HARD in an accordian-style baby gate at the entrance to the music room. It hurt LOTS! Mommy says that it also looked very, very sore. Luckily, Mommy had an ice pack in her bag, and she held it on my finger until I started to feel a little better. My finger was a little swollen tonight, but I am making a good recovery.

Then, tonight, Mommy and I were on our front lawn on the way into the house in the half-darkness when a light-colored dog appeared with her owner (off her leash). I was very excited to see her, but she was a bit too excited to see me and knocked me over. Then she picked up my Elmo by the tummy and shook him. Then she knocked me down again and got stuck in the straps of Mommy's backpack (on the ground) before her owner finally got control of her. I was SCARED! I love to see doggies, but I'm not used to full body contact. (The dog was a partially-grown puppy of what looked like a retriever breed.) Mommy explained that the doggie was too excited about wanting to play with me and the dog's owner apologized profusely. I said "Woof" and waved goodbye to the doggie through my tears as we went into the house. I am resilient though and I cheered up quickly once inside and had a nice evening.

By the way, Mommy found me next to Licorice's cage today with a big Tupperware container of guinea pig food that I had taken out of the cabinet where it is kept and hauled over to Licorice. I thought that Licorice looked hungry and wanted to feed her! I am the kind of guy who likes to take initiative!

Visits

Yesterday was a great day for socializing. As usual, Daddy had me out on many walks and we met all sorts of people on them. First, we met a 5 year old girl named Michelle near "ball heaven". Ball heaven is the front of a neighbor's yard that has a basketball net and tons of basketballs all around. I picked up a basketball and was bouncing it (sometimes I try to dribble it like the big kids do, but I never remember to let go of the ball). Michelle showed me how to pitch the basketball underhand to try to make baskets. While she did this twice, I couldn't manage to heave the basketball up high enough.

Then we ran across a couple of kids riding bikes. I like watching bike riding in that the bikes have some terrific wheels attached to them. Plus they go pretty fast, and I like the motion too. Anyway, the Mommy and Daddy of these kids were also around in their garage. They got out a basketball for me to play with and I happily played catch with their Mommy. She would roll the basketball to me. I'd catch it (I'm quite good at this now), and then I'd bounce-pass it back to her. She said I took her back to the time her little boy was about my age.

Finally, we went back to the park and ran across our next-door neighbors (the Partridge's) playing soccer and football in the park. I loved the soccer ball and ran toward it to get it. The two older Partridge sisters, Georgina and Madeline, then played with me in the park. We went on the swings, down the slide, and on some other stuff but, best of all, the soccer ball got to participate too. It went down the slide. I swung on the swing. It was great.

Then it came time to go home. We followed the Partridges back to their house and, seeing an open door, I went zooming inside. Everyone was happy to see me and I got to play a bit more.

It was a great day!

A message from Addy

Normally this space is given over to my life, but tonight, I'm letting Daddy write about his life for a change.

It's a sad night. The Red Sox managed to lose in spectacularly heartbreaking fashion. After holding a 3 run lead going into the 8th inning, the Yankees managed to rally in the 8th to tie it up, and then went on to win it in the 11th on a walk-off home run by Aaron Boone. These are the kinds of games where you cannot help but second-guess the manager's moves. Why did Grady Little stick with Pedro so long in the 8th. The Boston bullpen, which had proved so dependable in the post-season, was not called upon until it was too late for them to rescue the situation. Why couldn't the Red Sox have managed to squeeze out one more run off of Clemens or the many Yankee relievers to come after him. This is one of the saddest times I can ever remember in being a Red Sox fan. I really wish that they could have won. I also can't help but think what a wonderful opportunity was presented to them had they won this game. The Florida Marlins would seem to be a team the Red Sox could reasonably hope to beat in the World Series. Was this their best shot to win it all in my lifetime? It might well have been. Will they ever win a World Series? Will they ever even get there?

Sigh.

Ivory Towers

I'm getting a very steady hand when it comes to building things. Last night, I got out my Bento Box of shapes. This consists of 3 dimensional squares, cylinders, and triangles, each coming in three different sizes. What I like to do is to invert the Bento Box so that the shapes all fall out and then set it on the floor on its reverse side. This is the platform for the tower. Then I stack each of the shapes one on top of the other. The triangles in particular are very tricky to stack correctly. When I was done, I had created a tower that was as tall as I was (in a sitting position).

Speaking of which, how tall am I going to be? Mommy found a number of terrific growth estimation tools to figure out how tall I'll be when I grow up. Right now I"m 2' 9", but I hope to grow some more. According to this site, I'll be about 5'10", which is okay I guess. The problem is not with Mommy, it's with Daddy. If Daddy would suddenly have a growth spurt and grow to be 6' tall, then I'd sky up to 6' 1". If Daddy would really have a growth spurt and shoot up to 7' tall, then I'd be in a fine position for a career in the NBA at 6'7". Unfortunately, Daddy tells me that it's not likely that he will grow.

The variability inherent in height predictions should be noted, however, since the site says that Mommy's genetic potential for height should have been 5' 6 1/2", however, she exceeded her "potential" and grew to be 5'9". Variability can go the other way too, unfortunately, but I'm hoping that exceeding such predictions is also in my genes heightwise.

In other news, I'm learning lots of new words. A current favorite word is "Melmo". Melmo is the name of my favorite Sesame Street character as well as a convenient shorthand for indicating my desire to watch Sesame Street.

Hop, skip, and jump

I've been testing out a whole bunch of new skills recently. Yesterday, my Daddy finally felt better (he had been sick) and we spent most of the day in the yard and in the park. Daddy was, as usual, hitting golf balls. One thing that I really liked to do was to get the golf balls and set them on the tee for Daddy. Then he would zing them across the park. Sometimes, I would take a turn hitting too. I have a little golf set that I use. Daddy helps me by stading behind me and positioning my hands appropriately. Then we take a big swing together and I get to zing a ball across the park. This is absolutely great.

When we were walking home from the park, I decided to try some new running skills. While I now like to run straight ahead, lowering my head slightly, and going "eeeeee", I've also taken to sort of galloping. It's not exactly galloping, but it's kind of like that motion. Daddy would gallop a few paces in front of me. It's hilarious to see him run like that. I would try to imitate. Daddy can also do something called skipping, which seems unfathomably hard.

One I was home, I decided to practice my jumping. I'm not very good at it so far (mostly I just try to lift my legs into the air and then "sit" to attain a jump), but I'm getting better. One thing I've learned already---never jump when there are blocks underfoot. The corners of the blocks are not pleasant to land on.

Little Tiger

This weekend was quite a busy one for me. On Saturday, I went to the Dorothy the Dinosaur show. She's my favorite character on the Wiggles. While it would have been enough to just have Dorothy there, in fact, Captain Feathersword, Henry the Octopus, and Wags the Dog were also there. Looked like the Captain gained some weight since the TV show. I enjoyed the singing and dancing. I also enjoyed the lights and colors of the Paramount Theater, which is the really nice place that the show was put on. Daddy says to check out the online tour.

