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!