Feetball

One of my favorite activities to play with Daddy is "feetball". I pick up two (always has to be two) feetballs and summon Daddy to our back hallway. Here, the game takes on various forms. Sometimes I toss a feetball to Daddy and he tosses it back. Other times, I'm the fullback and I come charging into the "line" (Daddy) in an attempt to break through. When we're doing the fullback version of the game, Daddy prefers that we be on carpeted surfaces rather than the hard floor. The noises Daddy makes on impact are the best part (although being bounced around is pretty good too.) Daddy seems to think that I'll make a fine fullback some day since I don't shy away from contact at all. I just lower my head and plow in.

Feetball is fun.

Maisy

Last weekend, Daddy and I went out shopping. Well, we went out shopping in the crazy Daddy way where we get to the mall before it opens and I get to run around and explore. Anyway, after things opened, we found a warehouse bookstore and explored there. I was attracted to a number of large boxes that looked good for climbing into. Daddy put me in a nearly empty box and I frolicked in the books at the bottom of the box. One of the books I found was about the character Maisy, who is a mouse. In this book, Maisy was working on a farm. The best thing about this book is that it had lots of little handles to pull Maisy up and down a ladder, ride a tractor and so on. Finally, we left the store and, on leaving, I cried out plaintively "Maisy, Maisy."

That was enough to melt Daddy's heart and get him to buy the book for me. He gave me the money to hand to the salesperson, and I got to take the Maisy book home with me. It's one of my favorite books now. I especially like it when Daddy reads it to me.

Teezy

Sometimes when Daddy comes home from work, he makes a "teezy". He always seems to want more of this drink since he keeps saying he's making "more" "teezy". This is a fun drink to make. First, he puts a wet glass in the freezer to cool. Then he puts some ice cubes and some juices called gin and vermouth into a shaker. Then the fun begins. He shakes the shaker and it makes a great maraca sound. Then he pours the "more" "teezy" into his glass. Then it's my turn to shake the shake. I used to only give it a desultory shake and then return it to Daddy saying "Daddy's turn". But now I shake with gusto all the while chanting "teezy, teezy, teezy". Then I pass it back to Daddy for more shaking. When I want it back, I request "More teezy"

Can you guess what this drink is?

The hard-working letter I

I have a new favorite song---Soak up the Sun---by Sheryl Crow. I actually know it as the "I" song. Daddy started singing this too me in the tub while making my foam letter I dance along to the music. I love it. Later, he downloaded the song (legally using iTunes) so that I could listen to it. Sheryl Crow's singing is even better than Daddy's. Now, it's my new favorite song. In fact, I like to listen to it exclusively. It's best repeated in a continuous loop. Here are my favorite lyrics:

"I"'s gonna soak up the sun
Gonna tell everyone to lighten up

I love the letter I. I think it's displaced E as my favorite letter---largely because of this song.

A hearty breakfast

I'm a big believer that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. That's why I prefer to have my breakfasts as enormous feasts. Lately, breakfast has consisted of two yogurts, some juice, and two bowls of oatmeal (I really like to have two of everything). Daddy says that this is a full day's worth of calorie intake for him while for me it's just breakfast. Of course, I run around a lot during the day, so I need the energy.

Singing

I've become increasing interested in singing over the last few weeks. Mostly I like to make up my own songs with lyrics about things that interest me. Sometimes I sing or hum songs that I know from my music together class. A favorite in this regard is the chugga chugga choo choo song, which I really enjoy. On Sunday, Daddy was reading a book called Barnyard Dance by the amazingly prolific Sandra Boynton. This is a book that's meant to be sung though perhaps not in the way that Daddy does it. He would singsong some of the words to the book and then take extended breaks to hum the theme from that all-time classic, The Benny Hill Show. I really enjoy the Benny Hill music. Since that song doesn't have words (or at least Daddy doesn't know them), I added my own lyrics. While Daddy hummed the Benny Hill theme, I'd singsong "Balls in holes. Ballf ballf balls in holes!" and so on. He seemed to really like these lyrics.

Teeth!

My Daddy was in charge of me on Sunday as Mommy went out to see a concert by someone named Cecilia Bartoli. She even waited in line after the concert to get her autograph. Meanwhile, it was a pretty overcast day. Daddy originally had in mind to go on a hiking trail somewhere but the combination of the weather and my unwillingness to get into the car dissuaded him of this. In stead, we went to the park across from the house. I did lots of sliding on the sliding board. The best was when Daddy would hold my hand on the way down and give me some extra acceleration. Whee!