Also over the weekend, Daddy introduced me to two new sports. He got out a tee-ball set that had been living in the garage for the past several months. Hooray. I'm finally big enough to play tee-ball. I really enjoyed the big softballs and I especially liked placing them on the tee; however swinging the bat to hit them was elusive. I preferred to give Daddy the bat so he could hit the balls. Daddy tried to teach me to swing, which I sort of liked, but Mommy said he was trying to teach me to swing left-handed when, in her view, it seemed more natural for me to swing right-handed.

The other sport we did a lot of this weekend was golf. Daddy recently got a set of clubs and Mommy got me a set of small plastic clubs as well. We went out together on Sunday morning to hit some golf wiffle balls in the park. I was carrying my driver slung over my shoulder and Daddy had his 6 iron. Again, I found the balls themselves to be the most fascinating part of the process. Daddy said I was excellent at "shagging" golf balls. He would hit them and they would go soaring through the air. Then I would chase them across the park, bring them back and set them on the golf tee for Daddy. This was lots of fun.

Happy Birthday Abba

Today is my Abba's birthday. I'm not sure how old she is but compared to me she's old. I'm celebrating by doing some original artwork on a card that Addy bought for me. I've also been on my best behavior---sweet as can be---on her special day. Best of all, maybe there will be cake some time this weekend. I like cake (even if it is sort of messy).

Abba

Yesterday I went to my cousin Emma's baptism. I find it very hard to sit still in church and this time was no exception. Shortly after the baptism was completed, I decided I had had enough. Daddy took my into the vestibule to play with my (Emma's) toy wheeled bead maze. Evenutally, one of the ushers took pity on Daddy and told him about a mecca of toys located not far away. Daddy took me for the "hajj" to the mecca of toys and I soon became quite interested. There were other nice ladies there to take care of me and the other kids who were playing. Eventually, I noticed that niether Mommy nor Daddy were around. At times this distressed me and I called for Mommy. "Ab-baa" I said. "ab-baa!". The women who were taking care of me looked at me quizzically. I soon got interested in other toys, but then would stop occasionally to call out "Ab-baa!"

When Daddy and Mommy came to pick me up, the women asked what language I spoke. Daddy, in his funny way, said I spoke "Aidan-ese" which didn't seem to hep them to sort out the mystery. They asked directly what "abba" means and they said that I kept saying this. How silly of them. Of course, "abba" is my word for my favorite person---Mommy.

The Electric Slide

Lately, I've rediscovered the joys of the small sliding board in my backyard. As those of you who've visited know, my "clubhouse" is full of fun stuff. There are a series of indentations that I use to climb up. At the top is my clubhouse which has a great clock in it. "Tick tock". Then, to come down from the clubhouse, there's the convenient sliding board. The round trip up and down is always something to celebrate, so I've taken to doing the "happy sliding dance" at the end of each trip down from the slide. To do the dance, you have to bend your knees slightly and then bounce up and down while waving your arms and going, "Whee!". Then, when you're all finished, you give yourself a round of applause. I taught Mommy and Daddy the sliding board dance, and they're getting pretty good at it. But still, I am the lord of the dance, when it comes to sliding board celebrations.

I attended a playgroup this afternoon where I got to slide with abandon on a somewhat taller sliding board than the one I use regularly. This was very exciting and I went up the steps and down the slide many. many times, exclaiming, "Whee!" each time.

Music Together

The fall session of my Music Together class begain on Tuesday. I particularly liked banging the rhythm sticks on the floor and using the shakers (like maracas). I also enjoyed seeing my teacher, Rowena, some of my old friends, as well as lots of new kids. After class, we went to lunch at Skipolini's Pizza with 4 other toddlers and mommies. Skipolini's has some play structures in the courtyard that we enjoyed playing on. Mommy was a little concerned since I would climb deep into the big play structures through tubes and then it was sometimes hard to get me to come back out! I had fun although I had an accident just before we left. I was crouching on a platform about 3 feet off the ground and got distracted by another child and fell backward onto the ground and bumped my head. Happily, the floor was rubberized, so although I cried and Mommy was very worried at first, I was just fine soon after my fall. I enjoyed holding the ice pack Mommy gave me.

Google

As some of you may know, I'm the most popular Aidan Morgan on Google. If you type in the search term "Aidan Morgan" and click the "I feel lucky" button it will take you right to my website. Well, I recently discovered that I achieved a new Internet milestone: I'm now the most popular Aidan weblog on Google. Typing the search term "Aidan's Weblog" in Google and clicking I feel lucky takes you right here---to this very web page.

Last night Daddy and I took turns pushing my toy bus along the floor. Neither of us are very good bus drivers since each dirve would typically result in the bus plowing into a wall or some other object. Occasionally the bus would flip over in our zeal to "drive" it. I liked to cheer the bus on by making vroom noises and saying "us, us" to it. "Us" is how I like to say bus (following one of the standard rules for my language which is to drop the initial consonant of most words, e.g., Daddy = "Addy").

Picture Time

The complete set of pictures from Auntie Max's visit are now up. You can see them here. Note that because of the randomness of Shutterfly, the old link posted a couple of days ago probably won't work.

I've also posted these same pictures at Ofoto. You can see them here. While Ofoto is annoying in that you have to sign in to see the pictures, it actually did a better job with this batch of pictures than did Shutterfly. Specifically, Shutterfly automatically cropped the pictures uploaded to it in such a way as to harm the composition. Don't believe me--compare IMG_2976 and IMG_2987 at both sites. The Ofoto site displays the image correctly as my Daddy composed it while Shutterfly does not.

A visit to Chloe and her New Baby Brother

On Friday, while Aunti Max was taking a Greyline bus tour of San Francisco, Mommy and I visited my friend, Chloe, her Mommy and her new baby brother, Cameron. It had been several weeks since I saw Chloe last, and I was excited to go visit her. Before we left, Mommy told me we were going to play with Chloe and I said, "O-ee" in response. At Chloe's house, Mommy pointed to Chloe and asked, "Who's that?" and I answered, "O-ee." I don't know why Mommy needed me to remind her of Chloe's name! Anyway, Chloe is the 4th individual person whom I've called by name. (As you can see in a blog published earlier today, Aunti Max is the 5th.)

I was very excited to play with Chloe's toys. I enjoyed playing in the sandbox with her "ovels" and pushing her mower outside. Inside was the best though. I absolutely loved Chloe's easel with a tray chock full of crayons. While I did draw some lines with them, the crayons were best for burying my hands in-- causing them to make noise as they first knocked against the sides of the tray and then were flung to the floor. Best of all though was Chloe's toddler-size stroller. Oh what a wonderful thing it was! It had wheels and was just the right size for me to push. I think that it was even better than the strollers I ride in!

I was very affectionate with everyone at Chloe's house. I kissed the new baby (born August 15) several times. He was very tiny, cute and calm and I liked him. (Babies are nicer when they aren't invading my home turf!) I also gave several wet kisses to Mommy, Chloe's mom and Chloe's aunt. I tried to give Chloe a big, friendly hug as we were leaving, unfortunately, I was a little too enthusiastic and knocked Chloe down. She hit her head on the hard, tile floor and cried and cried. I felt bad and was scared by all of her crying, so I cried too and hid behind a chair. We both calmed down eventually and then Mommy and I said, "Bye-Bye."

Food Update

By the way, I ate part of a Valencia orange for the first time at Chloe's house. It was delicious! I also ate part of one today. I also decided to indulge in some scrambled egg and ketchup today (for the first time in weeks). Bananas and raisins are also finally back on my list of acceptable foods.

Auntie Max

I got to say goodbye to my Auntie Max tonight. She's taken good care of me and seems to really like me. I like her too. Indeed, I like her so much that I even sort of figured out her name. I call her "Ant". One of the things we both love to do is play with my big bead maze. I drag it to her in every room and encourage her to play with me by making little whining noises. She always seems so excited. She says, "Oh Aidan, you've brought my favorite game." Of course, then she immediately tries to point out something else for me to do. Fortunately, I'm good at staying focused and "on task" as they say, so I make sure she doesn't forget about the fun we're going to have playing with the bead maze. It's too bad she's leaving, she's lots of fun to have around.

Comments Update

Some of you are probably wondering about the comments on my page. Unfortunately, the server where my comments are is broken. They had to buy a new server (probably because it was inundated with all the comments from my weblog). It will be up next Monday.

Earthquake

Yesterday, my Aunt Maxine made us all dinner. I didn't actually eat what she made since it consisted of a salad with nuts (no nuts until I'm 3) and beef Wellington (I've embraced the Cali lifestyle and am mostly vegetarian). While she was cooking we got to experience a reasonably large earthquake. Here's a site with details. Mommy actually submitted a report about it though it didn't actually do anything other than shake us a little bit. Auntie Max thought that a large truck must have just passed by. Some friends in Lafayette, a few miles closer to the center of of quake, said it felt as though a truck had run right into their house. No damage though. Daddy thought it was Maxine's first earthquake, but Mommy told him that in fact, she had already experienced one in Pennsylvania-- link here. Auntie Max remembered only mine subsidences.

I've decided that Auntie Max is worthy of her own special goodbye before I go to sleep. As Mommy was taking me off to my room to sing to me before sleepytime last night, I ran back to the kitchen to make sure I got a special goodbye from her as well as a kiss. I like her.

Auntie Max

My Aunt Maxine came to visit me in California for the first time ever. I found it especially hilarious when she would kick at the little pool I was wading in causing the water to splash. Daddy took several pictures of her first day in California and posted them here. More to come!

Wheelbarrow

One fun thing that Daddy does (and which seems to horrify Mommy) is to let me do wheelbarrow rides. Daddy will pick up my legs while I use my arms to propel myself along the ground. It's not the fastest way to get around, but it is a lot of fun. Plus, seeing the world upside down makes everything seem new and different.

Picture Time

I posted up some pictures of out Labor Day celebration. The little girl is Bianca (mentioned in the previous Blog entry) and the bearded person is Ernesto. You can enjoy the pictures here.

Labor Day

We had a Labor Day celebration yesterday, but it wasn't much fun. Daddy had the nerve to invite over a rival, a 10 month old named Bianca. I felt sure that Bianca was intended as a replacement for me, and I didn't like it one bit. Now, there are two paths that I could take in this situation: (A) I could be maximially cute and fun and convince Mommy and Daddy that Bianca was a not a good substitute for me. Or (B) I could be miserable so that Mommy and Daddy would soon realize their mistake and ask Bianca to leave. I went with (B). Unfortunately, it didn't work. Bianca stayed for several hours and was generally cute and well-behaved. This plan did not work out at all well for me.

The other thing that made Labor Day bad was that Daddy had a nasty choking episode. Daddy and Mommy and our guests (but not Bianca) were enjoying some lovely steaks that Mommy cooked on the grill. I guess Daddy was enjoying his a bit too much as part of it becamse lodged in his throat. He went in the kitchen sort of gasping for breath and Mommy and one of our guests, Laura, attempted to perform the Heimlich maneuver on him but without success. As they were asking whether to call 9-1-1 for him, he managed to dislodge enough stuff that he could breath again, albeit with some difficulty. He eventually was able to get all better. Mommy seemed really scared and upset by this. I was busy eating yummy corn on the cob, so I didn't really get too concerned. The oddest part was that Daddy felt very bad for spoiling the time the other guests were having through his inconsiderate choking episode.

By the way, you may be wondering where the comments part of my weblog went. It turns out that the server used to make the comments go has been down since last Thursday. They expect to fix it in the next day or so.

Pointing

As you've seen from many of my photos, I love to point at things. Daddy and I have developed a pointing ritual. If he's a few paces away from me, he extends his finger to make a great pointing motion. I do the same. Then we slowly draw closer to one another until our fingers just touch. This group point is one of the most fun things.

Scottish Games

Yesterday, we all went to the Scottish Games. I got to see highland dancing, which I enjoyed a lot. I like to dance around with the highland dancers n my own way. We also got to hear a Celtic rock band called Kinship, which was also lots of fun. I tried to run up onto the stage (which had some lovely steps leading to it), but Daddy wouldn't let me go there. In between, there were a whole lot of pipe bands competing with one another. This was more boring, so I used this time to take a nap. Mommy and Daddy seemed to enjoy the free scotch tasting booth. I thought it would be fun to try some scotch too and so I said "mmmmm" whenever they would take a sip. Somehow, they didn't get the hint.

There were a whole bunch of tents for each of the many clans located around the park. One of them had a really fancy Kelty stroller with great wheels. I decided that I wanted to be a member of this clan, so I charged over to check out the wheels as well as the other good stuff they had. They asked me about my shirt (which said "Am I cute or am I cool?" in Welsh. Daddy explained that while I was conceived in England (or Wales) and while I have Welsh and Irish ancestors, I have no Scottish lineage that anyone knows of. That didn't seem to bother theclan and they admitted me as an honorary Scot.