We had to leave the park when a large and overly friendly dog came to visit. I really don't trust dogs that are significantly bigger than I am. This guy gave me a bunch of kisses and then wouldn't leave.

"Bye bye woof." I said.

The dog just looked at me and circled around.

"Bye bye woof"

No response from the dog. Obviously he was not getting the message.

Eventually, I became so distraught over the dog following us that Daddy had to carry me home.

The afternoon was a bit better. We went out in the backyard where I discovered my big red wagon. I love my wagon---and especially the long wagon rides Daddy takes me on. We went round the whole neighborhood. I would greet everyone as we passed. I'm evolving a preferred style of conversation that I perfected when dealing with the little people and the golf balls with smiley faces on them. I look the person straight in the eyes and, with a big smile, say "hi". Usually the other person says hi back to me. This signifies the end of the conversation, so I say "bye bye" and turn my gaze in another direction.

Ample Bubbles

Whenever I take a bath, I have to have bubbles My usual ritual is to run to the bathroom while crying out "eeeeeeeee". Then when Daddy turns on the faucets, I say "bath on" followed shortly by the plaintive cry, "bubbles!" One Daddy puts in the bubbles, things start to get really good. As the number of bubbles increases, I closely monitor the situation until, when there are enough bubbles, I declare "ample bubbles". "Ample" is not a word I normally use, but Daddy taught it to me to describe situations where there are plenty of bubbles. Finally, when my bath is over, I say bye bye to the bubbles as they go down the drain.

"Bye bye bubbles."
"Bye bye ample bubbles."

Good day sunshine

It's been a glorious weekend--sunny and mid 60s. Naturally, I spent a lot of time outside. On Sunday morning we went to the driving range to hit golf ball. I brought my own set of clubs so that I could hit golf balls with Mommy and Daddy. Even better was a trip to the putting green, where I pulled all the flagsticks out of the holes and carried them around with me. Then I put them back in the holes. "In holes" I said as I did this. I also got to see the swans and the geese and pretended to be a swan and munch on the grass. In the afternoon, I went out for a wagon ride around the park near where we live. I got to swing on the swings there--"higher, higher" I cried. Daddy brought some golf balls and a club with him to the park. He was practicing his sand shots from the sandy area where the swings are. Sand shots are cool since he "blasts" both the sand and the ball up in the air. "Whee" I would say with each shot. My job was to get the balls and set them in place for each of the shots. Sand shots are much more interesting than normal golf shots.

Jammy Whammy

I used to like to run around and play "chase the Aidan" whenever it was time to put jammies on. Now, jammy time means time to put on my dancing shoes Addy invented a new way of putting on jammies while I "do the Jammy Whammy" and "turn myself about". The way the dance works is that, as Addy sings for me to put my left leg in, I put my leg in my jammies. Somehow, things aren't symmetric when it comes to the part of the song where I put my left leg out. Addy still keeps my leg in the jammies. The best parts of the song are where I shake my legs about and turn around. I really enjoy both of these.

"C" is for everything

Sunday is "Addy Day" in our household---Addy typically does stuff with me the whole day and gives Mommy a much needed day off. Anyway, yesterday was a rainy day here, so our usual strategy of going for walks and playing in the park was a no-go. Instead, Addy decided to drive us to a big indoor mall called the Stoneridge mall. We got there early---about 9:30---before any of the stores opened. This was fine with both of us since we really had nothing to buy. It was also good because it let me run around and be free without lots of other pesky shoppers getting in my way. There are lots of fun things in malls. One of my favorites was the escalator. I liked to ride up and down and up and down...and up and down...over and over again. Indeed, I really never get tired of escalator rides. Addy apparently does though. He wanted to stop after our fourth consecutive round trip. Elevators are also fun. Stoneridge has an elevator with windows on all sides. I liked looking out the window at the people as we went up and down.

The comedy highlight of the day involved the letter "C", one of my favorite letters. There are lots of big letters on the signs for the stores in the mall. Addy would ask me what different letters were and often I would tell him. Then, I decided to play a kind of joke. No matter what letter Addy pointed at, I would tell him it was the letter "C" and smile and laugh. He thought this was quite amusing as well. We looked at a big sign for an ATM. "What letter is this?" Addy would ask, pointing at the "A".

"C!" I would say confidently, smiling at him. He looked at me doubtfully and laughed. He moved on to to the "T" (which was tough for me to keep a straight face while saying "C" to in that "T" is a really great letter. It even resembles a golf tee, which is one of my favorite objects. Similarly with "M".

By the end of the morning, I was really tired and went to sleep in the car. It was a busy, but very fun, day.