The Name Game

Yesterday, a baby girl named Kaia came to visit Mommy and me for the second time. There are a couple of reasons why this is notable: First, I actually called her by name, "Kaia, " several times. Mommy says this marks the first time I've referred to anyone by name other than Mommy ("Ahbba" or more rarely, "Mommy") and Daddy ("Addy"). This also includes my own official name since on those occasions when I refer to myself I call myself "Ahbba"-- which translates to "baby." (Yes, this is indeed the same thing I usually call Mommy. I got tired of calling her Mama a while back.) The other reason Kaia's visit is notable is that she has a bad habit of wanting to play with my toys and my mommy when she comes to visit me. What she doesn't seem to understand is that my toys and mommy are mine--not to be played with or even touched by others. What she also doesn't seem to realize is that any toys that she brings into the house are also mine. Indeed, we would all be a lot happier if others would keep in mind one simple rule: All objects in the world are mine and I should be able to have them whenever I want them. This is certainly my attitude when Mommy and I go shopping. For instance, yesterday we went to the grocery store together. It was so frustrating that Mommy would keep forgetting the simple rule: All objects are mine. She kept forgetting and taking stuff away from me. And for some reason she wouldn't let me "off" the shopping cart so that I could play with all of the wine bottles on display near floor level in the grocery store. They looked as though they would have made a cool noise when rolled or hit on the floor. Oh well, I'll keep an eye out for more opportunities.

(An aside-- the wine in the grocery store must be a pretty alien concept to all of my PA relatives who have to visit the "state store" and the "beer store"!

Some Bad Things about the Beach

Mostly, I was quite happy to be outside in the bright sunshine of Maui. I liked to stick my toes in the water. I especially likes the many eps they had in the hotel in which we were staying. But there were two things I definitely didn't like. The first is suntan lotion in my eyes. I actually like the process of having lotion slathered all over me. When Mommy and Daddy are putting on lotion, I'll hold out my arm so they'll put some on me too. While lotion is great on lots of parts of my body, it's not so good in my eyes. Worse yet, whenever I would try to rub the lotion out of my eyes using my arms, it would seem to make things worse and worse. Lotion, apparently, has a bad side as well as a good side.

The other thing I didn't like is the wind. After around noon, the tradewinds kick up. Under normal curcumstances, I dislike wind and try to turn away. In fact, I really don't like it when Mommy and Daddy ride with their car windows open. (I was especially glad Daddy turned down the option of getting a Mustang convertible when we were renting a card. Convertibles are truly evil.) Anyway, wind is even worse on the beach. While I like to feel the sand on my feet between my toes, I hate sand blowing in my face on a windy day.

During one of our days in Maui, we trekked to a resort town called Kapalua. According to the guidebook, Kapalua boasts the best beach in all of Maui. Part of what makes it the best is that it is protected from the wind by promontories on both sides. It was a real hike to get there. Daddy and Mommy had to walk about a mile from the car to the beach. Luckily, I got to ride for this distance. When we arrived and set up camp, the wind was pretty strong and the waves were pretty large. Daddy seemed to like to go out in a part of the ocean he called the "pummel zone" and get knocked down by waves. I wanted no part of the pummel zone and did not much like Daddy being pummeled. I tried to encourage him to come back to shore by calling "Addy Addy Addy" to him and showing my distress. As the wind grew worse and worse, I decided that this was definitely not my idea of the best beach in Maui. After not too long, we all decided we'd had enough and hiked back to the car. Unfortunately, the hike back was all up a steep hill. Daddy told Mommy to meet him at a place somewhat closer to the beach while he pushed me the whole way back in my stroller. He was very sweaty and didn't seem to be in the best mood. We were all glad to get back in the car, out of the wind and the sand, and drive back to our resort.

What to eat?

It's still difficult for me to convey exactly what I want to eat. Often, I know I'm hungry and have something specific in mind, but somehow Mommy and Daddy cannot deduce what it is from the tone of my "Uh, uh, uh" pleas. What I am good at is telling them what I don't want to eat. Sometimes, when I'm ready for a snack, Daddy will go to the cupboard filled with most of my favorites and pull out boxes one at a time. After he pulls a box out, I look at it and if it's not what I'm after, I shake my head vigorously--no. Next box, another head shake. Next box, another head shake. And on and on. Eventually, my eyes light up and I reach out when he finally picks out something good to eat.

Of course, sometimes I make mistakes and shake my head no when I actually mean yes. This is frustrating for both of us.

This form of communication is effective, but frustratingly slow. If only Mommy and Daddy were better mind readers.

Off

Off is a good all-purpose word. Whenever I see a light or a fan that is off, I alert everyone by saying off. When I want my shoes removed, I can usually achieve this goal with a simple "off". When I want to get out of my crib, off again works well. The opposite of off is the word "dee". For instance, if I want my Mommy or Daddy to put the Wiggles on TV, I simply point at the TV and sing-say "dee". When I want to listen to the radio, again pointing and saying "dee" works. Of course, sometimes I grow tired of The Wiggles. When that happens, I point to the TV and say "off".

P.s. Mommy wanted me to clarify that "dee" is not exactly a word for "on" in general. It is my way of saying that I want music of some sort on, whether on the TV or the radio (especially The Wiggles on TV or the VCR). "Dee" is my way of singing.

Hawaii Pictures

The first batch of pictures from Hawaii is now up. At least one more batch to come. You can see the pictures here.

The Beach

I spent a lot of time at the beach when I was in Maui. Since I like to stick with a consistent time zone, I would get up around 5am (8am California time) and Daddy would often take me out for an early morning walk. We would end up on the beach. I'm never sure whether to trust walking on sand or not. It seems hard to get firm footing and my toes seem to disappear beneath the sandy surface. Nearer the ocean, the footing is better, but there are new hazards to be aware of, like the water from the ocean. My preferred method was to get down to the better-footing part of the sand and then watch closely for the incoming water. Whenever a wave would roll in, I would hasten back away from the water and cry, "Uh oh!" to warn others about the water. By the end of the trip, even this had changed. I decided that the ocean water on my feet felt pretty good, and I would like to wade in a bit.

The other great thing about the beach is the variety of interesting objects the one finds in the sand. I found many interesting kinds of sticks as well as a type of rock called coral. I liked to carry the coral rocks around with me as I walked along the beach. The hotel also thoughtfully put out lounge chairs on the beach. Sometimes when I felt like climibing or just taking a rest, I would vault up onto these and watch the water on the ocean.

Elevators

The first time I got to ride standing up in an elevator was in Lake Tahoe a couple of weeks ago. I initially found it a bit scary with the motion and the closed doors and all, but gradually started to take to it. By the time we got to Maui, I decided that I loved elevators. Fortunately, the place we were staying is well equipped with elevators. Whenever I would see one, I'd run as fast as I could to get to the door. I'd point out the lights and indicate whether they were on or off. Once inside, the elevaor gets even better. I would wave goodbye to the door as it closed and then look forward to the ride. Sometimes I'd try to touch the buttons, but the only one I could easily reach was the emergency alarm bell. Daddy really didn't want to let me press this button, though I wanted to a lot. Sometimes, I'd see other people getting on elevators. I'd try to break away from Daddy's hand and hurry to get on for another exciting ride. Mostly, I didn't get to joyride in the elevator with Mommy and Daddy. However, one day a babysitter named Marian watched me for a few hours and she let me ride around for a good long while. We went up and down and in and out of the doors. Elevators are great.

Running off to Join the Circus

We just got back from our vacation in Maui (more about this in later blogs), but yesterday we went to the Ringling Bros. circus. While Daddy worried about how well I might like the scary clowns (Daddy doesn't like clowns) as well as all the lights and sounds. Well, I loved it. They really know how to get my attention right from the start. At the beginning of the circus, a bunch of clowns came out carrying enormous inflatable balls in bright colors. I recognized them immediately and yelled out "baah, baah" so that others would know that there were many balls flying around. The clowns danced to the hamster dance song. A little later, they threw the balls up into the audience and the people in the audience bounced the balls back and forth to one another and to the clowns. Next, came the big opening parade. There was lots of singing and a 20 piece orchestra playing. All the animals walked around the ring too. There were elephants---lots of elephants, I've never seen so many---there were camels and zebras and horses and dogs and goats too. This was great. I thought the singing and the animals and the many lights (I pointed out all of them in case Mommy and Daddy missed some) were great.

During the intermission, Daddy and I had a little adventure. The Oakland Arena comes equipped with many very nice steps. Naturally, I wanted to climb these. I eventually found a set of moving steps, called an escalator. This type of step is even better than the regular kind. We rode the escalator to the top of the arena. Then we discovered a little problem. There was no simple way to get back down. No escalator ran in the other direction and all the steps led out to the parking lot, which is not where we wanted to go. Eventually, Daddy found a working elevator (another great invention!) and we rode back down just in time for the start of the second half of the show. I started to have enough circus by this time though Daddy seemed to really enjoy a noisy motorcycle act. In this act, a bunch of guys on motorcycles ride inside something called the "sphere of death". They were spinning round and round and they kept putting more and more motorcycle guys in the sphere. They ended up fitting 6 motorcyclists inside driving wildly round. Daddy wanted them to keep putting in more guys until the inevitable carnage ensued though I was glad they stopped at 6.

12 Step Plan

I love steps or "eps" as I call them. While we don't really have any good steps inside the house, there are lots of them around where we live. I love to climb up them and climb down them, but what I don't like to do is "finish" with a good set of steps and then go back to walking. On a walk that I go on regularly with my Daddy, there is an enormous set of steps. As soon as these come into view, I dash toward them happily and then scamper almost all the way to the top. When I"m about 2 steps from the top, I see that the steps are ending, so I start back down again. Two steps from the bottom, I start back up again. This goes on until Daddy gets sick of it and carries me either to the top or the bottom. I don't understand how he thinks we can be finished with steps. There's still a lot more goodness to get out of them.

Iron Chef

Yesterday Mommy brought home Japanese food. Daddy seemed particularly delighted with this prospect and immediately started referring to me as "Master Aidan-sen" and saying "hoi" over and over. I found this to be hilarious. Anyway, I got to have one of my favorites, miso soup, for dinner. In fact, I ate Daddy's entire bowl of soup (except for the tofu cubes---these I didn't like). I then tried some other delicacies. The salmon roe was pretty good for awhile. I also tried some rice with a mix of soy sauce and wasabi. The wasabi is really really hot. I ended up holding my tongue in my hands to try to get rid of the hotness. Fortunately, a big glass of icey water was quickly delivered to me. I didn't like the California roll though.

Hoi.

Lake Tahoe Photos

You can see the fun we had in Lake Tahoe if you click here!

Lake Tahoe

Mommy, Daddy and I (along with my stuffed friend, Piggy) spent last week in Lake Tahoe. Daddy had a conference at the Cal-Neva Hotel and Casino, where part of the hotel (and pool) is in California and part is in Nevada. I got to stand and swim in two states simultaneously! I liked going in the pool with Mommy and my inflatable elephant boat, but even better was asking to get out and then repeatedly begging to get back in. While I was out, I liked to run toward the pool just to keep my mommy on her toes.

I decided early on that sleep deprivation is the way to go in Lake Tahoe. I pretty much eliminated my 2-hour afternoon nap and slept 8 or 9 hours at night instead of my usual eleven. I was a pretty sleep-deprived little guy. I never did get back to my usual sleep schedule until I returned home, but things did improve as the week went on and I grew more accustomed to my surroundings. Some of the fun things I did with my extra waking hours follow:

Took a 2 hour cruise across Lake Tahoe to Emerald Bay on a paddelwheeler boat called Tahoe Queen. The high point of this for me was meeting "Tahoe Tessie," a Lake Tahoe dinosaur/sea monster mascot. They didn't fool me by calling her,"Tessie." I knew who it really was... my friend, "Dorothy the Dinosaur" from The Wiggles! I also enjoyed pointing to the lake and various boats and parasailers.

Attended a children's matinee of the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival. They put on "As You Like It" dressed as though they lived on The Ponderosa Ranch, which is also in the Lake Tahoe area). I especially liked the cowboy hats and the occasional bursts of music, such as "Rawhide," I love to bop and clap to the tunes!

Played and swam at Sand Harbor Beach at Lake Tahoe State Park in Nevada. The first day I was still very nervous about walking on sand and going near the edge of the lake without being carried, but by the second day I enjoyed playing with rocks and sticks at the water's edge as well playing with my truck, pail and shovel. I also liked spotting boats and floaty toys, and I really wanted to sit up in the lifeguard's chair, but alas that wasn't to be.

Mommy and Daddy each took a trail ride at Northstar Stables (separately) while in Lake Tahoe, and I got to take my first pony ride too. With help from Daddy and Mommy, I rode a dapple gray pony named Patty. She was very nice, but I was really nervous about sitting on her at first. I relaxed as the ride continued, but I think I still prefer to watch the ponies and horses at ground level.

Since we returned home, I've been catching up on my sleep and becoming reacquainted with my stuffed friends and other toys. I'm very happy to see them again!

Hiking

Today my Daddy tok me on my first official hike. We went to the Las Trampas open space, which is not too far from our house, and walked for about an hour and a half along the banks of a dry creekbed. While Daddy worried that I would want to wander randomly all over the place, I was quite content to hold his hand and stride purposefully along the trail. Of course, we did have to stop from time to time to enjoy the exciting things along the trail. For instance, the trail is covered with many small rocks. Sometimes you just have to stop and examine these more carefully and then "clear" the trail a little bit by throuwing the rocks down into the ravine.

We also saw lots of animals too. We met up with a dog and a cat, both of whom were kind enough to let me pet them. We saw many squirrels, who did not get close enough to pet. We saw a number of small birds as well as an eagle which swooped low over our heads.

We met a few other hikers along the trail. I commented to Daddy that each of them was wearing shoes. He agreed that they were indeed wearing shoes. A couple of them seemed quite impressed at my hiking exploits. Of course, little did they know that I've been "training" for the last 1.5 months or so in the park across the street from my house. Daddy has been walking me further and further each time to prepare me for my first hike.

It was great. I want to go again...Now!

Deconstructionism

I have my own style when it comes to reading books. While I really like books, the usual linear way that Mommy and Daddy want to look at them just doesn't suit my tastes. They like to start at the beginning of a book and read all the words until they come to the end. This doesn't suit me at all. I prefer a more nonlinear approach. I like to open a book to a random page, then point at all the objects on the page and ask Mommy or Daddy (or even better one of my stuffed animals) to name the object I'm pointing at. Sometimes I point at pictures, sometimes at letters in words. (I especially like "s," "e" and "o".) After completing this process, and it can take a while for each page since I like to return to some of the objects to make sure that they're still called the same thing when I point to them a second or third time, I turn to the "next" page, which may be anywhere else in the book.

Often, only one page is suffficient to get all the goodness out of a book. I close the book up after looking at this critical page. Finally, sometimes merely hearing the namesof the objects I point at in the book is not enough. In that case, I run off to get a physical version of the object (like a ball or a block) or else a physical object that reminds me of what I'm pointing at. This makes reading a much more physical and multimedia activity than the way Mommy and Daddy do it.

I think of their way of reading as being like playing classical music. My way is more like jazz.

Sentences

I have a great many words at this point, I like to say all sorts of different words when I see the object they're associated with. Still, even this exercise loses its appeal after a while, so I decided to try something new. It turns out that if you string some words together you can make something called a sentence (or at least a phrase). Up until now, I've only made one phrase "Hi Addy". Yesterday, I made another one, "Mah Bahh" which translates to "My Ball". I helped Mommy and Daddy with the translation by holding up my soft little soccer ball so that they would know that this is the "mah bahh" to which my phrase refers.

It's a long drive...

Yesterday I got to go to my first major league baseball game. I saw the Giants play the Rockies at Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco. I'm a really cheap date for baseball games---free---since I'm under age 2. We had great seats, only nine rows back for the action on the thrid base line. There were lots of highlights at the game. For me, the best part was the big clock in center field. Here's a not so good picture Daddy found on the web. Often, I enjoyed pointing and calling everyone's attention to the glory of the big clock. Tick tock tick tock. One of the other exciting features of the park is the sheer number of people wearing hats. I liked to turn to the rows above us and point out all the people wearing hats. One person in the row behind realized I was pointing at his hat and would put his hands on his hat to signify that he too realized he was wearing a hat. I'd put my hands on my hat and we took turns for a while. Some other exciting things that I got to see include a huge Coke bottle and baseball mitt. While not as cool as the clock and many hats, they are fun too.

We saw an exciting slugfest. The first homer I've ever seen in my life came off the bat of Todd Helton. Daddy says he is a "sweet swinging lefty" and encouraged me to watch his swing closely. Helton hit a towering fly to right, but didn't quite hit it far enough to go into the water. Later in the game, a substitute catcher, Alberto Castillo, hit a grand slam home run. Daddy said I was lucky to see such an event although I didn't feel all that lucky. While I like clapping to the music and the general roar of the crowd, I get scared when things get too loud, as they did when he hit the grand slam.

Still, it was a great time. I got to eat lots of veggie booty and also got to drink some fresh from the ballpark lemonade. Mommy actually got the lemonade for herself, but I ended up having most of it. Mommy and Daddy went with our friends Matt Goff and Patty Chang. I liked feeding Patty veggie booty since she always seemed hungry to me.

BTW, the Giants won!

Getting Wet

Yesterday, I went to a group playdate at Logan's house. I hadn't seen Logan in many months, so we both looked very different to each other. Logan has an inground pool and a black labrador retriever. Woof! It was about 100 degrees here yesterday, so I enjoyed going in the pool with the other toddlers and their mommies. I didn't like Logan's splashing, however, so I tried to keep my distance from her in the water. All of us had water and fruit popcicles when we came out of the pool. This is the first time I had a popcicle all to myself (strawberry), and it was icy and delicious. Logan was very interested in sharing her popcicle. I tasted hers and she tasted mine. She also painted my hat with her popcicle.

After we came home, mommy and I went out to our yard and I played in my wading pool and then we played with the hose. Ever since I first saw the hose used to fill my pool, I've found it fascinating, but we've never played in the spray of the hose before. It was really fun! I enjoyed coming up close to the hose to touch the water and then running away giggling while Mommy sprayed my feet and naked derriere.

Yess!

One of my favoriate toys is my basketball net. Today I decided to do some slam dunks (my favoriate shot). Daddy would encourage me to "put it down" and "drive the lane". Whenever I would make a basket, Daddy would cheer and say, "Yesss!" in his best Marv Albert voice. I liked this so much, I said back to him, "Essss". We traded "esses" for the rest of the morning. While most 18 month olds learn to say "no" first, for me it's a Marv Albertesque "Yesss!"

Culture

One of my favorite foods these days is yogurt. I'm a bit particular about yogurts and really like Danimals yogurt. I don't much like its leading rival, Yo'Baby. The best way to eat yogurt is to feed it to myself using a spoon. This is both delicious ad lots of fun, but is also messy. As a result, Daddy and Mommy have evolved a ritual yogurt eating routine. I get to sit out on the patio in the bright sunshine. Then I strip down to a diaper (or sometmes to notthing), then I get to eat yogurt to my heart's content. At the end of all of this, I towel off or splash in the pool, or get lightly sprayed by the hose and I'm good as new.

Oakland Zoo

Over the weekend, I got to visit my first zoo, the Oakland Zoo. We got to see all sorts of animals. I recognized many of them by their stuffed animal counterparts. However, these real animals were different in that they could move all by themselves. I had a great time and got to see my all-time favorite, the "raffes". Mommy and Daddy took some pictures on the trip. I've posted them here.

Big Pool

On Thursday, I had a playdate with my friend, Sam. Mommy and I went to Sam's house in Danville and then we went to the pool in Sam's development. They had both a 1 1/2 foot wading pool as well as a big pool. I went in both with Mommy along with some trusty floating sand molds. I like putting things in and out of water. After swimming, we had lunch and played at Sam's house. Sam has a nice golden retriever named Bailey. Bailey and I were very interested in each other. Woof! Woof! I didn't want to leave Sam's house since it had a friend, a dog, and some new toys, but I fell asleep as soon as the car started moving on the way home.

Football Guy

Mommy has started going to physical therapy to work on strengthening her ankles and toes, and today she was doing her therapy along with pro-linebacker Greg Biekert, formerly of the Oakland Raiders and currently of the Minnesota Vikings. He seemed like a nice guy, but Mommy didn't think it would be polite to try to get me an autograph while he was doing therapy.

Doctor Visit

Yesterday, I had another unpleasant visit to the doctor. I had to wait a really long time (I don't like waiting) and then at the end of this, the reward I got was some unpleasant shots that left me limping for a time. I did, however, learn that I'm fast catching up to other children the same age as me. I'm now in the 45th percentile in height, the 40th percentile in weight, and, of course, the 90th percentile in head size. I think this last statistic might be from all the compliments I receive.

Mommy also talked to the doctor about various things she worries about. (Mommy's job is to worry about me.) She was concerned with my vegetarian ways (after all, I was born and raised in California); however the doctor allayed her fears and said that by growing I was demonstrating my ability to gobble up those proteins. She also ominously talked about my nighttime routine. You see, usually, I go to bed with a bottle of nice, warm milk and a song. Apparently, the bottle is supposed to be out of the mix before too long. That will be a sad day.

Fourth of July

Yesterday was the 4th of July, and I got to go to a neat parade in Danville, CA-- about 2 towns down from Walnut Creek. The Danville 4th of July parade is a big deal around here and is about 2 hours long. It seems that the tradition in Danville is for people to leave folding chairs (often a large group of chairs surrounded by string or rope) out in advance to reserve spots along the parade route. Last year, chairs were out 3 days ahead of the parade, which was a bit much according to safety-conscious people, so this year they made a new rule that chairs could not be left out until the night before the parade and hauled away any chairs left out before then. This has been a big local news story since many people got angry. Since I have a lovely rolling chair in the form of my stroller, I did not have to fight for a seat at the parade. Mommy, Daddy and I were able to find a place to perch between 2 big groups of chairs and we could see everything just fine.

Most people at the parade were wearing red, white, and blue clothes, and I was no exception. I wore my red, white and blue gingham sunsuit and hat. While I did not like some of the loud noises at the parade, I did like some of the goodies I received from parade marchers- bottled water, a sports bottle, a police sticker and tatoos, a little flag, and my favorites, 2 balloons and a mini-soccer ball. I also enjoyed seeing the animals in the parade (horses, dogs, a goat, and a duck), looking at the floats (one from NBC had a small version of a helicopter on it!), and the silly marchers-- especially the lawn mower and shopping cart brigades. I also clapped and waved for the Pearl Harbor survivors, who waved back. The parade was long and I was very tired since it ran up to my naptime, so we left a little early. I fell asleep on the way home, but I woke up getting out of the car and was too excited to fall back asleep. I went in my wading pool in the late afternoon, and then went to bed an hour early and slept through the night. Mommy and Daddy tell me that they cooked out after I went to sleep and then watched fireworks on TV. Real fireworks are too loud for me.

You can see photos of me on the 4th of July here. Auntie Max should note that in one photo Daddy is wearing the Hawaiian shirt she gave him about 10 years ago (the Christmas that she gave Aloha shirts all around).

New second cousin

Mommy's cousin became a daddy the other day, so I have a new cousin. She is a baby girl named Chloe, and she lives in Philadelphia with her parents, Eugene and Amy. I like her name since I already have a friend named Chloe!

Hide and Seek

I've alwaysloved playing hide and seek. Since I was old enough to crawl Daddy has been hiding behind tables, around corners, and crouched beneath my big toy pony. But with my increasing confidence in my mobility, hide and seek has changed in its speed and intensity. As Emeril would say, "Bang! We turned it up a notch." When we play hide and see now, Daddy runs at top speed and hides behind one of the corners in our house. I pursue at top speed. When I get close, he retreats to the next corner, and on and on. The thing is---I'm very quick. I'll soon catch him before he has time to retreat to the next spot. Just you wait and see.

Fork Milestone

On Sunday, I sucessfully used my fork to spear some mini-ravioli and feed it to myself for the first time. I was very proud. I fed some to Mommy too!

Napa Photos

The long awaited (by my Nainnie) photos from her visit to see me in May are ready now. These photos were taken in a park and at home in Walnut Creek and at various wineries along the Silverado Trail in the Napa Valley. We visited the Trefethen, Stag's Leap, Silverado, Mumm Cuvee Napa, Duckhorn, and St. Supery wineries during our day trip to Napa. Click here for photos.

A trip to Little Farm, Berkeley

Today I journeyed to Tilden Park in Berkeley for a group playdate and picnic at Little Farm. Little Farm boasts cows, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, and bunnies. My friends, Sophie, Emme, Shaelynn, Lauren, and I brought celery and lettuce to feed the animals. I said, "Moo!" at the cows and "Woof! Woof!" at the goats. I didn't like the geese very much because one nipped at me, but I did like watching the other animals chow down on the celery I'd brought from home. After we fed the animals, we fed ourselves in picnic fashion. We were pretty tired by then, but we also went for a brief visit to the carousel that's located in another part of the park. When Mommy said I was going to ride a horse, I ran toward the carousel and wanted to jump on immediately, but it was moving so I had to wait. I rode on a horse with Mommy standing beside me and then we rode a goat together. You can see some pictures from my day out here.

Good Morning

Many things in my life are ritualized (I like consistency) and getting up in the morning is no exception. This morning Daddy got me up in his usual way. I'm pretty much awake by the time I officially "get up" so I get to pay careful attention to what's going on. First, Daddy lifts the shade to reveal the sunlight pouring through the window. This is another exciting instance of a light, so I point and say "ight" at the window. Next, he sings the parts of the good morning song that he knows. He sings it like this:

Good morning, good morning! We danced the whole night through
Good morning, good morning to you
Good morning, good morning! It's great to stay up late
Good morning, good morning to you!
Bonjour, buenos dias, buongiorno, guten morgen
Good morning, good morning to you!

(Of course, like most of my Daddy's attempts at song lyrics, his version is both incomplete and wrong. Here are the correct lyrics.)

Now it's time to get out of my crib. I like the freedom of getting out, but I'm reluctant to part with all the nifty objects that are in there with me. Daddy hoists me over the side and I instantly reach to get my stuff. One blanket pulled through the bars of the crib. Then another. And another. Now I'll get the ears of Pat the Bunny and pull him through (he's kind of big on the bottom so it's not so easy.) Now I'm happy. I'm free to run around and I have all my stuff.

Good morning to me.

Stomping and Splashing

Today was my day to get wet. Mommy and I started off the day meeting Sam and his mommy at a local shopping center. The Rite-Aid store there has a garden fountain on display out front. Since I was already in my swimwear in preparation for later water play, Mommy let me splash my hands in the fountain to my heart's content while we waited for our friends. It was lots of fun. Once Sam and his mommy arrived, we drove to Central Park in San Ramon, where they have a cool waterplay area. There are lots of shallow areas (about an inch or two of water) that are great for stomping your feet, splashing, or sitting down in. Eventually, the shallow areas lead to a larger, round wading pool that surrounds a large mushroom (taller than mommy) that spews water down like a shower. This place is fun for kids of all ages. While I was nervous at first, I became accustomed to the water with the help of a yellow plastic, truck-shaped sand mold, which a nice lady let me use. I put it in the water on its "wheels" and pushed it around in the water making truck noises. I figure that if a truck likes the place then it's good for me too!

After the park, we came home for my nap, and then Mommy and I went out to play in the yard. Remembering how much I enjoyed wading at the park, Mommy filled my little pool with an inch or two of water and threw my beach ball in. At first toe-touch to water, I complained bitterly, but soon changed my mind when I saw Mommy stomping her feet in the pool and pushing my ball around. The two of us had a fun time spinning my ball in the water and stomping around. Maybe my pool isn't so bad after all.

Photos Part 2

I've upgraded one of the photos from the miniature horse show and added a shot of my recent trip to Paris. You can find them here.

Food, glorious food

As most of you know, I like to mostly stick to tried and true foods in the beige food group (cheese, bread, crackers or various sorts, cereal, and bananas). Lately, however, I've decided to broaden my horizons. Mommy calls it my "food renaissance." I've been eating watermelon for about the past week or so and love it despite its non-beige color. In the last few days, I have tried a bunch of new things: pastas with tomato sauce (spaghetti & shells), ravioli, cucumber, dill pickles, and green beans. I've actually had small tastes of all these foods previously, but found them to be yucky. I think they must have reformulated the flavors of these foods into "new and improved" versions since last time since they tasted really good (except for the cucumber, which was still sort of yucky). I also tried grapefruit for the first time and rejected it and sampled diced pears, which I'm not sure about texture-wise.

Photos

I've posted a new batch of photos from the miniature horse show. You can find them here. There are a couple of leftovers from earlier as well. My favorite is the one of the snail. He was crawling around our patio one evening. The boy in the big Stetson was one of the handlers at the show. He was competing in the only category I was eligible for---handlers under 7. Unfortunately, no one would lend me a horse to show. Enjoy!

Happy

Lately, I've been finding it easier and easier to acquire new words. Words are useful---currently, I have to express lots of feelings using only "words" like "Eeee" and "Eh Eh Eh." Anyway, I learned a new word that Mommy really semed to like. A few days ago, she was hugging me and kissing me and telling me what a great little guy I am and how much she loves me. Now, I really like it when she says this, and I've finally figured out something to say back. As she paused between saying nice things about me, I looked up at her and said just one word, "Happy."

All the Pretty Horses

This morning we all went together as a family to a miniature horse show in a local park. Miniature horses are not too big---no more than 3 feet tall. Here's a site describing them in more detail. Despite their small size, they can do all sorts of things. I saw one pull a person in a little wheeled cart. Lucky for me, I'm small enough to ride one of these guys, but Mommy and Daddy didn't think that was a good idea at all. I loved being close to the horsies.

If I Had a Hammer

Mommy got me a new toy yesterday. It's a kind of ball maze, but with a twist---to get the balls to go down the maze I need to use a hammer to pound them through the holes. It's kind of like this toy. I've encountered these while visiting friends houses at several times in my life. When I was a little more than 1 year old, one of these toys was at the joint 1-year-old birthday party for one of the playgroups I am in. At that time, I had no idea how to use this toy. To me, the best thing about it was simply rollling the balls along the hardwood fllor and chasing them. A couple of months later, I encountered one of them on a playdate with Athena, who lives down the street with me. Her maze was such that, by pushing hard enough, I could get the balls to go down with my hands. I enjoyed doing this. Most recently, I was out on another playdate and was fascinated with the toy---including using the hammer to make the balls go down. As a result, Mommy got the toy for me to play with at home.

At first, I still couldn't get the link between the hammer and the balls going down the maze, but I learn fast. By yesterday evening I was a pro at it although I mostly prefer to use the side of the hammer rather than the tip of it for ball-pounding purposes. Eventually, I even started to use the "business end" of the hammer to pound the balls down. One of the best things about this toy is that, when the balls come down from the maze, they bump into my feet, which is extremely funny. I really like this toy.

Stonehenge

Today my Daddy was in charge of taking care of me, so that Mommy could have a much needed day off. While it was always the case that when Daddy is in charge, we end up spending most of the day outside, now we end up doing a lot of walking. This is fine with me because I'm happy for the independence of walking as opposed to being pushed around in a stroller. In the morning, we went to a park across the street. Daddy carried me across the street, but after that I was on my own to follow him around the park. We walked for a fair distance until we came to an open, grassy ares with benches. There are lots of interesting things in this area. The benches are interesting, and I made a thorough investigation of these. The benches consist of slats of wood held together with nails. I was especially intrigued by the nails and asked over and over what they were. The other interesting feature of the benches are the gaps between the slats. I asked about these and Daddy told me they were "gaps." After a couple of tries, I found that I could say this word too. I pointed to the empty space between the slats and said "aps!". Daddy seemed quite delighted at this new word.

Near the benches are rocks used for drainage. These are some great rocks---all rounded and just the right size for picking up. I would pick up a rock and haul it over to the bench on which Daddy was sitting and then place it beside him. I did this for about four rocks. Then I came over to play with Daddy and the rocks. I discovered that rocks are kind of like blocks, you can stack them one on the other and make rock towers. We built several different types of towers together. First the usual ones and then one where Daddy placed two rounded rocks next to one another and then had me place a flat rock as a kind of "ceiling" on top of the two rounded ones. Daddy said we were building something called "Stonehenge" which is a place in Britain. I liked building and rebuilding Stonehenge.

Spinning

I like most everything that spins. When I was a little, little guy, my Daddy used to spin all manner of objects on the floor for me. I would really laugh at that. Now, I mostly just like it when he spins the football around on the floor. I've even learned to do a little of this myself. If I bat at the very end of the football, it spins nicely though not as consistently as when Daddy does it. Sometimes I like to ask him to spin the football for me over and over. I'll sae to him "Eee. Eee. Eee," growing more insistent with each iteration. Usually he gets the hint and spins the football.

You know what else is good for spinning? Me. I like to stand up and twirl round and round. After doing this for a while, I find it hard to walk straight. Mommy says I'm dizzy. Spinning is even better as a group activity. I especially love it when Mommy or Daddy spin along with me as I am spinning. One time we all spun together as a family. Sort of a group spin.

Giggle Guy

One of my favorite toys is a stuffed creature called Giggle Guy. Giggle Guy is a yellow furry thing with a big smile (sort of like the 70s style smiley face). When you press one of his hands, he vibrates and giggles and says "That's funny". My Daddy thinks Giggle Guy is rather insane in that he laughs and says "That's funny" for no reason whatsoever. Of course, I've found that pressing my hand is reason enough for laughing on some occasions, so I think he's okay. Anyway, last night, I decided to show Giggle Guy to one of my other stuffed animals, a big pink pig named Miss Piggy (not the *real* Miss Piggy (TM) mind you). You've seen her in pictures. Somehow, she seems more "alive" than Giggle Guy, so I thought she might like to make Giggle Guy giggle. I grabbed Miss Piggy's arm and had her press the hand of Giggle Guy so that he giggled. This was fantastic. We all laughed together at Giggle Guy's antics.